The 2025/26 National Football League (NFL) season concluded last Sunday with Super Bowl LX between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks, and what might be viewed by many as a poor excuse for a Super Bowl was truly a battle of wits and wills, which produced historic performances on the field and racked up a surprisingly massive amount of viewers.

Firstly, mainly due to the participants, plus the fact that the event was aired on a paid broadcast service (Peacock), it was believed that viewership would have dropped significantly, compared to the record-setting 127.7 million viewers for last year’s event between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, aired on Fox’s free streaming service, Tubi. Unexpectedly, last Sunday’s instalments of the greatest single event in American sports drew 129.9 million viewers, making it not only the second most-watched Super Bowl in history, but also the second most-watched telecast in television history. Notably, reports indicate that the event’s viewership peaked in the second quarter, when the Seahawks led 6-0, at an all-time media record of 137.8 million viewers, the highest peak viewership in US television history.

Even with a half-time show, featuring Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny, that left spectators and viewers with varied levels of mixed feelings, the package didn’t fail to deliver. The 31-year-old artiste attracted an average of 128.2 million US viewers, making him the fourth most-watched Super Bowl half-time performer, behind Kendrick Lamar (133.5 million, 2025), Michael Jackson (133.4 million, 1993), and Usher (129.3 million, 2024). Very good company to be in and an excellent 15-minute platform to display your wares, if you get the chance.

On the field, the Seahawks won the second Super Bowl championship in the history of the franchise, and they followed the same defensive formula as the first title under the “Legion of Boom” with a 29-13 victory at Levi’s Stadium. When the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl title in 2014, their defence led the way, and almost shut out Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, which had set an NFL regular season record with 606 total points scored. They shut down that vaunted Denver offence, allowing only eight points, while scoring 43 points of their own in a blow-out victory. They needed less than a third of those 2015 points to overwhelm the Patriots 12 years later, but the result was equally impressive.

Seattle had a defensive performance for the ages, holding New England, a team that had not been shut out in the first half this season, scoreless for three quarters, and the Patriots became the first team to be held scoreless through three quarters of a Super Bowl since the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16-6 in Super Bowl IX (1975). Unfortunately, for the Patriots, they have now lost six Super Bowls, giving them the unenvious record of the most Super Bowl losses in NFL history.

The Seahawks allowed 331 total yards, most of which came in the fourth quarter with the game basically decided, and they scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl LX with a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback (QB) Sam Darnold to AJ Barner early in the fourth quarter, to establish a 19-0 lead, which would ultimately put the game beyond New England’s reach. Darnold became the first QB in NFL history to win a Super Bowl after playing for five teams – the New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, San Francisco 49ers, Vikings, and Seahawks. And not to be outdone, Seattle’s kicker, Jason Myers, set a new Super Bowl record by scoring five field goals and giving the champions 17 of their 29 points.

Seattle’s running back, Kenneth Walker III, was voted the winner of the Pete Rozelle Trophy, awarded to the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the championship game, after a commanding display, with 27 carries for 135 yards and two catches for 26 yards, for a total of 161 yards from scrimmage. Possibly benefiting from all the attention placed on the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had the most receiving yards for the regular season (1,793), Walker’s 135 rushing yards was the most in a Super Bowl since Terrel Davis rushed for 157 in 1998 (Super Bowl XXXII), and he is the first running back since Davis to claim the coveted MVP award, almost three decades later.

The New England defence did their part and made every effort to provide an opportunity for the offence to get in the game, but the Patriots’ offence was unable to find any footing. They didn’t just have trouble scoring, they had trouble picking up first downs and punted on their first eight possessions of the game, excluding the kneel-down at the end of the first half. It was an awful display of offensive ineptitude, and, without a stout defence, the result could have been so much uglier.

The Seahawks finished the season with 10-straight wins (including the Super Bowl), with a 14-3 regular season record, and lost the three games by nine combined points. They humiliated the 49ers in the Divisional Round, got an impressive National Football Conference (NFC) Championship win, after outmuscling the Los Angeles Rams, and then put the Patriots in a chokehold to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy. They might not have had the most attractive Super Bowl, but they were great for most of the season, especially on defence, and one cannot argue that they are indeed deserving champions.

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