The Patriots went into the 2025 season with not much pressure to put together much more than a better season than their back-to-back years of just four wins. The expectation was they could maybe double their success under new head coach Mike Vrabel, but still miss the playoffs and continue their rebuild next offseason.
They have far exceeded all predictions and are now heading to Denver to face a Bo Nix-less Broncos team in the AFC Championship, and the stakes couldn't be higher.
Although they have succeeded far more than anyone anticipated, the path to the Super Bowl is right there, and given that their upcoming opponent is down their starting quarterback, it looks like a much easier road to the Lombardi Trophy than anyone could have drawn up.
Because of that, the pressure to get past the Broncos is higher than it would typically be, despite facing a gauntlet of defenses to get to this point. Analysts and media members, like Stephen A. Smith, have now decided that if they can't steal the win, then the Patriots aren't as good as some thought, making it even more crucial to book their trip to San Francisco on February 8th.
The Patriots have a lot more to take on vs. the Broncos than just a dominant defense
The ongoing narrative surrounding the 2025 Patriots has been criticism of their apparent easy schedule, which hasn't slowed down since the playoffs began. They beat the Chargers and Texans at home in consecutive weeks, with most analysts expecting their opponents to win, but now that they are headed to the AFCCG, they haven't faced any talent in the playoffs so far.
They're set to take on the Broncos, who have a top-5 defense and a career backup quarterback under center, Jarrett Stidham, whom the Patriots drafted in 2019.
Because he has started only a handful of games in his career, Stephen A. Smith believes the Patriots have to win, or the offseason will surely focus on them being a fraudulent team that couldn't beat a perennial backup.
"I don't give a damn what struggles the New England Patriots have. Everything that you've accomplished—if you lost to Bo Nix and the Broncos as the No. 1 seed at Mile High Stadium in an AFC Championship Game, no shame in that. Jarrett Stidham, a backup quarterback. This is not Nick Foles, where Carson Wentz got hurt in Week 11, and then he played the rest of the regular season through the playoffs. No.
We ain't seen Jarrett Stidham. You ain't heard his name. There's an APB out for that brother. ...New England, I swear to you, you lose this game, oh trust you me, the offseason ain't going to be pleasant to you brothers. You better win this damn football game. I'm telling you right now. I'm speaking on behalf of Bostonians and New Englanders everywhere.
And I'm a New Yorker, but I know them. Ain't no way in hell anybody wants to hear you're gonna lose a game in the AFC Championship Game to Jarrett Stidham."
He makes a fair point, considering Stidham couldn't beat out Cam Newton for the starting role in New England in 2020, nor did he outshine Mac Jones the following season, which lead to him signing with the Raiders when Josh McDaniels became the head coach in 2022.
He has served as a backup everywhere he has been, starting only four games over the past six years and posting a 1-3 record with the Raiders and Broncos.
Stidham is now stepping up in Nix's place just a week before the biggest game of not only his career, but for the Broncos, and will need to face a dominant Patriots' defense coming off their best performance in 2025.
His inexperience and lack of proper preparedness are something the Patriots will want to exploit, and there's no reason that they can't, making it even more crucial that they clean up their game from last week and take home the AFC crown to get into the Super Bowl.
If they lose now, especially to a team being run by a backup quarterback, Smith isn't wrong with his assertion that Boston fans will never be able to live it down, and it will surely remain a frustrating talking point about the team, Vrabel and his coaching staff, and Drake Maye.
It would be a devastating end to an impressive season, even if they weren't expected to make it anywhere near an AFC title.