Superbowl 2026

The NFL conference championships commenced on January 24th with the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks advancing to Super Bowl LX in San Francisco. This will be the Patriots first Super Bowl appearance since the 2018 season, and the first since the 2014 season for the Seahawks.

The Patriots finished the season with a 14-3 record to end the regular season including going 8-0 on the road. They claimed their first AFC East title since 2019. They were led by second year quarterback and University of North Carolina graduate Drake Maye, who passed for 4,392 yards and 31 touchdowns, while rushing for 450 yards and four touchdowns during the regular season.

The Seahawks also finished 14-3 and gained the number one seed in the NFC for the playoffs. Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba finished the season with 1,793 receiving yards, the most in the league. Seahawks QB Sam Darnold passed for 4,048 yards, the fifth most in the league.

The Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos in the conference championship 10-7. While Maye passed for 86 passing yards, his lowest career total.. It was the fewest passing yards by a winning quarterback in Conference Championship history (minimum 21 passing attempts). Meanwhile, the Patriots defense held the Broncos to 181 total yards, against Broncos backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, due to starter Bo Nix breaking his ankle in overtime against the Buffalo Bills during the divisional round. The game featured intense, snowy conditions in the second half. 

“[The weather] definitely had a major impact on the game. It lowered the chances of passing touchdowns and even running plays were affected. Like when I think Stevenson tripped coming to the handoff and Drake Maye slipped and fell trying to escape the pocket. And the wind made it nearly impossible to kick field goals,” NHS sophomore Ethan Freylikhman said.

Other fans see the weather working against the Broncos more than the Patriots, as well as the Bo Nix injury giving New England an advantage.

“Obviously, Bo Nix wouldn’t fumble [to the] the Patriots into the red zone [and] give them an opportunity to score. The weather gave the Broncos no hope to score down three. The Broncos defense was playing almost perfectly and probably wouldn’t have let another TD in during that time,” NHS sophomore Blaise Mindenhall said.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks defeated the Los Angeles Rams 31-27. Darnold passed for 346 yards, three touchdowns and no turnovers.

“Just a true leader, a true competitor. Leader. He led us today. Can't say enough about Sam, man. It's been a great first year, we have one more to go. For him to overcome [what he] had to overcome, I'm rolling with Sam all day. We believe in him. This building believes in him, this city believes in him. It's awesome to run out on the field with him,” Smith-Njigba said.

Darnold injured his oblique on January 15th during practice, two days before his divisional round game against the San Francisco 49ers. While he has been limited in practice, the former third overall pick has played in every game since the injury. 

“Well, coming from the medical folks it was always optimistic, and he kept getting better. But I'm not going to put words in Sam's mouth but just trying to be as smart as possible to get him ready to play. He was confident and to come out the way he played barely practicing, just barely throwing the ball, is really incredible,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said.

Among fans and media, a narrative this season is that the Patriots’ schedule is the reason they have made it this far. The Patriots had the 32nd strength of schedule during the regular season, leading fans to question whether they would still be where they ended up if they had harder opponents. 

“I feel like they are a very good team and would have made the playoffs even with a hard schedule, but definitely not the Super Bowl,” NHS sophomore Kyle Duncan said.

Other fans believe that the Patriots are more battle-tested than some realize, and deserved their spot in the Super Bowl.

“The Pats are a team that have so many factors of winning with one of the best receivers in the league and some of the most underrated players that people don’t think are as good as they are, and their defense is underrated and should be top five in the league. They have beaten not that good teams in the regular season, but the Pats have shown they are the real deal with playing top five defenses in the playoffs with the Chargers defense five, Texans defense one, and Broncos defense two or three. Their offense and defense have shown that their schedule doesn’t matter; they have shown they are dominant no matter who is standing in front of them,” NHS sophomore Bobby DeNicola said.

Mike Vrabel, the head coach of the Patriots, has helped lead the Patriots to their Super Bowl appearance in his first year with New England. Meanwhile, Macdonald is in his second year coaching the Seahawks. Both are finalists for coach of the year this season. Leading up to the Super Bowl, some fans believed coaching would impact the game greatly.

 “On paper, the Seahawks are better than the Patriots. They have a better roster than the Patriots. But New England is a better-coached team. So with that, I mean, at the end of the day, if they have players that are good enough to compete against the Seahawks, the better-coached team is going to win that game,” NHS sophomore Max Malitsky said.

Following the previous events of the regular season and playoffs, the ____ ended up defeating the _____ in the Super Bowl by a score of _____. ______ earned Super Bowl MVP, recording _____ and _____.