Seahawks to face Patriots in Super Bowl 60

The Seattle Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl 60 after claiming a thrilling victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

The NFC Championship game was a shootout in Seattle, with Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold and Rams counterpart Matt Stafford both throwing three touchdown passes before the hosts held on for a 31-27 win.

Meanwhile, defences dominated the AFC Championship game as the Patriots ground out a 10-7 win in a blizzard at the Denver Broncos.

Quarterback Drake Maye, Stafford’s main rival for this season’s Most Valuable Player award, ran in New England’s only touchdown as they secured a record-extending 12th Super Bowl appearance and their first since Tom Brady led the franchise to its sixth NFL championship in 2019.

This year’s NFL title decider will be a rematch of 2015, when the Patriots beat the Seahawks 28-24 to deny them back-to-back Super Bowl wins.

This is the fourth time Seattle have reached the NFL showpiece, with their solitary championship coming in 2014.

Super Bowl 60 takes places on Sunday, 8 February in Santa Clara, California, at the home of the San Francisco 49ers.

As divisional rivals in the NFC West, Seattle and Los Angeles had already met twice this season and not only did they win one apiece, they were separated by just one point and one yard in total.

Another hard-fought contest was anticipated for the trilogy match-up and it delivered, with the Rams left to rue some costly errors against the NFC’s top seed, who had this season’s joint-best record of 14-3 (with New England and Denver).

After Seattle’s Kenneth Walker scored the opening touchdown, Kyren Williams’ reply put the Rams 13-10 up, but some poor game management allowed the Seahawks to lead 17-13 at half-time following a touchdown by Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who led the league for receiving yards.

A muffed punt by LA resulted in Seattle going 24-13 up and Jake Bobo’s score sparked a run of four straight touchdowns as the two teams traded blows in a thrilling third quarter.

LA’s Davante Adams and Puka Nacua scored either side of former team-mate Cooper Kupp, who was Super Bowl MVP as the Rams became NFL champions in 2022.

That meant Seattle, who conceded the fewest points this season, led 31-27 heading into the final period and LA’s best chance to regain the lead came during a drive lasting more than seven minutes.

Colby Parkinson dropped a Stafford pass when the tight end seemingly had a free run into the end zone and, despite then edging within six yards of Seattle’s end zone, the Seahawks’ defence stood firm as the Rams spurned three chances to punch the ball in.

LA got the ball back with 25 seconds remaining but ran out of time, allowing Seattle’s head coach Mike Macdonald and their British defensive coordinator Aden Durde to celebrate reaching the Super Bowl in just their second season with the Seahawks.

New England may have won six Super Bowls, sharing the NFL record with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but they had to rebuild after Tom Brady joined Tampa Bay in 2020 and legendary coach Bill Belichick left after a 4-13 record during the 2023 season.

Less than two hours after another 4-13 season ended last January, owner Robert Kraft made the bold decision to fire Jerod Mayo before letting Mike Vrabel bring in his own coaching staff.

That decision has paid off immediately. Little was expected of the Patriots in pre-season but they improved to 14-3, with that 10-win swing tied for the biggest turnaround in NFL history.

Denver also went 14-3 and secured the NFC’s top seed but had to give back-up quarterback Jarrett Stidham his first start in two years after Bo Nix suffered a broken ankle in last week’s Divisional Round win over Buffalo.

And although he threw a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton in the first quarter, two Stidham turnovers proved decisive, while Maye again showed maturity beyond his years.

Denver’s defence led the league for sacks this season and although they sacked Maye five times, he made some key plays with his legs.

The 23-year-old scrambled out of the pocket to earn some crucial first downs and scored the Patriots’ only touchdown after Stidham fumbled right in front of the Broncos’ end zone.

Maye then kept a New England drive going for more than nine minutes in the third quarter, resulting in what proved to be the game’s decisive score from kicker Andy Borregales.

In just half a quarter, the entire field was covered in snow, and Denver’s Wil Lutz missed a 45-yard field goal before Stidham’s desperate deep shot was intercepted by Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez with just over two minutes left.

That gave New England the chance to become the first team to reach the Super Bowl after 13 losses in the previous season.

And having won three Super Bowls as a linebacker with the Patriots, 50-year-old Vrabel could now become the first man to become an NFL champion as a player and a head coach with the same team.