Super Bowl winners: Broncos, Patriots, Seahawks

The 2016-17 playoffs are in the books and we are counting down the days to Super Bowl LI.

The Atlanta Falcons will take on the New England Patriots in Houston Texas, live on February 5, from 10pm on Sky Sports 1.

Sky Sports takes a look at the three most recent NFL champions and how they fared in the regular season on the road to the Super Bowl this year.

Super Bowl 2016 champions: Denver Broncos

On a surprisingly balmy afternoon in the Bay Area, Denver Broncos gave Carolina Panthers a defensive masterclass with a 24-10 win at Levi's Stadium.

Super Bowl 50 was an opportunity for revenge in Denver, after they lost to the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII just two years before, and they did so in thoroughly dominant fashion.

They had run up a two-possession lead by the end of the fourth quarter and kept Carolina quarterback, Cam Newton, who was the regular season MVP, at bay for the majority of the game.

It was Denver linebacker, Von Miller, who claimed the game's MVP title, forcing two turnovers, making six tackles and 2.5 sacks, helping the Broncos organisation to their third NFL championship triumph.

Neither of last year's Super Bowlers made the 2016-17 play-offs, with the reigning champions finishing with a 9-7 record in the AFC West, while Carolina collapsed to finish bottom of the NFC South, with just six wins.

Super Bowl 2015 champions: New England Patriots

Veteran quarterback Tom Brady made history with the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX with a third MVP performance, 13 years after he first achieved the feat.

The then-37-year-old led New England to a 28-24 victory over the defending champions Seattle Seahawks, in Glendale, Arizona, taking the franchise's championship total to four.

It was a breathtaking display that drew deserved plaudits for New England, but Seahawks coach Pete Carroll's call to pass instead of rush on the Patriots' one-yard line with just 26 seconds to play left fans and pundits shocked.

Quarterback Russell Wilson's pass was intercepted in the end zone as Seattle surrendered possession and the Patriots went onto lift the Vince Lombardi trophy.

Super Bowl 2014 champions: Seattle Seahawks

It was the first New York Super Bowl in NFL history and Seattle's crowd - the 12th man - made their presence count. The partisan fans were firmly behind the soaring Seahawks, as they ran out 43-8 winners against Denver Broncos.

Their 13-3 regular season was never lost momentum as Seattle surged into the play-offs. The combined have-a-go attitudes of head coach Carroll and QB Wilson led Seattle to their first ever NFL championship, after the team had lost out to the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2006.

Only one other team had been held to fewer than ten points in 21st century Super Bowls - Ray Lewis' Baltimore Ravens beat New York Giants 34-7 in 2001 - the Broncos were outclassed by the number one defensive unit in the NFL that year.

Linebacker Malcolm Smith claimed Super Bowl MVP, with nine tackles and even returning a Peyton Manning pass for a 69-yard touchdown in a stellar defensive display.

Keep up with the playoffs on the road to Super Bowl LI with Sky Sports NFL, here and on Twitter at @SkySportsNFL.