For their part, outside of simply running the table since mid-September, the Pats haven’t made much mention of chasing the top seed.

But the closest team to them in the standings is the Broncos and head coach Sean Payton was open about how important the No. 1 seed could potentially be, especially under a format in which only the top team in each conference gets a bye through the first round, while the other six teams battle on wild card weekend.

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“You’re in a position where they can kind of see that if you are able to capture the No. 1 seed, you eliminate a game and that’s significant,” Payton told the Denver Post last week.

Payton knows from experience as head coach in New Orleans. Even as the No. 2 seed with a first-round bye in 2006, going on the road to play the top-seeded Bears at Soldier Field in the NFC championship game in brutal January weather was insurmountable.

“I remember after that tough loss feeling like, ‘We have to find a way to play this game at home.’ ”

When the Saints won the Super Bowl in 2009, they did it as a No. 1 seed.

That’s not a coincidence. From the time the NFL adopted a 12-team playoff format in 1990 to the time it got rid of the format in 2020, the power of the No. 1 seed was undeniable.

How important is the first-round bye for playoff success in the NFL?Julian Benbow

Half of the 30 Super Bowl champions over that span were No. 1 seeds in their conference.

Having a bye was essentially just as much of a leg-up: 48 of the 60 teams that reached the Super Bowl in that span had byes (80 percent) and 22 of the 30 champions had byes (73 percent).

Payton acknowledged that having a bye obviously wasn’t a prerequisite for a Super Bowl run, but it certainly doesn’t hurt — even under a modern format that’s made it feel like the bye week isn’t as powerful as it once was.

In 2020, the NFL expanded the postseason to seven teams in each conference, but shrunk the number of byes to just one.

Since then only one of the five Super Bowl champions — the Kansas City Chiefs in 2022 — have been a No. 1 seed.

But at the same time, half the 10 teams in the past five Super Bowls have been No. 1 seeds. Teams with byes are 13-9 since 2020. Without a bye, teams are 52-56.

The Patriots don’t have nearly as much experience under the expanded bracket (their lone playoff appearance since 2020 was a first round exit as a wild card in 2021), but under the old format, no team benefited more from playoff bye weeks than they did.

In 18 playoff appearances since 2001, the Pats had 13 byes. They’re 27-7 when they have a bye and 3-5 when they don’t.

Byes were a staple of their nine trips to the Super Bowl over that span. They skipped the first round in each season.

The only time they had a bye and still went one and out was 2010 when they lost to the Jets in the divisional round.

The Patriots have been the No. 1 seed seven times. They reached the Super Bowl six times as the No. 1 seed and won it three times.

Now they have a chance to do it again. To do it, they’ll have to hold off a Broncos team that’s arguably as hot as they are, riding a nine-game win streak.

Who has the inside track on the No. 1 seed depends on who you ask. The New York Times’ playoff simulator has the Patriots with the best chance at clinching the No. 1 seed in the AFC with 59 percent odds. The Broncos are second at 33 percent. The NFL’s Next Gen Stats playoff probability model has the Patriots’s odds at 36 percent, and the Broncos odds at 48.

The Patriots will be challenged coming out of this bye week with matchups against the Bills and Ravens, but wrap up the season against the Jets and Dolphins. The Broncos have a heavier lift after facing the Raiders this week, ending the season against the Packers, Jaguars, Chiefs, and Chargers.

Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.