Neither Denver nor Buffalo reached Super Bowl LX. Denver beat the Bills 33–30 in overtime in the divisional round on January 17, 2026, before losing 10–7 to New England in the AFC Championship Game on January 25.
The Bills’ official divisional-round report and Denver’s championship-game account provide the dated results. This is a review of a completed playoff route, not a current betting recommendation.
Denver and Buffalo were on the same side
Both teams belonged to the AFC. They could compete for that conference’s place in the Super Bowl, but they could not face each other in the Super Bowl itself under the format used for LX.
The same distinction explains why Seattle–Rams was not a possible Super Bowl pairing. Checking the bracket should come before debating a predicted final.
Reaching one stage is not reaching the next
Denver’s win over Buffalo advanced the Broncos to the conference championship. It did not secure the AFC title. New England’s subsequent win is the separate result that decided the conference representative.
A useful playoff review keeps those stages visible. Calling a team a contender can be reasonable at one date and obsolete after elimination, so the date must travel with the claim.
Evaluate forecasts without hindsight
A prediction should retain the information available when it was made. Later results can be used to assess it, but should not be inserted into the original reasoning as if they were known.
Our guide to dark-horse claims explains the need for a baseline, while the Super Bowl LX result overview records the final matchup. Neither a confident headline nor an undated price range establishes the probability a team actually had at the time. Here, the completed record provides a clear answer: the AFC representative was New England.
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