The Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams make up the Sunday Night Football Game in Week 3 of the 2026 NFL Season, and while we still have literally months before the Super Bowl next February, it’s not hard to see why this game could be a teaser for the big game.
Denver and Los Angeles are two of the best teams in sports right now, and you could easily argue that they is the most talented in the NFL.
And since this game is at Mile High, the Broncos could get the win, since they don’t have as much talent as the Rams, so home-field advantage makes this game a legitimate coin flip. When you dive into each team and how close they are in 2025, it’s not a stretch to imagine we’ll see these two teams in the Super Bowl.
Week 3’s SNF showdown could be a clear preview of Super Bowl LXI
Denver and Los Angeles combined to go 26-8 in the regular season last year. Both teams also advanced to the conference title game. The Broncos experience was really brutal, though. After a big win against the Buffalo Bills, news broke from head coach Sean Payton that quarterback Bo Nix had broken his ankle.
Had Nix not broken his ankle, the Broncos would have actually beaten the New England Patriots the following week, as, despite Jarrett Stidham’s start, the Broncos only lost by three points. The Patriots’ offense has no answer for the Broncos’ defensive front, but the same can be said for the Brocnos’ offense against what the Pats are doing on defense.
An unexpected snowstorm that hit in the second half also complicated things. One big element the Broncos lost last year was a playmaker like Jaylen Waddle – someone who can consistently break out and be the team’s de-facto WR1.
Denver returned most of their other major free agents with a clear ‘run it back’ mentality, and you can’t blame them for that. Los Angeles became more aggressive. Already sporting the league’s top scoring offense from 2025, the team made several high-profile defensive additions in Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald, Trent McDuffie, and Jaylen Watson.
If the Rams only added McDuffie and Watson, that would still represent enough change in the secondary to have the unit in a good place, while the Rams secondary is taken in stride by 2025. The Rams honestly don’t have much need at all along the defensive line, so the additions of Garrett and Donald are honestly like icing on the cake.
While Super Bowl windows in the NFL can close as quickly as they open, both Denver and LA check all the boxes, and that’s true even when you look at the coaching staff and front office.
The loser of this game should still be viewed as a contender, however, and when you put together what each team has going for them and what happened last year, it’s clearly a preview of Super Bowl LXI.
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