Jim Davis/Globe Staff

Tom Brady officially threw for 354 yards in the Patriots’ 51-23 demolition of the Chicago Bears on Sunday,

But his five-touchdown afternoon traveled much further than that.

From Foxborough, down I-95 and through the Meadowlands, by the Hoosier State with a knowing wink, past the Windy City to deliver condolences, and across the plains, into Colorado, the performance reverberated, a 1,972-mile journey with a message postmarked for the Denver Broncos.

Bring it.

The Game of the Year is finally The Game of the Week. The 6-1 Broncos come to Gillette Stadium next Sunday afternoon to face the 6-2 New England Patriots, both with wildly impressive Week 8 showings that have, once again, cemented the fact that these two teams are the class of the AFC.


In beating the San Diego Chargers on Thursday night, the rolling Broncos not only displayed their vaunted offensive attack, led by the record-breaking (had you heard?) Peyton Manning, but a stalwart defense that seems to have had added the missing pieces (including former Patriots’ cornerback Aqib Talib, having a monster season) to complement their dangerous, score-at-will approach.

Meanwhile, the Patriots took the Bears, crumpled up any semblance of hope they had coming into Sunday, and tossed the mess into the Neponset Reservoir. By the time the first half was over, the Patriots led, 38-7. By the time the game was over, Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who had three touchdown catches and 149 yards receiving, became the franchise’s greatest pass-catch tandem with 48 touchdowns and counting. The defense shut down any chance the Bears might have had, and, ultimately, forced the rest of the NFL to look differently at the New England Patriots than it might have a fortnight ago.

If the Denver Broncos are indeed unstoppable, as some have surmised, Sunday gave a new hope, in a thorough trouncing of what was perceived to be premium competition. The Patriots aren’t just heading into the Denver game looking like a team that can give the Broncos a run. They’re welcoming Denver at a point in the season in which they are running on all cylinders, putting together their strongest game plan of the season by far, and thus, putting the first seven games of the season in the rear-view mirror, just where the game against the Bears went after about 33 minutes.


Here comes Denver. Here comes Manning. Here come Wes Welker, Demaryius Thomas, Ronnie Hillman, Emmanuel Sanders, DeMarcus Ware, and Talib.

Begin the hype.

“We have a week to prepare, so we’ll kind of build our confidence throughout the week,” Brady said. “They’re a different team. Obviously they’re a good team. We’ll need a week to prepare for them. It’ll be a fun game next week.”

It’s also most likely an AFC Championship game preview. With all due respect to the Colts, Ravens, Bengals, and Chargers, the overall picture hasn’t changed. The Patriots and the Broncos are on a collision course, and based on the most recent returns for each, it’s the matchup we all want to see come January. Manning and Brady. Again.

“It will be great game,” Brady said. “It always is. It’s always pretty meaningful.”

Last year, the Patriots comeback victory over the Broncos could have meant hosting the AFC title game for a third straight season. But a late-season gag against the Miami Dolphins forced New England to travel to Colorado, where it met its demise on a field where Brady had little more than Julian Edelman, Austin Collie, and Matt Slater as receiving targets. One season later, it’s so far, so good for Gronkowski, who now has 50 career touchdowns, tying him with Randy Moss and Ben Coates for the second-most in franchise history. Which obviously means that Stanley Morgan’s leading 67 won’t last much longer.


A healthy Gronkowski alone makes this a more dynamic Patriots’ team. Duh.

So does Brandon LaFell (124 yards and a touchdown). So does Tim Wright (61 yards and a touchdown). So too does even rookie Jonas Gray, who ran the ball 17 times for 86 yards, an average of five yards per carry.

These are definitely not the same Patriots the Broncos saw the last time. Hell, they’re not even the same Patriots we saw last month.

“I would remind you that a month ago, with how much stock we put into this, it was a completely different team (from who was predicted to reach the Super Bowl),” Broncos head coach John Fox said about determining the league’s best halfway through the season, according to the Denver Post. “A month before that, guess what. It was a completely different team. People on the outside can’t figure out who is the best one even when you narrow it down to 12.

“Right now when they are trying to pick from 32 teams, we don’t put much thought into it.”

The Seahawks are falling apart. The Ravens have shaken off the dust. The 49ers are coming off an utter embarrassment against the Broncos. The Bengals are a Jekyll and Hyde clown show. There are no certainties among them.

Not so with the Broncos and the Patriots. The AFC’s elite are, once again, on top, with both teams keeping the other in the corner of their eyes, as the day approaches.

But it was the Broncos on Sunday, who could do little more than watch the Patriots, wide-eyed and understanding the message: Nope.

Not yet, Denver.

“I just think we’re playing better,” Brady said of his team’s performance in winning its last four games. “Obviously I have a lot of confidence in what we’re doing, and we just have to keep doing it.”

This was less about beating the Bears Sunday than it was about assurance with the Broncos up next. Still nervous? Hell, yes. You should be.

Clearly though, after the carnage we witnessed at Gillette on Sunday, the Broncos should be too.