\u201cTo do this with this team, I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cSo proud of our guys, our defense. I mean, I can\u2019t say enough great things about our defense, our special teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker became the first running back to win the Super Bowl MVP award since Hall of Famer Terrell Davis did it with Denver 28 years ago.<\/p>\n
Uchenna Nwosu punctuated a punishing defensive performance by snagging Maye\u2019s pass in the air<\/a> after Witherspoon hit his arm and running it back 45 yards for a pick-6.<\/p>\n “We went through a lot, but we believed,” Witherspoon said. “All of you all doubters out there who said all that other stuff, you all don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on in this building. We\u2019re one of one over here.\u201d<\/p>\n Seattle won its first Super Bowl a dozen years ago behind its \u201cLegion of Boom\u201d defense, then was denied a repeat when New England’s Malcolm Butler intercepted Russell Wilson<\/a> at the goal line. The Seahawks hadn’t been back to the Super Bowl since.<\/p>\n Darnold become the first quarterback in the 2018 NFL draft class to win a Super Bowl, ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.<\/p>\n Labeled a bust, dumped by two teams and considered expendable by two others, Darnold proved his doubters wrong while helping the Seahawks go 17-3.<\/p>\n Video below: Ed Harding breaks down Pats’ Super Bowl loss<\/p>\n After leading the NFL with 20 turnovers in the regular season, Darnold didn\u2019t have any in three playoff games. He wasn\u2019t particularly sharp against a solid Patriots defense but protected the ball and made enough plays, finishing 19 of 38 for 202 yards.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we won the Super Bowl, but we could have been a little bit better on offense, but I don\u2019t care about that right now,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cIt\u2019s an unbelievable feeling, man. I\u2019m just so happy for the guys in the locker room and the coaches that put in so much effort throughout the whole season.\u201d<\/p>\n The Seahawks sacked Maye six times, including two apiece by Hall and Murphy. Hall\u2019s strip-sack<\/a> late in the third quarter set up a short field and Darnold connected with Barner on 16-yard scoring toss to make it 19-0.<\/p>\n Julian Love\u2019s interception<\/a> set up another field goal that made it 22-7 with 5:35 left.<\/p>\n The Patriots (17-4) punted on the first eight drives, excluding a kneel-down to end the first half.<\/p>\n \u201cJust reminding them that we\u2019re 307 days into what hopefully is a long, successful relationship and program, and it’s OK to be disappointed,\u201d New England coach Mike Vrabel said.<\/p>\n Down 19-0, Maye and the Patriots’ offense finally got going. He hit Mack Hollins over the middle in traffic for 24 yards and then lofted a perfect 35-yard TD pass to Hollins down the left side to cut the deficit to 19-7.<\/p>\n \t\t \n\t\tSue Ogrocki\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSeattle Seahawks head coach Mike MacDonald hold the Lombardi Trophy after defeating the New England Patriots the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.<\/p>\n Tom Brady once led Bill Belichick\u2019s Patriots to the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, when New England rallied from a 28-3 deficit against Atlanta for a 34-28 overtime victory.<\/p>\n But Maye, who was runner-up to Matthew Stafford for the AP NFL MVP award<\/a> in the closest race in two decades, didn\u2019t come close. He had a chance to narrow the gap, but his ill-advised pass into triple coverage was picked by Love and the Patriots trailed by 15 when they got the ball back with 5:35 left.<\/p>\n Then came Nwosu\u2019s touchdown, a fitting way to cap an overwhelming effort by the NFL\u2019s stingiest defense.<\/p>\n \u201cDefinitely hurts. They played better than us tonight,\u201d Maye said.<\/p>\n Maye\u2019s 7-yard TD pass to Rhamondre Stevenson late in the game only made the margin smaller.<\/p>\n The Seahawks took a 3-0 lead on Myers\u2019 33-yard field goal on the game\u2019s opening drive. Myers connected from 39 and 41 yards to extend the lead to 9-0 at halftime. He was good from 41 on Seattle\u2019s first drive of the third quarter to make it 12-0.<\/p>\n Patriots player of the game<\/p>\n Cornerback Christian Gonzalez made two outstanding plays to prevent potential touchdowns in the second quarter. He raced back and leaped in the air to slap away a deep pass to Rasheed Shahid that could have been a 76-yard TD.<\/p>\n On Seattle\u2019s last drive in the first half, Gonzalez knocked down a pass to All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba that would have been a 23-yard TD.<\/p>\n Mills gets a two-for-one sack<\/p>\n Rylie Mills pushed left guard Jared Wilson into Maye and took both of them down on one of Seattle\u2019s sacks.<\/p>\n Bad Bunny shines at halftime<\/p>\n Bad Bunny<\/a> started his half time show as he emerged in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields, surrounded by jibaros in pavas (rural farmers in traditional straw hats), viejitos playing dominos (an affectionate term for older men) and a piragua stand (shaved ice) \u2014 undeniable symbols of Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n From a small Caribbean island with a complicated colonial history, to the world: The artist born Benito Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio brought Puerto Rican culture to the Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for his 2026 Super Bowl<\/a> halftime show in what was always going to be a landmark moment for Latinos.<\/a><\/p>\n He started with his huge reggaeton hits, \u201cTit\u00ed Me Pregunt\u00f3” moving into \u201cYo Perreo Sola,\u201d as he remerged on top of the casita (“little house”) from his Puerto Rican residency \u2014 Cardi B was a guest at his pari de marquesina, a house party.<\/p>\n Then he crashed through the roof \u2014 Daddy Yankee’s \u201cGasolina\u201d played for a moment, clearly a celebration of the Puerto Rican artists who laid the path for his Latin trap to go global.<\/p>\n \u201cMi nombre Antonio Mart\u00ednez Ocasio,\u201d he introduced himself to the crowd in Spanish. \u201cY si hoy estoy aqu\u00ed en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dej\u00e9 de creer en m\u00ed y t\u00fa tambi\u00e9n deber\u00edas de creer en ti, vales m\u00e1s de lo que piensas.\u201d<\/p>\n Video below: Halftime show performers share pride at Super Bowl<\/p>\n The strings of his song \u201cMonaco\u201d played \u2014 then, a surprise Lady Gaga emerged at a wedding, singing her portion of \u201cDie with a Smile,\u201d her collaboration with Bruno Mars, joined by a salsa band.<\/p>\n During a segment where Lady Gaga joined Bad Bunny to perform \u201cBaile Inolvidable,\u201d a couple was actually married during the wedding scene.<\/p>\n Representatives for the artist say the couple invited Bad Bunny to their wedding, and he invited them to instead be part of his Super Bowl show.<\/p>\n Bad Bunny served as a witness and signed their marriage certificate.<\/p>\n It gave Benito time for a fashion change \u2014 rocking a white suit like a classic salsero \u2014 for \u201cBaile Inolvidable” and \u201cNuevaYol,” with a block party set where he took a shot with Tonita, owner of one of the last Puerto Rican social clubs in New York City, Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club.<\/p>\n Ricky Martin performed \u201cLo Que Pas\u00f3 a Hawaii,\u201d (\u201cWhat Happened to Hawaii\u201d), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico\u2019s autonomy.<\/p>\n Behind him, jibaros in pavas climbed power towers that exploded, symbolic of Puerto Rico’s frequent blackouts and failing power grid. It queued up a moving performance of 2022\u2019s \u201cEl Apag\u00f3n\u201d (\u201cThe Blackout\u201d), in reference to Hurricane Maria,<\/a> its aftermath and the continued anger and frustration over persistent, chronic power outages<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bad Bunny performed entirely in Spanish \u2014 as all of his music is recorded in the language, though he has collaborated with English-language artists. The only English singing came from Gaga. That changed at the end of the set, when he said, \u201cGod Bless America,\u201d and then named countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America. \u201cAnd my mother land, Puerto Rico.\u201d<\/p>\n He ended with \u201cDtMF\u201d as he walked out of the stadium.<\/p>\n Patriots denied a record 7th title<\/p>\n The Patriots failed to win the franchise\u2019s seventh Super Bowl, which would have set an NFL record. They\u2019re tied with the Steelers with six championships.<\/p>\n AP NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel was aiming to become the fifth person to win a Super Bowl as a player and head coach and the first to do both with the same team.<\/p>\n The 23-year-old Maye was trying to become the youngest QB to win a Lombardi Trophy. Ben Roethlisberger still holds that mark. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cDark Side\u201d defense carried Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks to a Lombardi Trophy.Devon Witherspoon, Derick Hall,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457717,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[213892,4,450,31125,213889,116044,1826,57764,213891,451,95922,68070,192891,211818,213888,23342,213894,127802,8225,1815,3,213890,14040,8088,213887,17349,15357,17159,8852,7075,13843,213893,1803,114042,213677,1627,452,453,2394],"class_list":["post-457716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-balanced-offense","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-cooper-kupp","tag-defensive-showdown","tag-devon-witherspoon","tag-drake-maye","tag-ernest-jones","tag-few-point","tag-headlines","tag-jaxon-smith-njigba","tag-kenneth-walker","tag-leonard-williams","tag-levis-stadium","tag-lombardi-trophy","tag-macnd","tag-maye-plenty","tag-mike-macdonald","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-news","tag-nfl-champion","tag-nick-emmanwori","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-vs-seahawks","tag-quarterback","tag-sam-darnold","tag-seahawks","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-second","tag-stefon-diggs","tag-stingy-defense","tag-super-bowl","tag-super-bowl-60","tag-super-bowl-odds","tag-tom-brady","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Seattle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/sb2-69896cf8c4fab.jpg\"\/ "\\"Mike")
<\/p>\n