The Conference championships kicked off on January 25th, 2026. The first game featured the New England Patriots going into Denver to play the Denver Broncos. This game had a lot of curiosity behind it, because Bo Nix was out of this game with an ankle injury and the Broncos had to start backup quarterback Jarred Stidham, who hadn’t played a game since the preseason. This game was a defensive battle. Additionally, the weather played a major part in this game. In the first quarter, the weather was clear and pretty nice overall, but as the game continued, the weather got worse and worse. It was almost like a blizzard hit the field in the fourth quarter. Because of this, Stidham had trouble leading the Broncos’s offense. There were no points in the fourth quarter, proving how the weather was such a big factor. The Broncos also missed two field goals in the fourth quarter because of strong winds and low visibility, but the Patriots still couldn’t really get anything going on offense. In this defensive battle, New England took the victory 10-7. The Patriots are going back to the Superbowl after a small rebuild following their six-championship dynasty. The last time they went to the Superbowl was in 2019, and they won this game 13-3 against the Los Angeles Rams. After the Broncos loss, many fans believe if Bo Nix was healthy, this game would not have been close. Also, there was a moment in the first quarter when the Broncos went for it on a fourth down, and they didn’t convert. They could’ve kicked a field goal and got three points to go up 10-0. At that time, the weather was clear, meaning the kick would’ve most likely been good. Denver could have also had so much control in this game. But, you just have to accept the fact that the Patriots are going to represent the AFC in Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara.

The NFC championship was one to remember. The Los Angeles Rams traveled to Seattle to take on the Seahawks for the 3rd total time this year. Coming into this game many people were skeptical of Sam Darnold’s ability to perform in such a high pressure moment, as he has not been promising in high-stakes career games. Darnold, however, proved everyone wrong. Even though Darnold wasn’t able to out perform LA Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, he had similar numbers and got the win. Mathew Stafford threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns, while Sam Darnold threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns. After a disappointing AFC championship game, everyone was looking forward to a shootout in this match up. The first half was close, but still uneventful, with the score only being 17-13 in favor of the Seahawks. In the second half, though, all the points were scored in the third quarter which meant it was all about defense in the fourth quarter which meant it was up to the Rams to score and up to the Seahawks’ defense to get stops. The Rams were not able to get it done, and the Seahawks held them off. The final score was 27-31 with the Seahawks advancing to take on the New England Patriots in Santa Clara. This will be a rematch of the 2015 Super Bowl as the Seahawks look to make the right call on the goal line this time around and potentially take back the Superbowl they never got. Freshman King Hudson shared his thoughts on the intense matchups this past weekend, saying “The Broncos defense continued to look amazing holding the Patriots to only 10 points, but, unfortunately, Bo Nix was out with that broken ankle or else I definitely would have had them winning. Also, the Seahawks are just looking unstoppable. They are going to destroy the Patriots.”