It’s official!
Super Bowl LX is in the books and the Seattle Seahawks are the champs. There was no fluke or ambiguity this time around. They were the better team. They played better than the New England Patriots from start to finish. By halftime, Bad Bunny had more yards on the field than the Patriots offense.
They made it a little closer in the second half, but there was no magical comeback this time. The Seahawks held on and even widened their lead. Quarterback, Drake Maye, played one of the worst games a starting QB has ever played in the Super Bowl. By the end, you could easily tell that he and the entire Patriots offense had played an historically easy schedule. They coasted their way to the Super Bowl. Then, they finally played a legitimately good team and they were trash.
Now, I already mentioned that I was rooting hard for the Seahawks. I freely admit I’m glad they won and not just because they were the better team. I genuinely believe that them winning might have saved the NFL.
Because, with all due respect to fans in New England, I think the league and the sport would be irreparably damaged if the Patriots won again. The NFL has all these rules and policies in place meant to ensure parity. But that didn’t stop Tom Brady and the Patriots from absolutely dominating the AFC for 20 years. That shouldn’t have been possible, but Brady was just a once-in-a-generation quarterback. Someone like him does not come along very often.
Then, just five years later, the Patriots draft Drake Maye and they’re back in the Super Bowl in his second season. Considering how many other teams have suffered decades without a franchise quarterback, let alone a Super Bowl appearance, it’s just not fair. It feels too much like the New York Yankees always buying their way to another World Series, which they did for nearly a century. It’s not good for the sport. It’s not good for fans outside New England. And I don’t think the NFL could’ve endured seeing yet another Patriots Super Bowl.
The fact that the Patriots played so badly is actually a relief. I think even those in executive suites at the NFL understand that on some level. They all want a league where any team has a chance to go all the way. But that just hasn’t been true of the AFC for years now. It’s been either the Chiefs or the Patriots, with the Bengals having only broken that pattern once. It’s one thing for a team to have a dynasty. It’s quite another for an entire conference to be so lopsided.
With the conclusion of Super Bowl LX, fans can rest easy that another Patriots dynasty hasn’t begun. Next season will be interesting in that the Patriots will definitely have a harder schedule. There’s no way they’ll get as lucky as they did this season. It’s also likely that a few teams will go from worst to first or have magical runs. The Seahawks took an unconventional path to their championship run. That should give hope to multiple teams this offseason. It’s way more hope than would’ve been possible, had the Patriots won.
So, with the conclusion of another season, we can all take a deep breath. The NFL is safe from another Patriots dynasty, at least for now. The Seahawks are the champs for only the second time in their history. It’s going to be a long offseason. But thankfully, there’s hope that another team will go on a run like the Seahawks did.
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