The Seahawks are hosting and playing in their first NFC championship in 11 years. 

Sunday’s matchup against the NFC West rival Rams marks the latest chapter in Seattle’s $100 million offseason gamble on quarterback Sam Darnold, who now has the franchise just one win away from returning to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2015.

Darnold, 28, led the Seahawks to a 14–3 regular-season record and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, after signing a three-year, $100.5 million contract in March. The on-field success is a familiar feeling for the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft; last season Darnold was quarterback for the Vikings, who also had a 14–3 record but lost a divisional tiebreaker to the Lions.

Minnesota lost to the Rams in the wild-card round a year ago, and then let Darnold—who played the 2024 season on a one-year, $10 million deal—walk in free agency in favor of second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who had a salary-cap hit of just less than $5 million this season as part of his rookie contract. The Vikings missed the playoffs this year with an 8–9 record.

Seattle’s success has Darnold cashing in even more. He was set to make at least $37.5 million this season ($32 million signing bonus plus $5.5 million in salary and workout bonuses). But Darnold racked up $1.5 million in performance incentives during the regular season, and he secured a separate escalating bonus for making the playoffs: $500,000 initially, which has risen to $1 million for making the NFC title games. 

The extra pay could climb to $1.5 million for reaching the Super Bowl, and $2.5 million for winning. This season, Darnold has already made $40 million, and this year has taken his career earnings to more than $100 million.

Darnold’s success comes in the second season for Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald, who replaced Pete Carroll. In 2024, GM John Schneider—who started the same year as Carroll in 2010—added president of football operations to his title (previously EVP). Meanwhile, a potential franchise sale still looms over the Seahawks, who are controlled by Jody Allen, the sister of late team owner Paul Allen, who died in 2018. 

As the Seahawks rally around Darnold, the Rams are hoping for one more shot at a championship with veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford, who will turn 38 on Feb. 7, the eve of Super Bowl LX.

Stafford is the betting favorite to win this year’s NFL MVP award (right ahead of Patriots QB Drake Maye, whom Stafford could face in the Super Bowl), but his status in Los Angeles was anything but certain this past offseason.

After four years with the Rams, including winning Super Bowl LVI, Stafford was originally set to make roughly $27 million during the 2025 season. The quarterback wanted a raise, but before giving it to him, the Rams let Stafford explore a trade, with the Raiders and Giants reportedly interested in a deal at the time.

Ultimately, no trade happened, and Stafford returned to Los Angeles with a restructured contract that guaranteed him $40 million this season. 

The Rams went 12–5 in the regular season, their third-straight winning record, and best since the same mark during the 2021 season in which they won the Super Bowl. Stafford threw for 4,707 yards and 46 touchdowns.

But no matter how the Rams perform on Sunday—or on Super Bowl Sunday if they get that far—Stafford’s future in Los Angeles will once again be a question mark after this season. His contract guarantees him another $40 million if he’s on the roster on the fifth day of the official league year, which is March 15.

That means the Rams have less than two months to decide whether they want to keep the veteran for another year at the high price point, or move on in search of a potentially younger and/or cheaper quarterback.

Whether Stafford is ready to move on from the Rams, two more victories this season would surely make whatever decision comes next easier to accept.

More than a decade ago, the Broncos and Patriots were intertwined in one of the NFL’s best rivalries, featuring two of the league’s all-time great quarterbacks in Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. 

Between 2011 and 2015, Denver and New England met three times in the playoffs, including twice in the AFC championship game. The Broncos claimed the latter two clashes. Now, the Denver–New England rivalry is back on the big stage, with a Super Bowl LX berth on the line in Sunday’s conference title clash at Empower Field at Mile High. 

The quarterback situation, however, is quite different than before—but it likely points toward another big era for the league with significant ramifications on the field and for the business of the NFL. 

New England is led by second-year signal-caller Drake Maye, a breakout star from the University of North Carolina and one of the top two candidates for this year’s MVP. The other is the Rams’ Matthew Stafford. While plenty of observers, and the Patriots themselves, certainly had high hopes for Maye, nothing from his rookie season suggested the rapid ascendancy that now has him as the league’s top-rated passer. 

Working closely with first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, Maye and the Patriots won 14 games in a breakout regular season. It’s the team’s best since 2016, and also marks a 10-game improvement from 2024. New England also claimed its first division title since Brady’s departure in early 2020. Beyond Maye’s stardom, a key element of the team’s resurgence has been a clear focus on team selflessness and unity—a marked departure from the colder, more detached environment of former coach Bill Belichick. 

“I think the hardest thing with a team is to get everyone to put team first and their own personal records in the background,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said recently on ESPN NFL Countdown. “[Vrabel] has done that and they really feel connected to him.”

Denver, meanwhile, is forced to go with backup Jarrett Stidham at quarterback against the Patriots, after starter and second-year star Bo Nix fractured an ankle in an overtime victory against the Bills in the divisional playoffs. That game also cost Buffalo coach Sean McDermott his job, but for the Broncos, expectations remain high. In a certain irony, Stidham will also face the team that drafted him in 2019. 

The Broncos’ change at quarterback has made the team the largest home underdog ever in an NFL conference championship game, with the Patriots favored by as many as five and a half points. That hasn’t fazed Denver, though.

“Broncos Country, in my opinion, is arguably the best fan base in sports,” Stidham said. “I’m really excited to get out there in front of them. And it’s been a long time since this game has been played here. I know they’ll be rocking on Sunday.”

Long term, Nix is expected to be a fixture for the Broncos, with plenty more high-profile clashes with Maye and the Patriots anticipated in the coming years. The teams will play in the 2026 regular season, and that game at Gillette Stadium will likely be one of the most coveted matchups as broadcasters lobby the league between now and the May release of next season’s schedule. 

Beyond the extensive lore surrounding both franchises, the revival of the Patriots and Broncos and their young star power also bring the No. 10 and No. 17 U.S. media markets with Boston and Denver, respectively, back into the NFL limelight. That suggests more viewership boosts for the league and its rights holder networks that are already unfolding in historic fashion.

The owners of the two teams in the AFC championship, meanwhile, are a study in contrasts. Kraft, in place since 1994, is one of the league’s elder statesmen; he holds a close ear of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and he plays a key role on several league committees. The Broncos are conversely led by owner and CEO Greg Penner, part of the Walton-Penner family who oversees the Walmart empire, and they acquired the team less than four years ago. 

The relative neophytes are definitely not lacking for ambition, though, and the Broncos under that leadership unveiled plans last year to open a retractable-roof stadium in 2031 in Denver’s Burnham Yard neighborhood. 

The immediate term is focused on an intended return to the Super Bowl for the first time since winning Super Bowl 50 a decade ago with Manning.