We’ve arrived at the final game of the season, as the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are set to face off and determine the 2025/26 NFL champions. Although the cast of characters looks completely different, this is a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX eleven years ago, when Pete Carroll’s group infamously decided to not hand the ball to Marshawn Lynch at the goal-line, but instead opened the door for – at the time – little-known Malcolm Butler to become the unlikely hero, as he intercepted the pass on a designed pick-play, and stopped the potential go-ahead touchdown drive. That also put an end to what might’ve become a Seahawks dynasty, while simultaneously starting the second run of three Lombardi Trophies over a five-year period in New England’s franchise history. They will now try to break a tie with the Steelers for the most hardware collected in league history, compared to the Hawks trying to put their names into the history books for the second time.
As it pertains to main figures in this rematch, we have first- and second-year coaches in Mike Vrabel and Mike Macdonald respectively with their teams, who both led their teams to 14-3 records, with the former trying to become the only man in NFL history to win Super Bowls as both a player and a coach for the same franchise. At quarterback, this matchup features two former third overall picks, who had quite different starts to their career. Drake Maye was an MVP frontrunner in just his second season as a pro, and would be the youngest guy at the position to win a ring, only turning 24 years old about a month before next season starts. Sam Darnold, on the other hand, was an outcast heading into 2024/25 for the Vikings, and might’ve lost out the starting battle to then-rookie J.J. McCarthy, had he not gotten hurt in preseason. Now on his fifth team in eight years, he just became the only QB not named Tom Brady to win 14+ games in back-to-back years with different franchises.
For the Patriots, while Vrabel did inject new life in his return to the franchise, he also brought back long-time offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to help guide Maye during his development. Projected with an Over/Under of 8.5 wins, thanks to being more calculated with signing largely mid- to lower-tier free agents to a roster still in transition, there were *some* expectations for growth after just picking fourth overall in the draft, but they vastly exceeded those behind one of the most vertically-oriented passing attacks. And yet, it was their defense stepping up during this playoff run against the Chargers, Texans and Broncos – who all strived for lower-scoring affairs – and their excellent game-planning as well as situational awareness as a coaching staff, that has helped carry them here. The Seahawks, meanwhile, could rely one of the truly elite defenses on their part throughout the year, which already helped them win ten games the previous season, but had their own questions about what the offense would look like, after making huge changes when they swapped out Geno Smith for Darnold at QB, moved on from a pair of veteran receivers and put new OC Klint Kubiak in charge the operation. That decision went about as well as anyone could’ve hoped for, and along with some sparks from their special teams, they’ve looked like the most complete team in football. They destroyed the 49ers in week 18 and the Divisional Round, before deciding the season series with their other division rival Rams in their favor.
I want to dive into both sides of the ball, what the strengths and weaknesses look like, and how they match up against one another. Then I’ll bring up a couple of X-factors for either team, before closing out by predicting the final score and Super Bowl MVP. Let’s get it started!
Halil's Real Footballtalk 