3. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are no. 3 in our NFL power rankings ahead of the conference title games. For the third time since the 2013 season, the Patriots are in Denver with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Oddly enough, the Pats have never won an AFC title game playing in Denver against the Broncos.
And while New England might turn out to be a heavy favorite here, the Broncos are going to be a tough out. We have seen the Patriots take down two capable teams at home in the playoffs in the LA Chargers and Houston Texans, but traveling to the Mile High City is such a harder task.
Through two playoff games, Drake Maye has been sacked 10 times, thrown two interceptions, and has fumbled six times. Maye cannot have those type of errors here in the title game, as the Broncos defense takes advantage of those things and is a unit that plays well in these high-stakes situations.
New England can win this game, as Mike Vrabel always gets the most out of his players, but it's a tall task, and the overall inexperience of this 2025 Patriots team does put them at a bit of a disadvantage.
2. Los Angeles Rams
The LA Rams went into frigid Chicago and beat the Bears in overtime, and it's another deep playoff run for the Sean McVay-led Rams. LA did hold a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter in their last meeting with the Seattle Seahawks, so this game could be very winnable for LA.
However, the Rams defense has been a bit soft on the backend at times, and Stafford hasn't been lighting it up lately. Given that Seattle is the top seed and were a slightly better team in the regular season, the Rams fall just behind them in our power rankings.