They’re back.

The New England Patriots conquered an over-achieving understudy in a Denver snowstorm to return to the Super Bowl for the first time in seven years and are one win away from a worst-to-first triumph masterminded by a new head coach and a stellar sophomore quarterback.

Mike Vrabel coached the Patriots to a 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game on Sunday and they advance to Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium near San Francisco on 8 February.

It will be New England’s first appearance in the NFL’s showpiece event since 2019, when they defeated the Los Angeles Rams in Atlanta. Compared to the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady-era Patriots dynasty, this iteration is decent rather than dominant, and perhaps a year of two ahead of schedule.

After all, the quarterback, Drake Maye, is a 23-year-old in his second NFL season and this was merely his third playoff game. He is, though, a fast-emerging and special talent spearheading a versatile and resilient group that adjusted effectively after early struggles against Denver, defended stoutly and did just enough to beat under-strength opponents who did not make the most of their chances in what devolved into a dour contest in awful weather.

Maye will be the youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl since Dan Marino in 1985. “What an atmosphere out here, battling the elements. Love this team,” Maye told CBS Sports after the game. “It wasn’t ideal; the defence have been stepping up all play-offs. We are going to play better.”

By reaching the Super Bowl in his first season as head coach, Vrabel is joining a club with only seven other members. The 50-year-old former Patriots linebacker, a three-time Super Bowl winner as a player, spent six seasons as head coach of the Tennessee Titans, losing the AFC championship game to Kansas City six years ago. Now he has the opportunity to win as a Patriot once again and become the first man to take the title as a player and a coach with the same team. “From day one he’s been the same guy, coaches hard but at the same time cares about us a lot,” Maye said.

Vrabel paid tribute to his players’ ability to adapt. “We have found different ways [to win] this entire season. Today was different conditions and we did what we had to do to win a football game,” he told CBS.

New England are the first NFL team ever to go 9-0 on the road and equalled the San Francisco 49ers’ record of 40 all-time playoff wins with this success. The script-flipping Patriots had endured two 4-13 regular seasons then surged to 14-3 in this campaign.

They were pre-game favourites, especially after comfortable victories over the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans in the wildcard and divisional rounds. It was clear, though, that the prior week’s victory owed much to a miserable afternoon for CJ Stroud, the Texans’ mushy-armed, possibly blindfolded, quarterback.

And in Denver they profited from the absence of Bo Nix, Denver’s first-choice quarterback, who suffered an ankle fracture at the end of a 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills a week earlier in the divisional round. He was watching from an Empower Field executive box after surgery and initially liked what he saw from his replacement, Jarrett Stidham, an obscure 29-year-old journeyman thrust into the spotlight and making his first start for 749 days.

Stidham and Joe Webb of the Minnesota Vikings (in January 2013) are the only quarterbacks since 1950 to start a playoff game without a passing yard to their name during the same season, according to ESPN. Entering the afternoon with 20 NFL regular-season appearances and four starts, Stidham had the fewest career starts of any quarterback in a conference championship game since 1970.

Prior to Sunday his main contribution to the team appeared to be providing a portable stereo nicknamed Mr Turtle that he uses to “keep the vibes high in the locker room.” But it did not take him long to find his rhythm against the Patriots. Strutting, winking and smiling, acting as if he had been out on centre stage every week, the back-up blossomed.

Naturally, New England attacked Stidham from the first seconds. But a 52-yard throw to Marvin Mims early in the first quarter set up the opening touchdown, with Stidham then finding an open Courtland Sutton in the end zone.

Perhaps getting carried away with the strong start, Denver head coach Sean Payton – the 62-year-old former New Orleans Saints boss, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title in February 2010 – made a characteristically aggressive decision. Denver ran on a fourth down rather than bank a field goal and increase the lead to 10-0. This backfired when an incomplete pass returned possession to the visitors and ultimately proved fatal in a game the Broncos lost by three points.

At the time, though, it sent a confident signal. And what did Maye and the Patriots have in response? Very little. New England were bamboozled and on the back foot, with Denver looking crisp, purposeful and positive until it all crumbled in a couple of seconds. An unforced error from Stidham late in the second quarter led to a third-down loss of possession as he back-pedalled and flung the ball backwards when tackled, with the officials ruling it a fumble. Maye then sauntered a short distance into the end zone for a touchdown. The smiles stopped. It was quite a vibe shift.

Wil Lutz missed a 54-yard field goal for Denver with 20 seconds left at the end of the half; there was still time for a 63-yard kick attempt by Andres Borregales for New England that drifted wide.

Borregales did give the Patriots the lead in the third quarter with a 23-yard field goal to conclude a lengthy drive as snowflakes fluttered then flurried. With visibility reducing by the minute in blowing snow, and the Patriots’ white uniforms increasingly camouflaged, the New England kicker veered a 46-yard effort wide to the right.

Denver toiled despite that reprieve and the mood in Mile High transformed from sparkling to flat as they were suffocated in the slippery snow. The Broncos were comeback experts this season but this game became an arctic battle of attrition: far from pretty, not that anyone could see what was going on with much clarity, let alone plot a forward path.

With under five minutes on the clock, Lutz’s potentially equalising 45-yard goal attempt was tipped wide. And with 2 minutes and 11 seconds left, Stidham went long but his overly risky throw was intercepted. Denver’s last best chance was gone, and the back-up quarterback’s good vibes were a distant memory. A new Patriots generation, meanwhile, seems to be slipping back into the franchise’s storied old routine.