Three Tenets NFL Teams Can Learn From This Year’s Conference Championship Squads

What can be learned from the four teams that have advanced to the conference title games.

Sean McVay and Sean Payton have led two of the NFL’s best teams this season. | Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images

After another hectic divisional round, the NFL playoff field is down to four teams—the Rams, Seahawks, Broncos and Patriots.

Denver will host New England, and Seattle will host Los Angeles on conference championship weekend, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. While only two teams will advance to the Super Bowl and just one team will win the Lombardi trophy, all four squads have authored successful seasons. Their results this season have not been by accident, but instead through intentional moves and decisions that have brought them to this point.

Before the conference championships begin, here are three lessons that can be learned from the four teams that have made it this far in 2025–26.

Invest in defense

The old adage is back—defense wins championships.

The Texans and their No. 1 rated defense might be eliminated from the playoffs, but defense has been a common thread among the final four remaining teams as well.

Outside of the Texans, the Seahawks and Broncos both finished the regular season among the top three teams in points allowed per game and rushing yards allowed per game. The Patriots and Rams defenses were not as highly regarded as the Seahawks and Broncos throughout the regular season, but both have come through in important moments this postseason, each forcing at least five turnovers through their first two playoffs games.

In particular, all four defenses have prioritized their pass rushes when building their teams. Seattle’s signing of DeMarcus Lawrence and New England’s signing of Milton Williams have both been massive acquisitions for each team. Los Angeles built its pass rush through the draft, selecting Jared Verse, Byron Young, Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner all within the last three years. Denver finished atop the league in sacks this season while the Rams and Seahawks also finished in the top 10. The Patriots struggled to rack up as many sacks as the top teams in the regular season but have notched nine over two postseason games.

The presence of these strong defenses is not only important to slow down opponents, but provide more balance to their teams overall. None of the10 highest-paid quarterbacks are playing for a trip to the Super Bowl on Sunday. The final four instead features the top-two MVP candidates in Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye, but neither have been outstanding through their two playoff games so far. L.A.’s defense allowed Stafford and the offense to endure some stalled drives while the New England defense (and C.J. Stroud’s carelessness with the football) kept Maye’s own turnovers from costing the Patriots the win.

Orr: Give Defenses Proper Credit for the Poor Quarterbacking in These NFL Playoffs

Quarterback is the most important position in sports, but as these teams have showed this season, it is far from everything. There are many ways to go about building a team to support the quarterback, but having a strong, physical defense is among the best ways to help him.

Front offices shouldn’t shy away from bold moves

Seahawks general manager John Schneider executed a masterclass in rebuilding. Two years ago, he made the tough decision to move on from Pete Carroll, the head coach that led them to their first Super Bowl championship. This past spring, he traded away quarterback Geno Smith and wide receiver DK Metcalf. In their places, Mike Macdonald has become a Coach of the Year contender while leading one of the NFL’s best defenses, Sam Darnold made his second straight Pro Bowl and Jaxson Smith-Njigba had a breakout season, finishing as the NFL’s leading receiver.

As Seattle started the season off strong, Schneider continued to invest in his team by trading for wide receiver Rashid Shaheed from the Saints. While Shaheed has not been significantly used on offense, he’s returned kicks for touchdowns in key games against the Rams and 49ers.

Like the Seahawks, the Patriots also weren’t afraid to make a tough coaching change. New England prepared Jerod Mayo as the heir replacement to Bill Belichick, but when Mayo’s first season as the team’s coach proved disastrous, the Patriots were willing to pivot, firing Mayo and replacing him with an experienced coach in Mike Vrabel, who led the team to a 14–3 record and the AFC championship game this season.

The Broncos made bold moves when they took on the dead cap from releasing Russell Wilson and drafted Bo Nix with the No. 12 pick in 2024. They’ve responded with two straight playoff appearances and a trip to the AFC title game.

From moving back to Los Angeles, hiring the youngest coach in modern NFL history to their “F— them picks” mantra (which may, in reality, be more catchphrase than a true strategy), the Rams have been the epitome of bold over the last decade. This year proved no different. L.A. was faced with special teams issues as Joshua Karty failed to connect on multiple kicks and they made critical errors in their Week 16 loss to the Seahawks. The Rams fired their special teams coordinator and replaced Karty with Harrison Mevis, who made the game-winning field goal on Sunday in overtime.

Elite coaching can make all the difference

To no one’s surprise, coaching matters in the NFL. That is especially true this year as two of the final four coaches are Super Bowl champions and the other two are Coach of the Year candidates.

The 2025 season has been the year of parity and franchise turnarounds, and final four and playoff field as a whole are reflective of that. Macdonald, Vrabel and Sean Payton all led their teams back to the postseason within two years of taking the job, resetting their teams’ cultures and quickly turning them into winners. While McVay is now one of the NFL’s longest tenured coaches, he once did the same by taking the Rams back to the playoffs in his first year.

The NFL has clearly taken notice of this already, as evidenced by this season’s nine coaching firings. Now, teams look to quickly find the next Vrabel, Macdonald or even Ben Johnson or Liam Coen.

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