The NFL is down to its final four teams in contention for Super Bowl LX, but who will qualify for the Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, California?
The top-seeded Denver Broncos, led by backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, will host Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots at Mile High in the AFC Championship Game, before the Seattle Seahawks and NFC West rival Los Angeles Rams will meet for the third time this season in the NFC title showdown.
We explore why each of the final four will or won’t win football’s top award.
Denver Broncos – vs. Patriots – Sunday, January 25th, 8:00 p.m.
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On Inside the Huddle, Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Scheckter discuss whether Denver backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham can lead the Broncos to Super Bowl glory.
Why it’s possible: Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph runs one of the most creative, read-disrupting units in football, using a menu of shape-shifting pressure packages to test a quarterback’s eye, anticipation and field diagnostics. His domineering defense led the NFL with 68 sacks during the regular season, then added three more in the playoffs, ranking second in pressure rate, fifth in blitz rate, second in total yards allowed and third in points allowed.
Nick Bonitto, the team’s primary closer up front with a team-high 14 sacks, benefits most from a yo-yo pass rush that keeps the offense guessing where the pressure will be. Meanwhile, reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II leads a secondary that relies on the league’s highest rate of man coverage, allowing Joseph to feel comfortable putting defensive backs against pass catchers in a defense that has mostly succeeded in limiting chunk plays.
He is a red zone defenseman with a relentless pass rush that can cause damage from all directions.
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Sky Sports NFL Committee reacts to news that Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix will miss season with broken ankle
Why they can’t: Jarrett Stidham emerges as the biggest unlikely story of conference championship weekend. As a backup quarterback who won one fairytale Super Bowl, he hasn’t attempted a pass in the NFL since 2023.
Stidham will start in just the fifth game of his seven-year NFL career on Sunday after starting quarterback Bo Nix broke his ankle in the final moments of Denver’s divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills.
Sean Payton defends Stidham’s ability, warns those who doubt the next man is ready, and seems to accept the challenge of fighting against adversity. Stidham is in his third season with Denver and third with Payton, and there’s no question about his knowledge of the strategies that led the Knicks and Broncos to No. 1 seeds. But while the memory of Nick Foles’ heroics remains, only those inside the Mile High building really know what will happen Sunday.
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Highlights of the divisional round matchup between Buffalo Bills and Denver Broncos during the 2025 NFL season
New England Patriots – @ Broncos – Sunday, January 25th, 8:00 p.m.
Why they can do it: First, the team has an MVP candidate in quarterback Drake Maye, who plays the most important position in the sport. He completed the regular season in his second year by completing 354 of 492 passes for a league-best completion percentage of 72, rushing for 4,394 yards (4th) and 31 touchdowns (3rd) with only eight interceptions and posting a league-best passer rating of 113.5.
One of the reasons he joined Matthew Stafford as a top MVP candidate was his ability to attack downfield as one of the most aggressive passers in football. Maye led all quarterbacks in yards per attempt (8.9), third in air yards per attempt (9.1), and ranked No. 1 in explosive play rate (8.1 – an explosive play includes a pass of 20 or more yards or a rush of 10 or more yards).
According to NFL statistics, the Broncos have an explosive play rate of 14.2 percent in the six games they have given up 25 or more points this season, but only 7.2 percent in the other 12 games. At his best, Maye was deadly with his spike as a sophomore, attacking calmly from the pocket and building off-platform form.
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Drake Maye may finally have filled the void left by Tom Brady for the New England Patriots – check out his best plays from the regular season!
Why it can’t be done: Ball safety resurfaced as an issue during New England’s divisional-round win over the Houston Texans when Maye lost two of four fumbles while throwing an interception. He lost three of six fumbles in the playoffs and has committed a league-high 14 fumbles through 19 games, six of which were lost by the 2024 No. 3 overall pick.
His 47 sacks ranked third among quarterbacks during the regular season, according to NFL Next Generation Stats, but the first-round left tackle has struggled to settle in since Will Campbell returned from injury, allowing 10 pressures and four sacks over the past two games. Maye has to protect the ball better, and the Patriots need to protect him better.
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Keishon Boutte’s out-of-this-world catch extends the Patriots lead over the Texans and brings them one step closer to the AFC Championship Game!
Los Angeles Rams – @ Seahawks – Sunday, January 25th, 11:30 p.m.
Why it’s possible: Why? Pass from Matthew Stafford to Davante Adams in overtime of the divisional round win against the Chicago Bears. That’s the reason. The Rams’ offense was abysmal for most of the four quarters of football, as they were stunned by Caleb Williams’ last-gasp miracle touchdown and Stafford endured days of limping, sometimes waiting for game-breaking turnovers.
Instead, Williams made the crucial interception in overtime. Three plays later, Stafford made a nice cross-field, far-hash missile to the sideline, where only the hands of a diving-and-sliding Davante Adams could get hold of the ball.
It was the unsung hero of the game that only a handful of quarterbacks in the league can do, a flash of MVP-caliber magic that the Rams quarterback can summon at any time. He missed the entire game. How could he make such a pass? Stafford had the best year of his career, winning two Super Bowls and leading the league with 4,707 passing yards, 46 touchdowns and eight interceptions, averaging 276.9 yards per game.
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Check out the best parts of MVP candidate Matthew Stafford’s partnership with Puka Nacua, who played for the Los Angeles Rams.
Why not: The win against the Bears did a pretty good job of summarizing the Rams’ experience. After the game, head coach Sean McVay blamed his play-calling and lack of “feel” for the flow of the game that nearly led to the loss.
As snow fluttered across the turf at Soldier Field, fans watched their breath fill the icy air and wondered why McVay and the Rams were taken out of the running game when pitching was difficult, even with Stafford’s arm. The Rams had just 11 carries on eight drives through the first three quarters of the game, six of which ended in punts, but four of those were successful on a 14-play touchdown drive in the first quarter. During that time, Stafford attempted 34 passes but completed just 14.
McVay didn’t return to running until the fourth quarter, when Kyren Williams ran the ball seven times on a 14-play drive that ended with a 5-yard rushing touchdown. Whether it’s multiple tight end packages, Williams and the running game, or a talented receiver tandem that any quarterback would want in Puka Nacua and Adams, the Rams boast one of the most versatile offenses in football. But which fight will McVay, a certified genius, take on? And which Stafford will arrive?
Seattle Seahawks – vs. Rams – Sunday, January 25th, 11:30 p.m.
Why they’re good: The Seattle Seahawks have one of the most complete and formidable defenses in football, with Mike McDonald and Aden Daadeh behind them, and are on their way to the Super Bowl. It’s a sophisticated cocktail of skill set, planning, effort, and emotion, the kind that calls for an extra ounce of juice when the stakes are the highest this season.
They have one of the most successful pressure defenses in the league, ranking first in EPA/play, first in third-down conversion rate, and first in points allowed, while blitzing with one of the lowest offensive percentages in the league (usually a good sign for a solid unit).
Leonard Williams, Uchenna Nwosu, Byron Murphy and DeMarcus Lawrence led the way, and jack-of-all-trades rookie “Big Nickel” Nick Emanwori exploded inside a Devon Witherspoon-inspired secondary, confusing the offense with coverage disguises and substitution parts. They are the epitome of full-throttle defense. They hit harder, run faster, think faster, and choke into submission.
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The best play came from the impressive connection between Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and wide receiver Jackson Smith-Njiba.
Why they can’t: Sam Darnold completed 12 of 17 passes for 124 yards and only one touchdown pass to receiving yards champion Jackson Smith-Njiba during Seattle’s 41-6 rout of the San Francisco 49ers in the regional round. Few could blame him, as he could afford to rely on Kenneth Walker’s three rushing scores and a defense that forced three turnovers. Darnold helped Seattle win 14 games and secure the No. 1 seed, proving that his incredible career resurgence with the Minnesota Vikings was no fluke, but in football, you can’t win a Lombardi Trophy without making a bold move, even momentarily strapping the Seahawks on your back and winning it through the air in the decisive moment.
Darnold threw 14 interceptions and lost six fumbles during the regular season, but struggled with the little pressure he faced and finished the season with a quarterback rating of just 56.0. While the big picture points right to an outstanding season, it’s hard to escape the memory of being eliminated in the playoffs around this time last year.
Watch Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and Los Angeles Rams vs. Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, live on Sky Sports NFL on Sunday, January 25th from 7:30pm.
