On Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, AZ, the Seattle Seahawks were on the verge of immortality. After coasting to a dominant victory in Super Bowl 48 against Denver, Seattle was seemingly about to defeat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 49. They would be the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls since 2005 and cement the Seahawks as a dynasty in football history.
With 27 seconds remaining in the game, Seattle trailed 28–24 but had the ball on New England’s one-yard line. They were on the doorstep of victory, and in their backfield stood Marshawn Lynch, one of the greatest running backs in the sport. Victory seemed almost guaranteed.
Instead, chaos ensued. The ball was snapped, and shockingly, the ball was not placed in Lynch’s hands. Instead, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson dropped back to pass and tossed a quick throw toward his receiver, Ricardo Lockette.
The ball never made it to Lockette. Undrafted New England defensive back Malcom Butler jumped in front of the route and intercepted the ball. In one of the most shocking plays in sports history, the brief dominance of the Seahawks was destroyed.
It has now been 11 years since Super Bowl 49, and this Sunday, the Patriots and the Seahawks will meet again in Super Bowl 60. None of the players who played in Super Bowl 49 will be there, but the echoes of the Butler play have not been forgotten by the fans, the media, or the country at large.
The journey for both of these teams to reach the Super Bowl this season was unlikely. The 2025 NFL season was defined by surprises. The typically dominant Kansas City Chiefs collapsed and missed the playoffs, while the reigning champion Philadelphia Eagles were defeated in the first round of the playoffs.
In fact, based on preseason odds, Super Bowl 60 is the least likely Super Bowl matchup ever to occur and the second least likely North American championship ever to occur, behind the 1991 World Series. Seattle had +6000 odds to reach the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season. New England had +8000 odds. Those odds are 1.6 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.
The two quarterbacks who will be on the field Sunday were both drafted third overall. On the New England side, it is 23-year-old Drake Maye. Maye was drafted by New England in 2024 and has quickly become their phenom. In 2025, he put forth a regular season that has Boston sports fans wondering if they have their next Tom Brady. Maye finished second in the MVP race after a season where he put up over 4,000 passing yards and 35 total touchdowns.
In the playoffs, he has been less than an MVP. In the regular season, Maye averaged 258.5 yards per game. In three playoff games, he has only averaged 177.7. However, it is worth noting that in the playoffs, the defenses are better and the weather can add a layer of difficulty. The AFC championship where Maye defeated the Broncos in Denver was nothing short of a blizzard. So, a decrease in offensive production is understandable.
But there are fears about the health of Maye’s throwing shoulder. Maye was limited in practice last week with a shoulder injury. This week, he has returned to practice in full. But fans, who watched him under-throw the occasional ball in Denver two weeks ago, are fearful his health may be worse than is being shared. If there was ever a time to downplay an injury and push forward like everything is fine, the Super Bowl is the time to do it. The health of Maye’s shoulder will certainly be something to watch as the game unfolds Sunday evening.
The man leading the opposition Sunday is Sam Darnold, who is an incredibly unlikely football story in his own right. Drafted third overall in 2018 by the New York Jets, he was supposed to be a phenom the way that Maye is now. Instead, in true New York Jets fashion, things went badly. After three lackluster seasons, Darnold was traded to the Carolina Panthers. He bounced from there to San Francisco and then to Minnesota. In Minnesota, he found his groove again and led the Vikings to a 14–3 record in 2024.
Despite this, the Vikings moved on from Darnold, and he found his way to Seattle, where he has thrived in his first season. He led Seattle to a 14-win season and became the second quarterback ever to have back-to-back 14-win seasons (fittingly, the other guy is Tom Brady). Darnold, in a classic redemption story, has finally turned himself into the player he was supposed to be when he was drafted by the Jets in 2018.
The 2025 NFL season was filled with chaos and surprises, but has led to a Super Bowl that will feature a young prodigy looking to immediately become one of the greats and a veteran who was a failed phenom but has worked his way back to greatness.
Along with what will likely be a dazzling halftime show from Bad Bunny, the game will be exciting and unpredictable. The only thing you can predict for sure is that if Seattle has any plays from the one-yard line, they will probably run the ball.
