By: Olivia Wallace 

     On Sunday February 8, Super Bowl LX (60) took place at 6:30 in Santa Clara, California at Levi’s Stadium. The NFC (National Football Conference) Champions, the Seattle Seahawks, beat the AFC (American Football Conference) Champions, the New England Patriots 29-13.  

     The Squire interviewed, Eisenhower Junior and football player, Joseph Gigliotti who believed the Seahawks would win the Super Bowl as a result of their league leading defense and their league leading Wide Receiver as well as their strong wins in their tough schedule. 

     The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, winning their division and becoming the number one seed in the NFC. They are lead on offense by the 2025 AP NFL Offensive Player of the Year, Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He was the league leader in receiving yards with 1,793 yards. Quarterback, Sam Darnold, and Running Back, Kenneth Walker III, also contributed heavily to Seattle’s success with Darnold throwing for over 4,000 passing yards and Walker running for over 1,000 rushing yards. On defense, Ernest Jones led the team in tackles and interceptions while Byron Murphy, Uchenna Nwosu, and Leonard Williams all had a team high seven sacks. 

     New England was also 14-3 in the regular season which led them to a division title, but they were the two seed in the AFC. The Patriots were led by, second year Quarterback, Drake Maye who also had over 4,000 passing yards and almost 500 rushing yards. Additionally, Running Backs, TreVeyon Henderson and Rhamondre Stevenson were big contributors to the team’s success with Henderson having 1,132 scrimmage yards and Stevenson having 948 scrimmage yards. Stefon Diggs led the team in receiving yards with over 1,000 yards. Defensively, Robert Spillane led the team in total tackles and, Safety, Jaylinn Hawkins had the most interceptions for New England. Harold Landry had the most sacks for the Patriots with 8.5 and was closely followed by K’Lavon Chaisson with 7.5. 

     The Seattle Seahawks began the game with the ball and were quickly able to score a field goal, kicked by Jason Myers to make the score 3-0. After this, things slowed down for a while with the Patriots punting three times and the Seahawks punting two times taking the game to the end of the first quarter with Seattle still leading 3-0. 

     Similarly, Seattle started off the second quarter with the ball and was able to score another field goal that Myers kicked making the score 6-0. More of the same happened in the middle of the second quarter with New England punting twice more and Seattle punting once more. With less than three minutes in the second quarter, Seattle drove into field goal range yet again and Myers made his third field goal of the night with only seconds remaining in the half. The Patriots kneeled out the remaining time, taking the game to half-time with Seattle leading 9-0. 

     In the second half, the Patriots started with the ball and were still unable to be offensively productive, forcing themselves to punt another time. Seattle’s first drive of the second half was productive finding themselves on the New England 22-yard line before kicking yet another field goal making the score 12-0. Both teams punted two more times in the third quarter before the Patriots got the ball again trying to get their scoring started. Unfortunately, this drive was their worst yet with Seahawks’, Linebacker, Derick Hall sacking and forcing Maye to fumble the ball and Seattle recovered. The Seahawks began their drive with strong field position as a result of the fumble. After driving 20 yards down the field, Darnold found, Tight End, AJ Barner for the first touchdown of the game. Myers made the P.A.T. (Point After Touchdown) making the score 19-0. 

     The fourth quarter began with the Patriots in possession of the ball. They were finally able to score points after two long passes from Maye to Mack Hollins, with the second being a 35-yard touchdown. New England’s, Kicker, Andres Borregales, made the P.A.T. and the score became 19-7. While the Seahawks did nothing with the ball on their next drive, Maye made yet another mistake throwing a deep interception to Julian Love. Love was able to return the ball 35 yards down the field, setting the Seahawks up for their fifth field goal of the game, making the score 22-7. Disaster struck yet again for New England with Maye being intercepted by Nwosu who returned the interception 45 yards for a touchdown. Myers made another P.A.T. putting him at 17 points scored, the highest by a Kicker in the Super Bowl. His P.A.T. made the score 29-7. The Patriots scored one final touchdown with two minutes remaining on a short pass from Maye to Stevenson. New England decided to go for two but was unsuccessful, leaving the score 29-13. After this each team had one more possession but failed to score, leaving the Seahawks Super Bowl Champions for the second time. With this loss the Patriots now have the most Super Bowl losses with six.  

     When asked about what helped the Seahawks win, Gigliotti added, “The defensive line was too much for an inexperienced guard and tackle on the left side of the Patriots offensive line. Kenneth Walker III averaging 5 yards per carry on 27 attempts…and Michael Dickson having three punts inside the 20-yard line causing many three and outs inside the Patriots own 20 [also caused many problems].” 

     With only one touchdown scored by the Seahawks’ offense there were many questions as to who the Super Bowl MVP (Most Valuable Player) would be. As a result of the slow offensive game, Seattle’s Running Back Walker won Super Bowl MVP because of his 135 rushing yards on 27 attempts and 26 receiving yards on 2 receptions. 

     Gigliotti disagreed with the choice stating, “Although K9 [Walker] ended up winning Super Bowl MVP, I think Jason Myers deserved it more because he was a perfect 5/5 on Field Goals and 2/2 on Extra Points and provided crucial points when the Seahawks offense couldn’t. Jason Myers also led all players in points scored.” 

     With that the 2025-26 NFL (National Football League) season has come to an end with the Seahawks becoming the sixtieth champions of the Super Bowl. As the off season goes on, you can stay informed by watching the draft that will take place April 23 to 25. All stats have been taken from CBS Sports.