Patriots make history in AFC Championship win over Broncos

The New England Patriots are back in familiar territory, sitting atop the AFC with a chance to earn the Vince Lombardi Trophy awaiting them. Along the way, they managed to set some new NFL records: their 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos on Sunday was one for the history books, no matter how ugly it may have been at times.

Here are four ways the Patriots made history in the AFC Championship.

First team to go 9-0 on the road

As the wins kept piling up, the New England Patriots kept embracing the “road warrior” mentality. Heading into Sunday’s AFC Championship Game versus the Denver Broncos they were a perfect 8-0 away from Foxborough with a chance to make history: no team had ever gone 9-0 on the road in a single season.

And while neither the opponent nor the conditions at Mile High made it easy for them, the Patriots did managed to come away with a 10-7 victory to complete their perfect road campaign.

Thanks to their win over the Broncos, the Patriots will have another chance to play outside Gillette Stadium in two weeks. The Super Bowl, however, will not be counted as an away game; both teams are playing at a neutral site — Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium — with New England designated as the home team.

Regardless of label or location, however, the goal remains the same: bring one final victory — and a trophy — back to New England.

First team to beat three top-5 defenses in the playoffs

The Patriots’ strength of schedule has been discussed at nauseam this year. While it is true that their slate of opponents in the regular season was anything but daunting, the playoffs presented a significant uptick in competition particularly on the offensive side of the ball: New England went up against, and defeated, three of the top-5 defenses in the league this year on its road to the Super Bowl — something that has never happened before, as pointed out by NFL analyst Daniel Rotman.

While yards per game are not the ultimate measure of quality, that should not take away from New England’s accomplishments against the fifth-ranked Chargers, top-ranked Texans and second-ranked Broncos. That is especially true given that they also ranked sixth, second and eighth, respectively, in expected points added per game.

First team to go from 13 losses to the Super Bowl

The Patriots were at rock bottom at the end of their 2024 campaign. They had just gone 4-13 for a second year in a row, and were about to fire their hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, Jerod Mayo, after only one season at the job.

What came next was a remarkable turnaround: with Mike Vrabel at the helm, the organization rebounded in a major fashion. While the coach himself deflected blame during his postgame presser, his arrival completely changed the trajectory of the franchise in record speed. Now, the Patriots are the first team ever to go from a 13-loss season to the Super Bowl.

First team to reach a Super Bowl in five different decades

The Patriots have been the gold standard for pro football success for much of the 21st century, but their history is more storied than the dynasty era. Before winning their first championship in 2001, after all, they already had unsuccessfully been to Super Bowls in 1985 and 1996.

This, paired with their unprecedented run in the 2000s and 2010s has now allowed them to set another mark. By making the Super Bowl in 2025, they are now the first organization in the NFL history to make it to the title game in five different decades.