The Seattle Seahawks are Super Bowl champions for the second time after they dominated the New England Patriots to come out victors by a score of 29-13 in Santa Clara. It was a rough night for 23-year-old quarterback Drake Maye as he and his offense came up against the best defensive unit in the league, to which they had no answers. Seattle’s defense put up an all-time great performance as they forced a punt on the Patriots’ first eight drives before forcing three turnovers, all while they put up six sacks. The best team throughout the entire season doesn’t always win the Super Bowl, however, this year, there is no question that the Seahawks were the standout team in the NFL from start to finish of the 2025 season.
The Patriots were never really in this game. While the Seahawks also struggled to move the ball at times, Sam Darnold was at least able to take his team down the field with some consistency, helped greatly by Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III, who had 135 rushing yards, with 26 receiving yards on top of that. New England, however, had quite literally no success moving the ball until the game was already dead and buried. Despite the best efforts of Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots’ star cornerback who was by far their best player, the Seahawks managed to muster three first half field goals by Jason Myers, all while New England’s offense was punting drive after drive.
The Seahawks dominated the Patriots in every aspect of the game. In the first half, New England had 47 yards of total offense, not including their kneel down before halftime, and they punted on all five of their drives. Seattle was able to get pressure with four, particularly dominating the left side of the Patriots’ offensive line, with rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson both having a rough outing in their Super Bowl debuts. But despite being able to get pressure with just four rushers, the Seahawks didn’t stick to a conservative defensive gameplan , although they would have still dominated with one. Mike Macdonald rushed defensive backs on blitzes as well, with cornerback Devon Witherspoon picking up one of three first half sacks for Seattle’s defense. After a dominant opening to quarters by the NFC Champions, Bad Bunny came out to perform the half time show with Macdonald’s men leading 9-0.
The second half was no better for New England. After they went three and out to start the second half, Seattle put together another drive that was solid enough to gain points, making it 12-0 after Myers’ fourth field goal. All Darnold and his offense needed to do at this point was not make a mistake. The next four drives from both teams didn’t see a single first down gained, something the Seahawks were perfectly fine with given their 12 point lead, evidenced by a run call on 3rd and 14. The first time the Patriots picked up a first down in the second half was thanks to a defensive holding penalty on Witherspoon. The defense soon made up for their mistake, however, with Derrick Hall strip sacking Maye as Byron Murphy II recovered the ball.
Five plays later the Seahawks were in the endzone. The Patriots defense had no choice but to commit players to the box and stop the run, not only because of Walker’s success, but also because the clock, as well as the scoreboard, were very much in the Seahawks’ favour. Given that, a play action pass was no surprise as Darnold found A.J. Barner for the first touchdown of Super Bowl LX. 19-0, the game was over. Maye did make two back-to-back great throws on the next drive, with the second being a touchdown pass to Mack Hollins but, despite that score being followed by a Seahawks punt after just four plays on offense, there was never any chance of a comeback being mounted against this defense. That was soon made clear by Julian Love as he intercepted Maye on New England’s next drive.
A fifth Myers field goal made it 22-7. Following that, the Seahawks did what all great defenses do in Super Bowls. Just like the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, and of course the 2013 Seattle Seahawks, the 2025 Seattle Seahawks made their mark with a defensive touchdown on the biggest stage to establish their dominance. It came as Witherspoon, who had a case for Super Bowl MVP, yet again caused havoc with a blitz, forcing the ball out of Maye’s hand, with Uchenna Nwosu getting the interception and going all the way to the endzone for a touchdown, making the score 29-7.
New England scored a consolation touchdown on the following drive but the damage was done. Macdonald had coached circles around Josh Mcdaniels, New England’s offensive coordinator, all night. Maye had looked lost in the pocket and missed several throws, with Seattle flying to the ball on every play. The Patriots’ offense was unable to establish a run game all night, couldn’t protect their quarterback, and couldn’t get open down the field. Even when they could get open, Maye was often so flustered in the pocket he couldn’t make the necessary throws. The Patriots’ 13 points flattered them. This was a massacre from start to finish as Seattle became the first team in 51 years to shut out an opposing offense through three quarters of the Super Bowl. Any success New England had on offense came when the game was already done.
Despite Seattle’s dominance on the defensive side of the ball, it is hard to argue against Kenneth Walker’s Super Bowl MVP. The defensive display was down to a dominant unit rather than one player taking over, although some players such as Derrick Hall and Devon Witehrspoon did of course stand out. Walker was excellent for a Seahawks offense that did not have much of an air attack. Sam Darnold wasn’t great in this game but he did enough. The Seahawks quarterback didn’t turn the ball over, and was excellent in the pocket in terms of avoiding sacks, avoiding negative plays all night, which was all he needed to do when he had as good a defense as he did. Darnold needed to produce one great game in these playoffs for this team to win the Super Bowl and he did exactly that, against Seattle’s toughest opponent in the NFC Championship. The hard work was done for him, he just needed to play a clean Super Bowl and he would have the Lombardi Trophy in his hand, and that’s exactly what he did, capping off one of the greatest comeback stories in NFL history. Labelled as a bust so early in his career after the New York Jets picked him with the 3rd overall pick of the 2018 draft, Darnold becomes the first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl after playing for at least five teams.
For the Patriots, this was a rough outing. It is unfair to ever say a team didn’t deserve to make a Super Bowl given how much time and effort goes into winning your conference, however, it is easy to understand the arguments stating that the Patriots were lucky to get to the big game. They had a historically easy schedule and were gifted an AFC Championship game against a backup quarterback who hadn’t thrown a pass for two entire seasons. It’s fair to say that the Patriots did not belong on the same field as the Seahawks, however, no team in the AFC did and, in addition to that, the only team in the entire league that was even close to Seattle’s level was the Los Angeles Rams.
Seattle’s defense has established themselves as one of the best we have seen in the last decade. In the second half of the season, only the MVP of the league had an ounce of success against them. After a historically dominant Super Bowl performance, this team now has a chance to establish their legacy as an all-time great defense. One Super Bowl victory should not be the final goal for this team, it should just be the beginning of something bigger. They have a 38-year-old head coach, a quarterback under 30, nine defensive starters also currently under 30, and one of the best receivers in the league aged just 23. 11 years ago, the Seahawks were denied a dynasty at the goal line in the Super Bowl against the Patriots. This year they have avenged that loss, and given themselves a chance at establishing that dynasty they missed out on a decade ago. The sky is the limit for this young team, a team that possesses all the talent in the world.