I know this is probably not a shock to you, but the Conference Championship teams tend to make the playoffs in the following year. Good teams usually stay good enough to at least crack the postseason. But every single season, at least one of those teams falls out of the mix. It’s been 25 years since all four conference championship teams all made the playoffs the following year.
As a reminder, 2020 was the first year seven teams from each conference made it, so generally speaking we are talking about the reigning conference champions being among the six best teams in their conference again the next season.