Mike Vrabel and the Patriots will wait out the winter storm Sunday night in Denver before returning home Monday. Cooper Neill / Getty Images
The New England Patriots entered the AFC Championship Game having lost all four of their previous playoff games in Denver. So, after beating the Broncos 10-7 on Sunday to advance to Super Bowl LX, it’s fitting they’re spending a little extra time in the Mile High City.
Due to the winter storm sweeping through the U.S., the Patriots will spend the night in Denver on Sunday. The team had been preparing for this possibility, and told members of the traveling party to pack extra clothes in case they wouldn’t be able to get back to the New England area immediately after the game. The Patriots landed in Denver just 19 hours before kickoff.
“No curfew tonight,” said Milton Williams of coach Mike Vrabel’s postgame message. “But the bus leaving at 8 in the morning — so if you ain’t on it, you ain’t playing in the Bowl.”
The weather was mostly clear at kickoff in Denver, but heavy snow picked up at halftime and wreaked havoc on the playing conditions. Visibility was low and gusty winds brought a halt to both offenses. Stadium staff used leaf blowers to try to clear the snow off the yard lines during commercial breaks.
On the first possession of the second half, Patriots kicker Andy Borregales kicked the 23-yard go-ahead field goal, but neither team scored the rest of the way. Wearing their all-white uniforms, Patriots players were occasionally hard to spot on the broadcast.
Meanwhile, in Foxboro, snow was just as prevalent. At one point, the CBS broadcast showed a side-by-side of Denver’s Empower Field at Mile High with New England’s Gillette Stadium. The field in Foxborough was completely covered in snow just as the flurries started coming down in Denver.
The Patriots had lost playoff games in Denver in 1986, 2005, 2013 and 2015. Tom Brady was winless in playoff games at Empower Field.
New England snapping that postseason drought — and entering the Super Bowl a perfect 9-0 in true road games this year — is a testament to the turnaround Vrabel has been able to craft this year. The Patriots will travel back west for Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium on Feb. 8, and Vrabel will look to make history as the first person in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach with the same franchise.