Super Bowl week is here, and while a clash between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks isn’t the matchup most of us thought we’d be getting on the sport’s biggest stage, it’s actually kind of the perfect way to cap what’s been an incredibly unpredictable year of football.
Sam Darnold and Drake Maye authored two of the best stories of the season, so it’s only fitting that the two should meet in Sunday’s grand finale.
Both sides of this matchup are defined by excellent defence, but their respective QBs — a resurgent Darnold and an MVP-worthy second-year Maye — bring the most intrigue. We start there as we look at the top storylines of Super Bowl LX:
Sam Darnold’s long journey to the top
From New York “bust” to Carolina cast-off, 49ers backup to Minnesota’s most impressive reclamation project, and finally, the last QB standing in the NFC, the story of Sam Darnold’s roller-coaster career and stunning ascent to the Super Bowl reads like the script of a Disney movie.
We do love an underdog story.
That eight years after being drafted third overall in a star-studded QB class, Darnold — and not fellow 2018 first-rounders draftees Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson — is the first of his class to lead a team to the Super Bowl is just another part of what makes this story so stunning.
And it’s no fluke. Darnold has been the perfect QB for Seattle’s hot offence this season, with his chemistry next to breakout star Jaxon Smith-Njigba on full display. And while the club’s defence is at the centre of head coach Mike Macdonald’s squad, they got to the Super Bowl stage on the power of Darnold’s arm. In the NFC championship against the heavyweight Rams — the very team that made him crumble with the Vikings last post-season — Darnold was at his absolute best with 346 passing yards and three touchdowns in victory.
Maye’s sophomore surge
Like Darnold’s career resurgence, Maye’s second-season surge has been one of the defining storylines of the campaign.
Maye’s regular-season stats — 4,394 yards (fourth league-wide), an NFL-best 8.9 yards per attempt and 72 per cent completion rate to go with his 31 TD passes and just eight interceptions — have him more than worthy of his status as an MVP finalist. Those impressive offensive numbers took a hit in the post-season while being tested by three of the NFL’s top defences in the Chargers, Texans and Broncos, though his mobility against Denver with run plays both drawn up and improvised proved to be the difference. He’ll be tested again in Seattle, with an opportunity to play hero — and make history in the process.
Just by suiting up on Sunday, Maye becomes the youngest quarterback to start a Super Bowl. A win would see him pass Ben Roethlisberger as the youngest starting QB to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.
Maye’s got a long road ahead of him if he’s to truly earn any comparisons to Tom Brady, but a Super Bowl in Year 2 would be the perfect place to start.
The Patriots are back (and on the brink of history)
Well, that didn’t take long. After dominating the Super Bowl stage for the first two decades of the century — including six rings in nine appearances — the Patriots are back, and it almost feels like they never really left. A 4-13 record in 2023 marked the end of the Bill Belichick era, with the team sliding down the standings just in time to scoop up Drake Maye third overall. A second straight 4-13 campaign with a rookie Maye at the helm brought another coaching change, capping Jerod Mayo’s tenure to just one year and landing former Patriot Mike Vrabel at the perfect time. Then, as though summoning an elevator, New England swiftly rose back up to the AFC’s penthouse.
No franchise has been to more Super Bowls than New England (11 appearances). The Patriots’ 6-5 all-time Super Bowl record has them tied with the 6-2 Pittsburgh Steelers for most championships by an organization. One more this Sunday will see them secure the all-time record for themselves.
The Seahawks, meanwhile, are one of four franchises with a single Lombardi Trophy to their name. Seattle has made three Super Bowl appearances (2005, 2013, 2014) with their second trip bringing the trophy. That third trip brought… well, a pretty tough memory…
Seahawks hoping history doesn’t repeat itself
It’s been 11 years since New England and Seattle last met in Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015, and the memory of how it ended — not with an easy hand-off to Marshawn Lynch, but a short-yard pass intended for Ricardo Lockette that ended up in the arms of Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler — still feels fresh. We’ve seen some hearts break in stunning fashion on football’s biggest stage, but that moment remains in a league of its own, prompting more “what ifs” than any other. The Seahawks, after all, were the defending champs that year. A second straight Super Bowl would’ve had the Legion of Boom approaching dynasty status.
That Seattle’s first trip back to the Super Bowl since suffering that heartbreak comes against the very team that delivered it feels… poetic? Cruel? A little bit of both?
A win over the Patriots a decade later won’t take away that heartbreak, but it would certainly help ease the lingering sting. And if Seattle finds itself four points down with seconds to go at the goal line? Well, we all know what they’re running… right?
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