The Conference Finals of the 2025/26 National Football League (NFL) season last weekend proved very memorable and confirmed the combatants for this year’s Super Bowl, to be played on February 8, 2026, and with those results, it was confirmed that this is the closest-contested postseason in NFL history.

In previous playoffs, no more than six games were decided by four points or less and, entering last weekend, there were already six such games this year but, with the visiting New England Patriots ploughing through snow to defeat the Denver Broncos (10-7) and the Seattle Seahawks outlasting the Los Angeles Rams (31-27) at home, there are now eight such games, with the Super Bowl still left to play. Could the count get to nine?

But before looking too far ahead, the Championship games last Sunday provided a lot to behold and even more to remember. Firstly, in the American Football Conference (AFC), the Patriots are headed back for their 12th Super Bowl — four more than any other team — following three-straight outstanding defensive performances in these playoffs, holding the Los Angeles Chargers to three points, the Houston Texans to 16, before breaking hearts in Denver. The New England defence was unrelenting last Sunday, denying the Denver offence any visit to the red zone in the last 39 minutes of the game, and holding them scoreless in the last 10 drives, to win all nine road games this season, the most-ever in a season, without a loss.

Quarterback (QB) Bo Nix led the Broncos (15-4) to a franchise record-tying 14 wins in the regular season and their first playoff victory since Super Bowl L, 10 years ago, before a season-ending ankle fracture in a win over the Buffalo Bills two weeks prior. Nix won 25 games in two seasons and boasts an NFL-best 11 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime over that span. The Broncos’ offence averaged 23.6 points per game during the regular season but sadly had to take the field in the Conference Final with QB Jarrett Stidham, who hadn’t thrown a pass in an NFL game in more than two years and has just four starts in his seven seasons in the league, last Sunday being his fifth.

That said, the Broncos were still in the snow-affected game up to the end, but earlier this week it was reported that they fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, along with wide receivers Coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks Coach Addison Lynch. On the other sideline, Mike Vrable, a three-time Super Bowl champion with the Patriots, became only the second to make the Super Bowl as both a player and a coach, the other being Gary Subiak (Broncos). Vrable, in his first season as coach, engineered a complete turnaround for the franchise, who were dismal over the last three seasons (8-9, 3-14, 3-14), finishing the regular season 14-3 and now sit on the brink of history with the chance to join Mike Ditka and Tom Flores as the only persons to win the Lombardi Trophy as both player and coach.

In the National Football Conference (NFC), there was a lot more offence on display during the late game on Sunday when the Seahawks welcomed the Rams to take part in an entertaining three hours, or so, and it didn’t disappoint. Similar to their two regular season matchup, which they split, the Conference Final was a back-and-forth affair, and the result was decided in the last seconds of the game, after the Rams recovered from a late 31-20 deficit, sparked by a taunting penalty on Seahawks’ cornerback Tariq Woolen, and had a chance to take the lead with 4:49 remaining, but the Seattle defence stiffened to pull off the win and maintain their 100 per cent all-time record in Conference Championship games (four-of-four).

Seattle’s top-rated scoring defence came up with critical stops in crucial positions against a Rams offence that made it a very competitive affair. Rams’ QB Matthew Stafford went 22-of-35 for 374 yards and three touchdowns, while receiver Puka Nacua was outstanding, with nine catches for 165 yards. However, a late muffed punt by Xavier Smith, resulting in a turnover deep in Rams’ territory, plus solid red zone defence by linebacker Tyrice Knight and cornerback Devon Witherspoon, proved the undoing of the visitors.

Seattle’s QB Sam Darnold had a game that dreams are made of, completing 25-of-36 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns, without any turnovers. He has faced the Rams four times in 12 months and in the first two games, one as the play caller for the Minnesota Vikings, he lost both, and averaged three giveaways and 4.5 sacks. In his last two, both wins and both with the Seahawks, just one giveaway and 3.5 sacks. Receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba played lights-out (10 receptions for 153 yards and a touchdown), but it was former Rams All-Pro Cooper Kupp, who was Super Bowl LVI MVP in the Rams’ win over the Cincinnati Bengals, who put the nail in the proverbial coffin in the closing stages of the game.

Now, after nine-consecutive wins by the Seahawks, their longest-winning streak since winning 11 straight in 2005, they are heading back to the big dance for a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX from 2015, where the Patriots, led by Tom Brady, pulled off an improbable 28-24 victory, following a Malcolm Butler interception on the New England goal line, preventing a go-ahead score by Seattle, with less than 30 seconds left to play. The Patriots are the designated home team, but JustBet offers the Seahawks as favourites at this stage and, unless something dramatic happens before the Super Bowl, that is the way it will remain until February 8, 2026, two Sundays from now.

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