Super Bowl features matchup chock full of Las Vegas ties

The 2025-2026 NFL season represented a sea change in the sport with a whole new set of unexpected teams rising to the top of standings and transcending the establishing guard of the last half-decade.

The past five months have been so unpredictable that it feels ill-fitting to conclude the year with a familiar Super Bowl 60 matchup between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, February 8 at 3:30 p.m. in Santa Clara, California.

It’s a rematch of 2015’s Super Bowl 48, which the Patriots famously won 28-24 with a goal-line interception in the final seconds in Glendale, Arizona, between two franchises that have made playing for championships commonplace.

The Patriots extend their record with an 12th Super Bowl appearance while looking to separate themselves from a tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers with a record seventh victory.

The Seahawks were once known as one of the NFL’s worst franchises, but they’ve now been to the Big Game four times in the last 20 years. Only the Patriots (6) and the Kansas City Chiefs (5) have played for the Lombardi Trophy more often in that span.

Both franchises’ Super Bowl traditions precede this year’s group of players, though. The uniforms might be identical, but the makeups of the teams have been completely overhauled since the last time the Patriots (Super Bowl 53 in 2019) and the Seahawks (Super Bowl 47 in 2014) won it all.

Both the Seahawks and the Patriots fired the coaches responsible for those titles—Pete Carroll and Bill Belichick, respectively—at the end of the 2023-2024 season. Seattle has turned the reins over to defensive genius Mike Macdonald as its coach ever since. New England bottomed out in 2024-2025 with former linebacker Jerod Mayo in the role before turning to his former Patriot position-mate Mike Vrabel this season. 

Vrabel helped rebuild the Patriots through free agency to construct a defense in his own hard-nosed image, while shrewdly bringing in the right pieces next to budding superstar second-year quarterback Drake Maye.

Macdonald’s Seattle defense and special teams have been even better and the organization also nailed virtually all of its moves this offseason.

That part of the Seahawks’ success is particularly painful for Las Vegas Raiders’ fans. It felt unlikely there would ever be a Super Bowl pairing worse for Silver and Black faithful than the archrival Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers squaring off in Super Bowl 58 at Allegiant Stadium two years ago, but this season’s matchup feels close.

There’s an overwhelming amount of Raiders and Las Vegas ties on both sides.

Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold looked like a natural fit for Las Vegas last offseason. Darnold was a free agent coming off a career year while the Raiders had a need for a quarterback and the salary-cap space to sign the best available player.

Despite rumors linking the two sides, Las Vegas passed on Darnold with multiple reports indicating new team minority owner Tom Brady wasn’t sold on the nomadic former first-round pick. Instead, the Raiders traded for Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith and signed him to a two-year, $75 million extension.

Las Vegas bottomed out to a league-worst 3-14 season, while Darnold thrived as one of the best quarterbacks in the league on a cheaper contract by annual salary; he’s on a three-year, $100.5 million deal.

But the hurt Raider Nation may experience because of the Seahawks succeeding pales in comparison to the pain caused by the other sideline.

Early reports indicated the Raiders’ interest in Vrabel for their coaching job last year, but he didn’t even take an interview with his former teammate Brady and instead zeroed in on the opportunity with the Patriots.

One of his first acts of congress was hiring offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who hadn’t coached since flaming out with the Raiders in less than a season and a half in 2023. 

McDaniels immediately revitalized his career in New England, where he first rose to prominence coaching Brady, after a drama-fueled stint in Las Vegas.

He also likely had a lot to do with New England targeting so many former Raiders he once helped bring to Las Vegas to assist in their rapid turnaround.

A pair of former Raiders captains under McDaniels, linebacker Robert Spillane and wide receiver/special teams ace Mack Hollins, headlined the Patriots’ free-agency class. They also signed edge rusher K’Lavon Chaisson, who resurrected his career with the Raiders last season, and swing tackle Thayer Munford, whom McDaniels helped draft in Las Vegas before this year’s coaching staff led by Carroll cut him. 

Spillane has captained the Patriots’ defense this year, while the other three players have also made major contributions—especially down the stretch and through the playoffs.

In perhaps a more positive Las Vegas connection, Patriots workhorse running back Rhamondre Stevenson is a local native who starred at Centennial High School before his professional career.

No matter which team wins, one notable Las Vegas football product will earn a Super Bowl ring. Former UNLV star receiver Ricky White is on the Seahawks’ practice squad as a rookie after the team chose him in the seventh round of last year’s NFL Draft.

But seeing the first UNLV player to win a Super Bowl since Keenan McCardell on the 2002-2003 Tampa Bay Buccaneers might not be much of a consolation to local football fans.

Not when the Raiders largely filled their team this year with Seahawks’ castoffs, led by Carroll and Smith. Seattle meanwhile took a more forward-thinking approach and reaped the rewards as the favorite to win a Super Bowl ahead of schedule.

This is among the most improbable Super Bowl matchups of all-time, considering preseason betting odds on Patriots vs. Seahawks emerging to face off in the final game were as high as 200-to-1. Neither the Seahawks nor the Patriots were favored in sports books to as much as make the playoffs coming into the season.

Both teams’ ascensions are a testament to how fast circumstances can change in the NFL.

Maybe the Raiders can find solace in their rises. Maybe it can be their turn next with Seattle offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak considered Las Vegas’ likeliest next coach after firing Carroll last month.

The Chiefs’ run of three straight Super Bowl appearances, and five in the last six years, and the way Brady’s Patriots seemed to get there so frequently before them obscured how the league is designed for turnover every year. 

Parity lives in the NFL, and this year’s Super Bowl personifies that idea even if the logos look the same. 

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.