Field Gulls
The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots are no strangers to making the Super Bowl. New England has competed for the Lombardi Trophy at least once in every decade since the 1980s, totaling a whopping 12, aka 20 percent of all Super Bowls ever played. Seattle may not have the same success as the Patriots (then again, nobody does), but the ‘Hawks are heading for their fourth Super Bowl since 2005 and seeking to avenge their defeat to New England from 11 years ago.
What makes this year’s Super Bowl interesting is the state of these teams in more recent times.
The Seahawks narrowly missed the postseason in 2023 and 2024, while the Patriots’ last appearance came in 2021 under Bill Belichick.
The last Super Bowl to feature two teams was Super Bowl 38 in the 2003 season, when the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers in a 32-29 thriller. Why yes, the Patriots missed the playoffs with Tom Brady the year after they won their famous first Super Bowl, while the Panthers were 7-9 and unheralded.
As for the other four Super Bowls between the previously playoff-less? The Baltimore Ravens smashed the New York Giants in Super Bowl 35 in 2000, the St. Louis Rams won by a yard over the Tennessee Titans in the previous season, the San Francisco 49ers got their first Lombardi Trophy over the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1981 campaign, and some guy named Joe Namath guaranteed a New York Jets win over the Baltimore Colts in 1969.
In many other seasons, Seahawks vs. Patriots would’ve been a popular preseason Super Bowl pick, most notably the year it actually happened. I doubt many called this one back in August.
