Swami Sez: Chris Berman picks the winner of Super Bowl LX

After three straight Super Bowl columns in which we nailed the winner and the exact margin of victory, last year, alas, we swung and missed. Mea culpa. Please keep in mind, even Tony Gwynn and George Brett grounded out every now and then.

The 2025 season was unlike any we've seen in recent memory. Only one out of eight divisions had a repeat winner. That was the NFC East and the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, but come the postseason, they were a quick one-and-done in the wild-card round.

The AFC was turned completely on its ear. The perennial conference champion Kansas City Chiefs never really reached solid footing, then Patrick Mahomes tore his ACL and Andy Reid's team was a rare down and out. The Baltimore Ravens and Lamar Jackson started 1-5 and didn't make the playoffs, and Joe Burrow was hurt early and the Cincinnati Bengals were never a factor. The only mainstay was the Buffalo Bills, led by Josh Allen, but they fell in the divisional round in agonizing fashion again. Who knew that by the end of January, Sean McDermott, John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin would no longer be coaching the Bills, Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, and that the preseason afterthought Jacksonville Jaguars would be a division champ?

The NFC was much less turbulent, unless you considered putting the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, two more preseason afterthoughts, on your division winner dance card. Both played beautifully in the playoffs. The second NFC preseason pick behind Philly was the Detroit Lions, who were left on the sideline in January.

So, why wouldn't we have a Super Bowl matchup between two teams that missed last year's postseason?

The Patriots won four games a season ago and four games the season before that, but in Year 1 under Mike Vrabel, it's been a completely different story. The Patriots began the season 1-2, including a loss at home to the Las Vegas Raiders, who went on to "corral" the No. 1 draft pick in April. Then, soon thereafter, they won at Buffalo and we wondered, "OK, what are they going to do with that?" The answer? The Patriots have lost one game since late September, and three playoff wins later, they're 17-3.

The Seahawks won 10 games a year ago in their first season under Mike Macdonald, but missed the playoffs. This season, the NFC West was far and away the toughest division. The Seahawks lost close games in the first half of the season to both the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams, so the wild card appeared to be their only route to the playoffs. Since that loss to the Rams in mid-November, the Seahawks have been on their own run, finishing the regular season with seven straight wins to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC. Two more playoff wins made them 16-3.

What a fresh and delicious Super Bowl we're about to have in the Bay Area.

Hmmm ... have the Patriots and Seahawks ever met in the Super Bowl? How about in one of the best and influential Super Bowls of all time, 11 years ago in Super Bowl XLIX. It ended up New England 28, Seattle 24, with the little-known Malcolm Butler's interception at the 1-yard line in the waning seconds sealing the deal. You could argue that that play might even top David Tyree's catch for the New York Giants (in the same Arizona building, no less!) as the most influential in Super Bowl history.

Think of the narrative had Seattle won that night. The Seahawks would have repeated as Super Bowl champs, the locker room would have been tight and bracing for history the following season, with the chance to become the only team to three-peat (as we know, the Chiefs fell short last year). Whether the Seahawks won or not, they would have been the team of the decade.

Meanwhile, New England would have heard a different refrain, as unfair as it would have been. The Belichick and Brady bunch won Super Bowls in the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons, but a loss to Seattle would have been their third straight Super Bowl defeat. Could they no longer win "the big one"? Instead, they were now 4-2, and won two more Super Bowls in the 2016 and 2018 seasons, and the Patriots were clearly the team of the decade ... again. NFL history indeed took a major left-hand turn.

On to this Sunday, where none of this has any bearing on the newest editions of the Pats and Seahawks, except that Josh McDaniels is still calling plays for New England. This is far from insignificant, as it is the sixth time he'll be doing that in the Super Bowl. Well-timed trick plays, a bunch of screens, and others to widen the field may be coming in order to spread out this Seattle defense that closes gaps in a hurry.

His quarterback, Drake Maye, played a clean AFC title game in Denver when his team needed it most. And now, in good weather, Maye can go back to focusing on completing his intermediate and longer passes to Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry, which is what made him an MVP candidate. It's almost impossible to lead the NFL in completion percentage AND yards per attempt, but he did it.

The Patriots' running game is coming on, and so is their defense, which outshined three of the AFC's best in the playoffs in taking care of the Chargers, Houston Texans and Denver Broncos. It's no surprise, since nobody knows better than head coach Mike Vrabel, with his postseason knowledge as a New England linebacker and Tennessee Titans head coach, how important it is to hit the ground running in December and in the playoffs.

Seattle, of course, is doing the same. Its defense allowed the fewest points in the NFL, which led the Seahawks to the best point differential as well (+191). Whereas the famed Legion of Boom of last decade was built from the back to the front, the "Dark Side" defense of Coach Macdonald is built in reverse, with Leonard Williams and DeMarcus Lawrence headlining the front wall and Ernest Jones IV in the middle acting as a football Bermuda Triangle. In order to play defense for the Seahawks, you must bring thunder at all three levels. In four of their past eight games, they held opponents to single digits ... and yielded just 10 and 16 points in two others. The Rams (twice) were the only ones who lit up the scoreboard against them. Are the Patriots equipped enough to enter the 20s?

Going into the playoffs, the question asked of QB Sam Darnold was, "Are you ready?" Twice, he has answered emphatically with a "Yes!" Seattle played a clean game as it beat both the 49ers and Rams to get to Super Bowl LX. It helps dramatically that he and Jaxon Smith-Njigba have been on the same page from day one, as the third-year wideout led the league with almost 1,800 yards receiving, getting open when everyone in the stadium knows that if the Seahawks are throwing for an explosive gain, it's going to him.

A factor not to be overlooked: Seattle has as strong a veteran punter/kicker tandem as anyone in the league, while the Patriots have a rookie kicker and a third-year punter. Both teams have outstanding returners.

There aren't many Super Bowls in which both teams were preseason long shots. New England was 75-1 and Seattle was 60-1. That's why Sunday's showdown is so tasty. Somehow, some way, if the Seahawks are to win, they must get a 1-yard rushing touchdown. It doesn't have to be at the end of the game. And if they do, I feel the Dark Side will turn off the lights late.

Seattle 26, New England 17

P.S.: If the Swami is correct, there will be at least one record set. Seattle assistant coach Leslie Frazier will have the longest gap between Super Bowl rings -- 40 years! He was a "Super Bowl Shuffle" Chicago Bear in the 1985 season and an Indianapolis assistant in the 2006 season as well.