What to know as the Seahawks claim their second Super Bowl title

It took more than a decade, but the Seattle Seahawks and their fans finally got their revenge Sunday for the famous Malcolm Butler play, defeating the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, to earn their second title in franchise history. In the process, they denied the Patriots what would have been a league-leading seventh Super Bowl win.

In a Super Bowl rematch that was a defensive struggle from the outset, Seahawks kicker Jason Myers converted five field goals, a Super Bowl record, and quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 202 yards and one touchdown. Running back Kenneth Walker III rumbled for 135 yards on the ground, earning himself Super Bowl MVP honors, the first running back to do so since the Denver Broncos’ Terrell Davis in 1998.

“We went through a lot of adversity this season, but we came together and we stuck together,” Walker said after the game. 

In a game devoid of drama, the Patriots never appeared to pose a threat to the Seahawks, and the only uncertainty seemed to be which surprise guests Bad Bunny would feature in his highly-acclaimed halftime show.

Darnold, who resurrected his career, has capped one of the greatest redemption arcs ever seen in football with a Lombardi Trophy after he was considered by many to have been a draft bust. After throwing 14 interceptions in the regular season, third-worst in the league, he didn’t throw a single pick in the playoffs. 

“It’s unbelievable, you know, just everything that’s happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Darnold said. “…Our defense, I can’t say enough great things about our defense, our special teams.”   

And maybe no one was more vindicated than former Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp, who led the Seahawks in receiving with 61 yards on six catches. The Los Angeles Rams, thinking Kupp’s best days were behind him, released him last offseason, only to see him sign with their division rival Seahawks.   

The Seahawks defensive front was stifling, sacking Patriots second-year quarterback Drake Maye six times. He finished with 295 yards passing, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, including a pick six. All his scoring, however, came late, when the game was out of reach. 

His fumble early in the fourth quarter led to the Seahawks’ only offensive touchdown of the game, a 16-yard grab by tight end AJ Barner. Then, with under five minutes to play, Seahawks corner Devon Witherspoon knocked the ball out of Maye’s hand on a blitz, and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu scooped it in the air and ran 45 yards for the score, setting off a party in Seattle.    

The two teams combined for a staggering 15 punts in the game.

Since 2015, Seattle fans have carried the bitter taste of Super Bowl XLIX, when the Patriots edged the Seahawks 28-24 thanks to Butler’s stunning goal line interception of Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson in the game’s waning seconds, one of the most famous plays in NFL history.

It was a different cast of characters Sunday to that 2015 game, and an entirely different outcome.

The Seahawks and Patriots were not considered serious contenders heading into the season, and this marked the first time since 1989 that two teams with preseason title odds of 60-to-1 or worse made the Super Bowl, according to Pro Football Reference and The Athletic’s Mike Sando. 

Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald proved to have met the challenge of replacing beloved longtime coach Pete Carroll in 2024, who ironically parted ways with the Seahawks one day before the Patriots did the same with the legendary coach Bill Belichick.

And Macdonald outdueled Patriots coach Mike Vrabel Sunday, who had no answers for Seattle’s dominant defense.

“We believe in each other, we love each other, and now we’re world champions,” Macdonald said on the podium as he hoisted the Lombardi trophy. 

Playing in the toughest division in football, one that produced three playoff teams with a combined record of 38-13, the Seahawks have been excellent all season. They defeated the San Francisco 49ers in Week 18 to finish with a 14-3 record and clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC and a first-round bye. 

In the divisional round, they crushed the injury-plagued 49ers 41-6, and then in a back-and-forth thriller, defeated the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in the NFC title game.