2026 NFL Playoffs: Conference Championship Preview and Predictions

(14-3) New England Patriots (2) @ (1) Denver Broncos (14-3)

The two best teams in the AFC battle for the AFC Championship as the New England Patriots take on the Denver Broncos for the right to head to Super Bowl 60! The Denver Broncos managed to edge out the Buffalo Bills last weekend, but it came at a cost as Franchise Quarterback Bo Nix went down with a season-ending ankle injury! This is Denver’s first AFC Championship game appearance since 2016 (when they went and won Super Bowl 50), and they’re 8-2 at this stage of the season! As for New England, they brilliantly beat the Houston Texans last time out, and they’re back in their first AFC Championship game since 2019! It’s worth mentioning that The Patriots are 11-4 at this stage of the season! In the end, I feel like The Patriots are clear favourites to make Super Bowl LX! Both of these teams have had terrific seasons; they’ve both only lost one game each in 4 months, and they deserve to be here! However, losing Bo Nix feels like an absolute killer for Denver, whilst I probably rate New England slightly higher than them anyway!

(12-5) Los Angeles Rams (5) @ (1) Seattle Seahawks (14-3)

For the large majority of this season, the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks have been viewed as the two best teams in the entire league, but only one of them can make the Super Bowl as they clashed at Lumen Field for a trip to San Francisco! The Seattle Seahawks absolutely decimated the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 last time out, and they’re back in the NFC Championship game for the first time since 2015! It’s worth noting that The Seahawks are 3-0 in NFC Championship games! As for LA, they held on to beat The Bears to earn a great victory in Chicago on last weekend’s Sunday Night Football, and they're back in the NFC Championship game after a 3-year hiatus! Whilst the LA Rams are 5-6 in NFC Championship games, they have won on each of their last 4 appearances to the Championship game! In the end, Seattle should beat Los Angeles! I think it’s very fair to say that both LA and Seattle have been the best two teams in the league this season; for that reason, both teams deserve to be in the Super Bowl! Also, when you look at the two results between these two teams earlier in the season, the aggregate score is 58-57 Rams, so it’s insanely close to call! However, despite all of that, The Seahawks blew a resilient 49ers team out of the park last week, and as good as The Rams are, The Hawks are favourites for a reason; hence why I’m going with them to appear in the Super Bowl on February 8th!