After another thrilling slate on the gridiron, only four teams remain in the hunt for the pro football championship. This weekend’s conference title games are all that stand between football fans and the big game.
Sunday’s American Conference championship between New England and Denver will see two division rivals clash. Let’s dive in and take a closer look at what’s in store.
No. 2 New England and No. 1 Denver will face off on Sunday, January 25 at 3 p.m. ET, at Empower Field in Denver.
With just under a week until kickoff, Kalshi traders are currently giving New England a 72% chance of securing a victory on the road. They also have a 46% chance of winning by more than 6.5 points.
There are a few reasons many are bullish on New England, but the fact that Denver lost starting quarterback Bo Nix (ankle) last weekend is at the top of the list. With Nix out, six-year veteran Jarrett Stidham will take the snaps going forward.
Despite Stidham’s professional tenure, his on-field action has been limited. He has not started a game since 2023. Overall, he has appeared in 20 contests, sporting an 8-8 TD-INT ratio throughout that span. Before arriving in Denver, Stidham played for Las Vegas (2022) and, ironically enough, New England (2019-2020).
At the moment, New England is playing an incredibly well-rounded brand of football. Quarterback Drake Maye, an MVP frontrunner, dazzled in his second season as a pro, boasting a 77.1 QBR to go with 4,394 passing yards. New England’s offense produced 28.8 PPG in 2025. Also, the Pats went 8-0 on the road this season.
However, both of these squads are powered by their defenses.
Denver produced a historic campaign in terms of rushing opposing quarterbacks, registering a franchise-record 68 sacks. From there, Denver allowed only 18.3 PPG.
Across the way, New England was one of the toughest groups to run the football against, giving up just 101.7 YPG on the ground. The group from Foxborough surrendered just 18.8 PPG.
The takeaway:
At the end of last November, both Denver and New England were priced at less than 10¢ in the conference title market, per Kalshi’s traders. But today, things are looking very different.
Kalshi markets now forecast:
(Click here for more details on this Sunday’s conference championship games)
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