ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The opportunity has arrived.
For the first time in a decade, the Broncos (15-3) are on the doorstep of a Super Bowl appearance — and they'll aim to clinch their trip to Santa Clara in an AFC Championship Game battle against the New England Patriots (16-3).
"You're playing another good football team, and you know what's at stake and you know what's next," Head Coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. "It's exciting."
Denver is one of just four teams remaining in the chase for a Super Bowl LX title, and the Broncos realize they have a significant — and earned — moment in front of them.
"When you look at it from that perspective, it's such a blessing to be one of four," wide receiver Courtland Sutton said Wednesday. "It's something that this team has earned, and I don't think that anybody takes it for granted at all. I think everybody is embracing the moment, embracing this opportunity. We have a locker room that's full of guys that are ready to take advantage of what's in front of us. We have a huge opportunity in front of us."
The Broncos' matchup against the second-seeded Patriots doesn't come without its challenges. Denver lost its starting quarterback Bo Nix late in a memorable Divisional Round win over Buffalo, and the Broncos will turn to Jarrett Stidham in the AFC Championship Game.
The resilient Broncos, though, believe in both Stidham and in their ability to respond. With 13 comeback wins, a 12-2 mark in one-score games and six fourth-quarter comebacks, that mentality has been proven time and time again.
"Certainly, we are a team that's been battle-tested," tackle Mike McGlinchey said Monday. "We've handled adversity every step of the way that we've come across it, and [I'm] incredibly confident moving forward in our team."
These are the questions that will decide if the Broncos can bathe in confetti and hoist the Lamar Hunt Trophy on Sunday afternoon:
CAN JARRETT STIDHAM, BRONCOS' OFFENSE FIND SUCCESS VS. TOUGH PATRIOTS DEFENSE?
Stidham may not have thrown a regular-season pass since the end of the 2023 season, but there's a high level of belief in the Broncos' reserve quarterback.
"I've seen a lot of confidence," reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II said Wednesday. "He's got a type of mojo with him, a type of confidence with him, that you rarely see. I'm excited for him for his opportunity. He's got everything it takes to shine on this level, and I'm looking forward to it."
Late in the 2022 season, Stidham went toe-to-toe with a San Francisco 49ers team that eventually advanced to the NFC Championship Game, throwing for three touchdowns, nearly 400 yards and a 108.1 passer rating. That game helped catch the Broncos' attention, and Stidham's most recent preseason action showed his potential. In two games in the 2025 preseason, Stidham completed 30-of-38 passes for 376 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and just two sacks while posting a 143.0 passer rating. Excluding an end-of-half drive, the Broncos scored on eight-of-11 possessions with Stidham quarterbacking the offense — including five touchdown drives.
"He's been waiting for this moment for the entirety of his career," McGlinchey said Monday. "He's more prepared than anybody would be in this situation, and he can ball. He flat out can play quarterback. We've seen it every single day at practice. We've seen it in training camp. We've seen it in the preseason. I have no doubts that he's going to go out there and play his butt off."
He'll face a challenge against a Patriots defense that has allowed 3.4 yards per play in the postseason, which is the lowest total since the 2000 Ravens and Giants among teams to play at least a pair of games. The Patriots are also one of three teams since 2000 to allow fewer than 20 combined points and 500 combined yards across the Wild Card and Divisional Round.
Stidham, though, is eager for the opportunity that awaits him as he becomes the first quarterback since 1972 to make his first start of the season in the conference championship game or later.
"I think what I always go back to — in any game, regular season, preseason, the AFC Championship — it's still the same game," Stidham said Wednesday. "Obviously, there are implications and winner advances, all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, it's still football. That's how I view it. I'm not treating it any differently. I'm not treating my preparation any differently. I'm just going to go out there and play and be myself. I think that's the biggest thing. I'm not going to try to be somebody that I'm not. I know how I can play, and I know the kind of guys I have around me and the kind of team that we have. So, we all just have to play within ourselves."
Payton spoke throughout the week about Stidham's calmness running the offense and his mental aptitude, and he said late in the week that he's not concerned with how Stidham will play on Sunday.
"I say this respectfully, and I told the team this: I said, 'I'm not worried about 'Stiddy' in this game. I'm worried about everyone else, all right, and how we play,'" Payton said Friday. "That really is the truth."
CAN THE BRONCOS' PASS RUSH GIVE DENVER AN EDGE IN WINNING TAKEAWAY BATTLE?
Outside linebacker Nik Bonitto made a pair of big-time plays in Denver's Divisional Round win, as his two forced fumbles led directly to six points for the Broncos.
Against MVP candidate Drake Maye, Bonitto and the Broncos' pass rush will likely again need to be at their best. The Broncos posted a franchise record 68 sacks in 2025, and they'll try to get after a New England offense that has allowed 10 sacks across a pair of postseason games.
In the regular season, Maye ranked in the top five in sacks and in quarterback pressure rate, while the Broncos were in the top two in both of those metrics. Including the playoffs, Maye has been sacked at least five times in five games, and the Broncos have six games this season with at least five sacks.
As the Broncos aim to bring pressure again, they'll also try to force takeaways. Maye has thrown a pair of interceptions in the playoffs — though one came on an end-of-half Hail Mary — while also fumbling six times and losing three of those fumbles. Payton said Denver's ability to force five turnovers against the Bills "single-handedly was the difference" in the Broncos advancing to the AFC Championship Game, and they'll look to improve upon their plus-four takeaway margin from the Divisional Round.
Bonitto, in particular, may be able to help provide a spark. He became the first Broncos player with a postseason strip-sack since Von Miller in Super Bowl 50, and he matched his forced-fumble output for the regular season in a single playoff game.
"That's huge, that's huge," Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph said Thursday of Bonitto's ability to force turnovers. "That's changed his game. He's always been a guy who can win. … We want the ball, and the ball's the game. Last week, it proved that. He has been great all year, but man, he is finding the football. That's key."
For the Broncos to win the turnover battle, of course, they'll also need to avoid mistakes on offense. New England has recorded four interceptions and two fumble recoveries across a pair of postseason games, with five of those takeaways coming in a Divisional Round win over the Texans. Denver turned the ball over just once against the Bills, and Stidham and Co. will likely again need to protect the football.
"Currently, we're plus-four," Payton said Friday. "The significance of it [is high] in a game that's pretty quick, and it's not a best of five [series]. It's a three-hour game, [and] oftentimes these games can be lost, not won."
CAN DENVER MAKE MORE CHAMPIONSHIP-CALIBER PLAYS IN BIG MOMENTS?
There's no official statistic to plug in here about what qualifies as a play that counts in this category.
But there's no doubt that the Broncos have made a lot of them this season.
A week ago, it looked like a critical punch-out from Alex Singleton that stopped a Buffalo drive. It looked like a third-and-10 conversion to Marvin Mims Jr. at the end of the first half that gave Denver a chance to get seven points instead of three. It looked like RJ Harvey breaking a tackle in overtime to pick up critical yardage and put Denver on the edge of field-goal range. It looked, of course, like Ja'Quan McMillian's heroic interception.
"I feel like we were ready for this moment," Bonitto said after last week's win. "We knew we were supposed to be here, and we handled ourselves like that. … There was no wavering. We knew we could still win this game. We knew it wasn't over, and we knew we had the crowd behind our backs. We just kept playing."
Again and again this season, the Broncos have stepped up in the biggest moments. They've held strong on defense in critical moments against the Titans, Eagles, Jets, Raiders and Commanders. They've surged back on offense with eight game-winning drives against teams like the Bills, Eagles, Texans and Chiefs.
They set an NFL record for the most comeback wins in a season, and their 11 regular-season one-score wins also tied the most such wins in NFL history.
Denver entered the playoffs with the second-best fourth-quarter point differential in the NFL, as the Broncos showed their grit and resolve throughout the season. Against a New England team that has not lost on the road and has seven one-score wins of its own, the Broncos will again need to be tough in the biggest moments.
