Seahawks dominate Patriots to win Super Bowl LX

Bob Condotta, The Seattle Times on Feb 8, 2026

Published in Football

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SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Nearly every week during the 2025 season, the Seattle Seahawks found another nickname or slogan to rally around on their way to the biggest game in football — M.O.B. Ties, 12 as One, the Dark Side defense.

On the final Sunday of the season they added another they’ll carry forever — 2026 Super Bowl champions.

The Seahawks captured the second Lombardi Trophy in the 50-year history of the franchise Sunday with a 29-13 win against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium.

And for most of the game they threatened to do it in historic fashion, shutting out the Patriots through the first three quarters, at which point the Seahawks had allowed just 78 yards, helping build a 19-0 lead.

The Patriots avoided suffering the first shutout in Super Bowl history when quarterback Drake Maye threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins with 12:27 left to cut the lead to 19-7.

When the Patriots got the ball back and moved to their own 44 on their next series, it was understandable if Seahawks fans began to feel some angst — they’d seen the Patriots steal a Super Bowl with a double-digit comeback in the fourth quarter before.

Putting the game in its rightful perspective, the Seahawks defense made two big plays to put the game away.

First, a Julian Love interception led to Jason Myers’ fifth field goal of the game to make it 22-7 with 5:35 to play.

Then on the Patriots’ next series, cornerback Devon Witherspoon rushed hard on a blitz on a first-down play and hit Maye as he threw with the ball heading into the hands of Uchenna Nwosu, who returned it 45 yards for a TD and a 29-7 lead with 4:27 remaining.

The play was ruled an interception. It was fitting that it was Witherspoon at the center of a play that sealed the win for the Seahawks as he had a rush that forced a third-down incompletion on the Patriots’ first series of the game and a sack on third down of the second series to set the defensive tone.

At that point it was safe for Seahawks fans to start celebrating and for the NFL world to begin crowning second-year coach Mike Macdonald.

The game was a showcase for his game-planning and play-calling defensive wizardry as the Seahawks forced the Pats to punt on eight of their first nine series.

The Seahawks led 9-0 at the end of a first half that began with about as beautiful a setting as the NFL could have hoped for — 67 degrees, sunny with a slight a breeze.

The rest of the half may have been beautiful only to the Seahawks and their fans.

After the Patriots got two first downs and 28 yards on their first possession and drove to the Seattle 44, they managed just two first downs and 23 yards on 17 plays the rest of the half, never getting past their own 42.

The Patriots averaged just 2.0 yards per play in the first half (51 yards on 25 plays).

The Seahawks had three sacks, including one from rookie Rylie Mills — who played just four games during the regular season while recovering from a knee injury suffered at Notre Dame and had three tackles.

The Seahawks allowed just 33 yards rushing on 11 attempts, 11 of those coming on a scramble by Maye on a second-and-20 play. Running backs Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson had just 23 yards on nine carries.

The Seahawks’ offense was far from efficient early. Quarterback Sam Darnold hit on just four of his first 14 passes, one of the incompletions an especially frustrating miss on the second series of the game when he evaded a blitz and stepped up and spotted Jaxon Smith-Njigba wide open deep on a third down. The ball sailed over Smith-Njigba’s head.

Later in the half, Darnold misfired on another third down to Smith-Njigba at the goal line as he was late on the pass, giving New England cornerback Christian Gonzalez time to catch up and deflect the pass.

While Darnold was erratic throughout the first half, Walker hit his stride in the second quarter, gaining 78 yards on nine carries with a gains of 29 setting up one of Myers’ three first-half field goals.

Walker’s 94 yards on 14 carries were the second most in a first half in Super Bowl history.

It was the 15th time a team had been shut out in the first half of a Super Bowl.

The Seahawks continued to dominate the game in the third quarter, driving 69 yards the first time they had the ball to set up another Myers field goal to take a 12-0 lead.

An erratic performance by Darnold typified an offense that kept falling short of levying the knockout punch through three quarters.

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