- New England Patriots will appear in a record 12th Super Bowl and can win a record seventh Lombardi Trophy.
- The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks have met in a Super Bowl before, when the Patriots won Super Bowl 49, one of the most memorable Super Sundays ever.
- Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots head coach and former player, can become the first to win a Super Bowl as both a player and coach for the same team.
SEATTLE — After five months and 284 games, the matchup for Super Bowl 60, aka Super Bowl LX, is set − the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks set to face off at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Feb. 8.
As is typically the case, this Super Sunday stage will be packed with storylines, plots, subplots and grist for the football mill as these teams − neither of them playoff qualifiers a year ago − vie for the NFL’s grandest prize.
Here’s what the football world will be talking about during the buildup to kickoff over the next two weeks:
Super Bowl history for the Patriots?
No NFL entity has won seven Lombardi Trophies … except for former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who won six with New England before capturing a seventh with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the Pats, who will be appearing on Super Sunday for the 12th time – most ever by a franchise – now have a seventh championship in their crosshairs and could break their deadlock with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowls won by a single organization.
TB12/BB-less Super Bowl history for Patriots?
New England more or less ruled the NFL roost for the first two decades of the 21st century, their unparalleled dynasty unfolding in multiple acts with Brady, head coach Bill Belichick and quite a cast of supporting actors – the Oscars go to Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Adam Vinatieri – along the way. But the Pats have never had a sterling silver season sans Brady or Belichick. The 1985 AFC champs were swallowed whole by the ’85 Bears in Super Bowl 20, and the ’96 squad, led by coach Bill Parcells and QB Drew Bledsoe, unable to overcome the Brett Favre Packers in Super Bowl 31. Six years on from Brady and in their second season post-Belichick, coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye – and a cadre of others who joined up during last offseason’s makeover, can draw a clear line of demarcation between these new edition Patriots and the dynastic ones New England’s, ahem, long-suffering fans of yesteryear used to root for.
History for a distinguished quarterback draft class
The 2018 and 2024 drafts – at least we think so on the latter – have produced bumper crops of signature QBs in recent years. Seahawks QB Sam Darnold was the third overall pick in 2018 (by the New York Jets), yet hasn’t compiled the individual accolades of draftmates Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson or Baker Mayfield. Yet. But the late-blooming Darnold could become the first QB of his class to lift the Lombardi. The same could be true for the Patriots’ Drake Maye, one of six quarterbacks selected in Round 1 two years ago. A finalist for league MVP a year after the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels had an extraordinary Rookie of the Year campaign – which fell one win shy of a Super Bowl appearance – Maye could similarly set the bar for the 2024 passers.
Super Bowl 49 vibes
Super Bowl 60 will occur 11 years after, arguably, the most memorable Super Sunday ever – the Pats’ 28-24 defeat of the Seahawks in Super Bowl 49, ending their 10-year title mini-drought, thanks to Seattle QB Russell Wilson’s decisive and controversial goal-line interception in the final seconds. That play breathed fresh life into the Patriots’ dynasty and ended any chance that the “Legion of Boom” era Seahawks had of becoming one, that team slowly fraying in the years after – some of their players still incredulous that Wilson didn’t hand off to running back Marshawn Lynch for what could have been the short-yardage TD that would have potentially rewritten league history. This game will look different, the Patriots likely to wear blue in this game (they wore white in Super Bowl 49), but it will also be staged in an NFC West stadium (indoors at the Cardinals’ in 2015, outside at the 49ers’ this year), but there’s little doubt not-so-ancient history will be dredged up by the rematch.
Super Bowl history for Mike Vrabel?
New England’s first-year head coach, who won three Super Bowl rings as a linebacker with the franchise in the first half of the Brady-Belichick dynasty, could make a unique mark in league history. With one more victory, Vrabel would become the first person in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as both a player and coach for the same team. It would also be the Patriots’ 18th win of the season (regular season and postseason combined), which would match the club record of the 2007 team that went 16-0 in the regular season and finished 18-1 after losing Super Bowl 42, a game Vrabel also played in.
Happy 50th, Seahawks
The year-long celebration of America’s semiquincentennial birthday – a fancy way of saying 250th – pales in comparison to Seattle completing its 50th NFL season, perhaps in grand style. The Seahawks can match the Buccaneers, their 1976 expansion brethren, with a second Super Bowl trophy 12 years after winning their first.
Sean McVay siren song?
We’re not breaking news here, but the potential departure of the Los Angeles Rams head coach for a TV job – speculation about his future has run rampant before and doubtless will again, especially if QB Matthew Stafford retires or the coaching staff gets raided – could surface again given what a brilliant guy he is, plus the fact he has little left to prove under the headset after leading the Rams to the Super Bowl twice and winning it once in nine seasons. McVay, who turned 40 on Saturday, also has two young children, including a newborn who arrived in December. Whether he’s ready to take a break from the head coaching grind remains TBD … but also almost certain to spark renewed questions about his future. It’s also worth noting that the 2026 Rams, assuming Stafford continues to play, would seem to have a brighter outlook than the squads that almost immediately had to reboot and reload – DT Aaron Donald, CB Jalen Ramsey and WR Cooper Kupp were linchpins of the 2021 Rams – following the defeat of the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56.