Super Bowl LX (60) Prequel
Sunday, February 8, 2026, 6:30pm on NBC
AFC 14-3 (2) New England Patriots at NFC 14-3 (1) Seattle Seahawks (-4 1/2)
How we got here:
AFC: The Patriots under first year head coach Mike Vrabel and second year quarterback Drake Maye built a good team with a great defense. They won the AFC East for the first time in five years. The Patriots went on the road and played the AFC Title Game in a blizzard. The Patriots survived Denver 10-7 in a winter wonderland slugfest.
NFC: The Seahawks under second year head coach Mike McDonald and first year quarterback Sam Darnold built a team with a tenacious defense in winning the NFC West. While not as flashy as the vaunted Legion of Boom, this defense is brutal. After blasting San Francisco to pieces, the Seahawks survived the Rams 31-27 in the NFC Title Game.
As fans know, these teams met in the Super Bowl 11 years ago. Rather than hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the one yard line, the Seahawks opted to throw an interception and lose the Super Bowl.
These are two completely new teams that rebounded far quicker than rival fan bases wanted. With Bill Belichick and Pete Carroll elsewhere, these teams were supposed to go through long rebuilds. Instead, great coaching got them right back on top. Vrabel is a belichick disciple and former teammate of Tom Brady.
Both teams love stone age football, running and defense. Maye and Darnold are both competent quarterbacks who will not lose a game for their team. Darnold was cast aside last year after going 14-3 in Minnesota. Vrabel was fired from Tennessee after injuries derailed them team one year after being the top seed. Minnesota and Tennessee both made big mistakes and became cellar dwellers.
Vrabel, like Belichick and Belichick’s mentor Bill Parcells, know how to develop game plans to take down supposedly superior opponents. Parcells’s 1990 Giants stopped the supposedly unstoppable Buffalo offense. Belichick began the Patriots dynasty in 2001 by shocking the Rams Greatest Show on Turf.
Yet those defeated teams won with offense. The Seahawks have a fast, tough and nasty defense. With weather not being a factor, the Seahawks should be able to utilize their speed. On offense, they love to pound the ball.
The Patriots are in their NFL record 12th Super Bowl, with 10 of them being this century. The Seahawks are in their 4th Super Bowl.
The main difference between these teams is that the Patriots are a good team and the Seahawks are a great team. The Seahawks are a wrecking machine. They are the favorites, and will play like it. Seahawks cover