January 28th, 2026
By Stephen Juza
After an exciting season of football, it all comes down to this: Super Bowl LX, between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. On February 8th, these two teams will face off against each other in a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX in 2014 that ended with one of the most famous interceptions in NFL history.
That matchup may have ended up as a Patriots victory, but the teams in this Super Bowl are vastly different from the ones in 2014. While we break down several key matchups, fans can explore keno online ethiopia as part of the broader casino-style entertainment options that add extra excitement to the Super Bowl experience.
Matchup 1: Mike Macdonald versus Mike Vrabel
If the game was played between the coaches, there’s no comparison. Vrabel brought a championship pedigree from his time in New England as a linebacker, winning three Super Bowls with the team. Even before that, he was an All-American for the Ohio State Buckeyes, winning the Big 10 Defensive Lineman of the Year award twice. Macdonald on the other hand will be the first head coach to coach in the Super Bowl without playing a down of college or professional football.
But it’s not a battle between the coaches’ playing abilities, but rather between their coaching abilities. Vrabel still has the nod. He’s been a head coach much longer with more success. His time in Tennessee put him as the third-winningest coach in Titans history, leading the Titans to the playoffs three times and making an appearance in the AFC Championship game. In his first season in New England, the turnaround was stark, taking the Patriots from consecutive 4-13 seasons to 14-3 in his inaugural season.
Macdonald’s career is just taking off, but has been around success throughout his 11 seasons in the NFL coaching ranks. After coaching with John Harbaugh for nine seasons, he took over the Seahawks after Pete Carroll was fired. During his time in Seattle, he’s won a lot of games: 24 to be exact. While they missed the playoffs last season in the tough NFC West, they took the #1 seed this season.
Matchup 2: Sam Darnold versus Patriots Defense
Sam Darnold is still silencing doubters, and that doubt may continue if the Seahawks aren’t victorious. After a rocky start to his career, the former third overall pick in the 2018 draft bounced from the Jets, to the Panthers, to the 49ers, before showing the league what he was capable of in 2024 as the Vikings quarterback. Despite the success last year, the Vikings decided to go with J.J. McCarthy and Darnold went to the Seahawks.
Darnold put together another successful season, but his splits between the first half and second half of the season was stark. In the first half of the season, he threw 16 touchdowns to only five interceptions, but in the second half of the season, he threw nine of each, all while the number of sacks doubled. He has been incredibly efficient in the playoffs, throwing four touchdowns and zero interceptions so far, but the Patriots will be a much better defense than he’s faced so far in the playoffs.
Key 3: Patriots Easy Schedule
It’s hard to imagine a team getting an easier schedule en route to the Super Bowl. Of course they can only beat the teams on their schedule, and it’s not their fault that their matchups this season were against the AFC North and the NFC South, arguably the two worst divisions in the league. And with the Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix breaking his ankle during the AFC Divisional Round, it meant that the toughest game of the Patriots schedule was against the backup quarterback.
While the Broncos defense was plenty scary, the fact that the Patriots won 10-7 is possibly yet another sign that they have reached this point due to the schedule. While there are never ‘easy’ games on the NFL schedule, the Patriots have excelled at beating up on bad opponents. They will have a chance to silence the doubters during the Super Bowl.
The Seahawks on the other hand were able to get through by far the toughest division in the NFL with numerous victories over top opponents at full strength (or as close to full strength as an NFL team can be). They are far more battle tested than the Patriots were this season. They have been able to prove time and again they were the best team in the NFC.
Prediction: Seahawks over Patriots
We expect the Seahawks to win over the Patriots. If the Seahawks are able to jump out to an early lead and force the Patriots into a passing offense, look for the defense to feast. Drake Maye led the league in fumbles this year, and the Seahawks should be able to force a key turnover.