Twelve years ago, the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots faced off in Superbowl XLIX, with the Patriots coming out on top as the victors. Since then, the Patriots have been back to the big game 3 times, while for the Seahawks, they haven’t been close to reaching it again.
Twelve years later, the Patriots and Seahawks have new faces leading their franchises as they face off in Superbowl LX in Santa Clara. The path these two have taken towards the fight for the Lombardi has been opposite yet ending all the same.
The Seahawks earned the #1-seed in the NFC with a record of 14-3, earning them a first-round bye. This put them in place to face against their divisional rival, the San Franscisco 49ers. The result was catastrophic for the 49ers, scoring just two field goals to make 6 points against Seattle’s 41 points.
The following week, in the NFC Championship game, the Los Angeles Rams, another divisional rival, faced off against the Seahawks. This game came down to the wire, as both teams went pound-for-pound against each other, ending in the Rams failing to have their receiver run out of bounds to stop the clock, ending the game with a score of 31-27.
On the other side of the league, the Patriots earned the #2-seed, also having a 14-3 record. However, many have criticized this to the Patriots having an easy schedule, facing off against the worst teams in the league to get this record. This narrative has continued to push strong into the playoffs, with many in the media and online calling the Patriots path to the Superbowl (in the playoffs) to be easy.
One of these critics of the Patriots schedule to the game is Kenny Hayes ‘26, who believes that they had it easy on the road.
“The Patriots faced a bunch of backup quarterbacks in the regular season,” Hayes said. “Then, when they went into the playoffs, they had the easiest schedule in the playoffs. Drake Maye threw for just 86 yards in the Conference Championship, lowest by any quarterback ever.”
In contrast to the electric Rams-Seahawks game, the AFC conference championship between the #1-seed Broncos, who had just lost their starting quarterback with a season ending injury just the week before, and the Patriots. The game dragged on until the Patriots won 10-7.
Hayes believes that the tides would of been different had Bo Nix, the Broncos starting quarterback, not have gotten injured the week prior. The Superbowl would be entirely different, and coincidentally, a rematch to Superbowl XLVIII.
“If Bo Nix was not injured, the Broncos would have won easily against the Patriots, storming their way into the Superbowl to go against the Seahawks again.” Hayes said.
