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It’s the first week in February, which means it’s time once again for my attempt to guess what’s going to happen in the Super Bowl. Sometimes, I’m pretty close. Three years ago, I picked the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-28 “in a game that won’t be decided until the closing minutes.”
What actually happened is that Kansas City defeated Philadelphia 38-35, with penalties and turnovers playing a critical role, as I predicted.
In 2024, I correctly predicted Kansas City to repeat as Super Bowl champion, but the game was much closer than I anticipated. I picked the Chiefs to win 31-14, and they actually won by a score of 25-22.
I didn’t print a prediction column last year, which is probably for the best. I thought the Chiefs might be more vulnerable than they had been in a long time, but I didn’t expect them to lose to Philadelphia and I sure didn’t expect them to get blown out 40-22, but they did.
That brings us to this year’s matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Both of these teams are talented, and in my opinion both are imperfect.
It won’t come as a surprise when I say I expect a low-scoring game. This is probably a matchup of the two best defenses in the NFL. That means scoring opportunities will be limited and the team that wins will be the team that takes the most advantage of those opportunities.
Old-school football fans will always point back at the fundamentals: limiting turnovers and penalties and winning on special teams.
I believe Seattle has more talent, top to bottom, but New England has Mike Vrabel and a team constructed in his image. The Patriots also have MVP candidate Drake Maye, while the Seahawks counter with resurgent Sam Darnold.
My inclination is to pick New England based on slightly superior coaching, but I keep going back to the Seahawks’ overall advantage in talent.
So, I’m picking Seattle 17-14. As a bonus, I’ll predict that Seahawks wide receiver Rashid Shaheed will make a huge play that helps his team pull out the W.
I’m also predicting that I watch the game from the comfort of my couch, in front of a faux fire with a big bowl of chili. That one, you can take to Vegas.
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Scott Loftis is editor and publisher of the Carroll County News. His email address is SLoftis@CarrollCoNews.com.
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