Nate Tice, Matt Harmon & Charles McDonald are LIVE reacting to Super LX. The Seattle Seahawks dominated the New England Patriots 29-13, and the trio join forces to recap the game, discuss what went wrong for Drake Maye and Josh McDaniels, where the Patriots go from here, where the Seahawks defense ranks all-time, Sam Darnold’s incredible comeback journey and much more.
(2:45) – Seahawks defense dominated the day
(14:45) – Sam Darnold & Kenneth Walker III’s big days
(40:30) – More thoughts from Super Bowl Week
SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 08: Sam Darnold #14 and Kenneth Walker III #9 of the Seattle Seahawks celebrate with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium on February 08, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. The Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Jones, after seeing a social media post by the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver made appearing to make fun of Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, clapped back perfectly.
“Ain’t you at home?” Jones wrote. “Goofy ass.”
Nacua, as the Rams fell to the Seahawks in the NFC championship game, was in fact watching Super Bowl LX from somewhere other than the field at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday night. So any criticism he may have of Darnold, at least in the eyes of Jones, is irrelevant. Darnold helped lead the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl title in well over a decade.
Darnold went 19-of-38 passing for 202 yards with a touchdown in the team’s 29-13 win over the Patriots. Darnold found AJ Barner for a 16-yard score early in the fourth quarter for the game’s first touchdown, which put them up 19-0 at the time.
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It was Darnold’s best season to date. The former No. 3 overall draft pick signed a three-year, $100.5 million deal with the Seahawks this past summer — which marked his fifth stop in eight seasons in the league. He’s now the first starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl in history after playing with that many teams.
While Nacua is coming off a great season of his own — he had a career-high 1,715 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns on a league-high 129 catches while averaging an NFL-best 107.2 yards per game — he does not yet have a Super Bowl ring to his name. Both Darnold and Jones have him beat there.
We remember the quarterbacks who win Super Bowls. Darnold is in that club now after the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13.
Darnold said after Sunday’s victory, he had an emotional moment with his parents and his fiancée.
“I think that’s what got me a little bit,” Darnold said. “Me and my dad don’t cry very often.”
Darnold’s legend resonates, particularly with his teammates.
“Unbelievable story. I don’t know if there’s a quarterback in NFL history that’s done what he’s done. ” Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp said. “To go through the things he had to go through the first, whatever, five years. To believe in himself, to overcome everyone who told him he wasn’t that guy anymore, to say he couldn’t be a starter or productive quarterback, to come back to work and commit to his process, and then go out there in the biggest moments this year, over and over again, show up.
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“It’s an unbelievable story.”
Darnold admittedly wasn’t at his best Sunday against the Patriots. He was just 19 of 38 for 202 yards. But he was good most of the season, including a 346-yard, three-touchdown game in the NFC championship game that helped Seattle get to the Super Bowl.
After the long odds Darnold faced just to be a regular starter again, much less a Super Bowl champion on his fifth team in eight seasons, the white Super Bowl champions hat and black Super Bowl champions T-shirt he wore after the game fit just fine.
“The reason I’m here is because of my journey,” Darnold said. “Because of the ups and downs, especially the downs I went through early on in my career. I learned so much about myself, about football.
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“It’s funny how it works.”
Sam Darnold wasn’t at his best in Super Bowl LX, but he now has a championship ring he can wear forever. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
(Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)
Sam Darnold keeps believing
Things were bleak for Darnold’s career. Usually quarterbacks who fail in their first two stops and then hit the backup phase of their career don’t rebound to have success stories. But Darnold said, in that moment after the game, he let his parents know how important they were to his comeback story.
“I’m here because of their belief in me,” Darnold said. “They believed in me throughout my entire career, and that’s why I was able to believe in myself. Some people called me crazy throughout for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence, but it was because of my parents.”
Darnold struggled to generate much offense, but he also didn’t turn it over during a game in which his defense was stifling.
“Offense, I feel like we didn’t play as good as we could have,” Darnold said. “I certainly didn’t play as good as I could have.
“I didn’t have my best stuff but our team had my back.”
Darnold joins a select list
The list of quarterbacks who have started and won a Super Bowl is fairly small and serious football fans remember every name. There have been some very good quarterbacks through the years who have been forgotten, but names like Trent Dilfer, Jeff Hostetler, Nick Foles, Doug Williams and Brad Johnson will always be associated with their Super Bowl championship teams.
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That will be Darnold from now on, and he still has plenty of time to add to his legacy. And it’s a pretty good Seattle team he’ll be associated with. The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, with the losses by a combined nine points. They punctuated the season with a dominant performance over the Patriots. That win was driven by Seattle’s defense, but don’t diminish what Darnold meant to the Seahawks all season just because he didn’t have a great Super Bowl.
“Put some respect on it! He’s the best!” Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said, cutting into a Darnold interview in the locker room. “We’re not here without that guy.”
Many of Darnold’s teammates through the week and after Super Bowl LX talked about how easy he is to root for, understanding the adversity he went through.
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“Everyone in that locker room believes in me,” Darnold said.
Darnold has plenty of critics who won’t let go of the reputation he built early in his career, after he didn’t pan out as the third overall pick to the Jets. When this season is brought up they’ll mention that he was carried by a great defense and in the Super Bowl he didn’t have the type of performance we typically equate to the winning quarterback.
And, who cares? Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson haven’t been to a Super Bowl yet. Neither has Justin Herbert or Dak Prescott. Joe Burrow hasn’t won one. Some of the greatest quarterbacks ever, like Brett Favre, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers, won only one Super Bowl. Dan Marino, Jim Kelly and Dan Fouts are among the great quarterbacks to never win one.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — When the Seattle Seahawks hired Mike Macdonald to be their head coach two years ago, it came at a time when most teams were looking for the next young offensive genius to lead their team.
But Macdonald had a reputation. The “defensive Sean McVay” was mentioned a few times about Macdonald, who was the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive coordinator before he was hired by Seattle.
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In Super Bowl LX, Macdonald proved the Seahawks right. Betting on coaches who know how to slow down the NFL’s best offenses can also be a championship formula.
The Seahawks won the second Super Bowl championship in franchise history, and followed the same formula as the first title under the “Legion of Boom” with a 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium.
They had a defensive performance for the ages, completely shutting down Drake Maye and the New England offense in a game that was rarely competitive because the Patriots couldn’t move the ball. The Seahawks allowed 331 total yards, plenty of which came in the fourth quarter with the outcome mostly decided.
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When A.J. Barner scored a 16-yard touchdown on a pass from Sam Darnold early in the fourth quarter, this Super Bowl finally had a touchdown and the Seahawks had a commanding 19-0 lead. The low-scoring game wasn’t aesthetically pleasing to the worldwide audience, but the Seahawks won’t make any excuses when they raise a banner next September.
In that first Seattle championship, the Seahawks scored 43 points and blew out the Denver Broncos. They didn’t need nearly as many points to dominate the Patriots in another Super Bowl 12 years later. But the result was equally impressive.
(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
Seahawks’ defense is stifling
When the Seahawks won the first Super Bowl title in franchise history, the headliner was their defense. They almost shut out Peyton Manning and the Broncos, which had set an NFL regular-season record with 606 points scored.
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The Seahawks weren’t facing an offensive juggernaut like the 2013 Broncos on Sunday, but the Patriots were second in points scored and third in yards in the regular season. And they looked horrible against Seattle.
Macdonald sent different blitzes at the Patriots and New England couldn’t block any of them. Maye was under pressure often. He took three sacks in the first half. On the rare occasion he had time to throw, he was inaccurate. Maye hurt his right shoulder in the AFC championship game and that was a question in the lead-up to Super Bowl LX, and it seemed like it could have been affecting him. Seattle’s scheme was clearly affecting him and the rest of the Patriots’ offense.
The bright spot for the Patriots was despite the offense doing nothing, they still hung around in the game. They gave up some yards, particularly to Kenneth Walker III on the ground, but they held the Seahawks to field goals in four long drives. The Seahawks led 9-0 at halftime and extended that to 12-0 early in the third quarter.
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The Patriots weren’t having trouble just scoring points. They were having trouble simply picking up first downs. When the Patriots got a first down on a defensive holding call with about a minute left in the third quarter, it had been about an hour-and-a-half between first downs. Even accounting for a long Bad Bunny halftime show, it was a remarkable display of offensive ineptitude. And defensive prowess.
Both teams finally get in end zone
The Patriots got on the board in the fourth quarter, after Barner had scored the game’s first touchdown. Maye hit some passes and got a 35-yard touchdown to Mack Hollins. The Patriots still trailed 19-7 but for the first time they had some signs of life.
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To that point, the Seahawks’ offense had been better than New England’s offense, but it still hadn’t been very good. The Patriots forced a punt right after Hollins’ touchdown and Maye had a long scramble to get a drive going. But Maye, who had started forcing the ball downfield in the fourth quarter, threw one to the middle of the field and Seahawks safety Julian Love had an easy interception. With less than nine minutes remaining, that practically wrapped up the win for Seattle. An interception for a 44-yard touchdown by Uchenna Nwosu put a bow on the performance.
The Seahawks went 14-3 in the regular season, losing three games by nine combined points. They dominated the 49ers in the divisional round, got an impressive NFC championship game win over the Los Angeles Rams and then shut down the Patriots in the Super Bowl. All season, one of the themes had been that there was no great team during this season.
The Seahawks might not have had the prettiest Super Bowl victory. But they were great for most of the season, and especially when Macdonald’s defense handled Maye and the Patriots in a lopsided Super Bowl win.
Live coverage is over72 updates
Yahoo Sports Staff
Yahoo Sports Staff
On his way out of Dallas, Lawrence said he’d never win a Super Bowl in Dallas.
Now he’s won one in his first year with Seattle.
Yahoo Sports Staff
Right after wrapping up a Super Bowl title as offensive coordinator for the Seahawks, Klint Kubiak confirmed he’s headed to Las Vegas to take over as Raiders head coach.
That backs up previous reports.
Chris Cwik
It’s been 28 years since a running back took home the Super Bowl MVP award. But that changed Sunday, as Kenneth Walker III was named the MVP of Super Bowl 60.
Walker was a force throughout the game, finishing the contest with 131 rushing yards and 26 receiving yards.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold has been doubted many times during his NFL career. But all of that has been erased after Darnold helped lead the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title Sunday.
Darnold spoke about his journey after the 29-13 win, and managed to channel Kevin Garnett in the process.
Darnold was asked about struggling early in his career and bouncing around the league before finding his football. He responded, “As long as you believe in yourself, anything’s possible.”
Chris Cwik
The Seahawks have done it. Led by a dominant defense and tremendous special teams, the Seahawks defeated the Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl 60.
It was a truly dominant performance by the Seahawks’ defense, which racked up six sacks and two interceptions in the win. The entire defense played well enough to win the MVP award and Jason Myers kicked an NFL-record five field goals. Seahawks punter Michael Dickson had two clutch punts to pin the Patriots back late.
With the win, it marks the first Seahawks win in the Super Bowl since the 2013 NFL season.
Chris Cwik
With 2:20 to go, the Patriots are on the board again. Drake Maye managed to find Rhamandre Stevenson with a short pass for a touchdown.
The ball nearly hit the ground, but Stevenson managed to snag it before it touched. He waltzed in for the score.
The Patriots failed to convert the 2-point conversion, making it 29-13 Seattle.
Chris Cwik
It’s only fitting that the Seattle Seahawks’ defense delivered the dagger Sunday. With the Patriots desperate for points, Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu snagged an interception and took it all the way to the endzone for a late score.
That put the Seahawks up 29-7 with four minutes to play.
Barring a miraculous comeback, that touchdown may have been the final nail in the coffin.
Chris Cwik
The Seahawks continue to add to their lead in Super Bowl 60. Jason Myers hit a Super Bowl record fifth field goal, putting the Seahawks up 22-7 with six minutes to go.
Myers has been nails all night, hitting all five of his attempts.
Special teams has played a major role in the Seahawks’ lead, as the team’s coverage and punt units have also come up big in the contest.
Chris Cwik
The Patriots’ comeback is over just as it was getting started. With the team in comeback mode, Drake Maye threw a bad interception to Seahawks safety Julian Love.
Love managed a nice return, setting up the Seahawks in excellent field position.
Seattle leads 19-7 with six minutes to play.
Chris Cwik
The Patriots finally showed some life on offense in the fourth quarter … but it wasn’t long before the Seahawks bounced back. While Seattle didn’t score on the next drive, the team did pin the Patriots deep in their own territory with a punt.
After a review, the ball was downed at the 4-yard line.
Chris Cwik
Drake Maye and the Patriots’ offense are alive … finally. Maye hit Mack Hollins on a deep touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to make it 19-7.
There was some debate over whether the Patriots should have gone for two, but the team opted for the extra point.
Ben Fawkes
The odds for no touchdown scored in Super Bowl 60 were 125-1 at BetMGM sportsbooks.
We won’t get that, though, as AJ Barner just scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Sam Darnold for the first TD in the game. Barner had 12-1 odds to score the game’s first TD.
Chris Cwik
The Seattle Seahawks are running away with Super Bowl 60. With the team already up 12-0, Sam Darnold found AJ Barner with a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Seahawks managed to hit the extra point, going up 19-0.
Given how dominant the Seahawks’ defense has played so far, that feels like an insurmountable lead. The Patriots need to show something now or this game is already over.
Chris Cwik
It felt like a matter of time before the Seattle Seahawks’ defense made a big play. That happened as the third quarter wound to a close, as the Seahawks forced and recovered a Drake Maye fumble.
The play came with just 10 seconds remaining in the quarter. Derick Hall managed to get through the offensive line and swipe the ball away from Maye’s hand as Maye was trying to get away.
It was Seattle’s fifth sack of the game. It’s been a dominant performance from the Seahawks so far, as the team has yet to allow a single point.
Chris Cwik
Can an entire defense with the Super Bowl MVP award? The Seattle Seahawks are certainly making that case.
Seattle continues to stop the Patriots dead in their tracks when on offense. The Seahawks managed that again in the third quarter, racking up their fourth sack and pressuring Drake Maye enough to get him off rhythm.
It’s been an impressive performance from the entire Seahawks defense, one that the rest of the NFL is no doubt taking notes on right now.
Chris Cwik
The New England Patriots are gonna need to get things moving on offense before it’s too late. But that’s not going to happen early in the third quarter.
The Patriots once again went three-and-out to open the quarter. This one was even more frustrating, as the team had a 3rd and 1 and Drake Maye missed an open receiver. The Patriots aren’t in a place where the team needs to rush it, and did not try for a 4th-down conversion.
But it won’t be long before the Pats start getting more desperate on offense, especially if Seattle can manage another score.
Chris Cwik
If Seattle Seahawks running back Ken Walker can perform like he did in the first half, the Seahawks will walk away from this game as Super Bowl champions.
Walker showed no signs of slowing down on the team’s first drive of the second half, making multiple tough plays to push the Seahawks down the field.
Walker’s biggest play came on a screen pass in which he shook off a defender to rumble for 20 yards. Walker also had another carry in which he appeared to be stopped in the backfield before breaking a tackle and making a move to gain positive yardage. It wasn’t a big highlight play, but it was emblematic of the game he’s having so far.
The Seahawks stalled out after Walker was taken off the field to rest, but still managed a field goal to extend their lead to 12-0.
Jason Owens
The second half is underway. And the first-half numbers were not pretty for the Patriots.
Seattle’s defense is dominating this game and is less than 30 minutes away from securing its spot among the all-time greats. Sam Darnold’s not doing much. But he doesn’t have to with Kenneth Walker pacing the Seahawks’ offense.
First-half stats:
Patriots Drake Maye: 6 of 11, 48 yards; 0 TDs or TOs; 3 sacks for 30 yards lost Rhamondre Stevenson: 7 carries for 23 yards TreVeyon Henderson: 2 carries for 0 yards Kayshon Boutte: 1 catch for 21 yards
Seahawks Sam Darnold: 9 of 22, 88 yards; 0 TDs or TOs, 0 sacks taken Kenneth Walker: 14 carries for 94 yards Cooper Kupp: 4 catches for 44 yards Jaxon Smith-Njigba: 1 catch for 4 yards
Team stats
Patriots offense: 51 yards on 2 yards per play Seahawks offense: 183 yards on 4.7 yards per play
Patriots punts: 5 Seahawks punts: 3
Patriots turnovers: 0 Seahawks turnovers: 0
Jason Owens
Bad Bunny closed with a message of unity.
Flanked by the flags of the U.S. and his native Puerto Rico and others of the Americas, Bad Bunny declared “God Bless America.” He then listed off the names of nations in South, Central and North America, closing with Mexico, the United States and Canada before shouting out Puerto Rico.
He then spiked a football with the message: “Together, we are America.”
There is more than one way to build a champion, and the Seahawks are a good example of figuring out a different method instead of chasing the rest of the league. That includes a quarterback who realized that all he needed to do to win a Super Bowl was not turn the ball over.
Seattle hired a defensive head coach, Mike Macdonald, when the rest of the league was infatuated with offensive whiz kids. The Seahawks built a defense with many good players but nobody who would rival Myles Garrett for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. (Maybe they do have one superstar, and we’ll get to him later.) The combination of Macdonald’s defensive scheme and the right players to fit it dominated the New England Patriots on Super Bowl Sunday.
“Defense wins championships!” Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said after the game. “We’re not here without our defense.”
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The Seahawks did have a star quarterback in Russell Wilson, but when they could see the end of the road coming for their relationship, they made a bold trade that allowed them to move onto a new championship era.
They shifted to a quarterback in Darnold who is the 18th highest-paid quarterback in the NFL, in terms of annual average value on his deal. Darnold’s tale, of winning a Super Bowl on his fifth team after the NFL had mostly given up on him following a tough start to his career, is rare. And while he has unquestionably become a good quarterback, nobody would put him on the same tier as Josh Allen or a healthy Patrick Mahomes. But when the Seahawks wanted to upgrade from Geno Smith, Darnold was available and they found the right fit.
“We see him each day: He’s there early, he’s there late,” Seahawks safety Julian Love said. “He’s committed to the process and he puts in the work. And above all that, he’s just a good guy. It’s so easy to love him and cheer for him.”
Between Darnold winning the title this season and Jalen Hurts — who has played good football but has plenty of skeptics as well — winning the Super Bowl last year with the Eagles, there’s proof that you don’t need an MVP-level quarterback to win it all. It makes life easier in many ways, but there aren’t many of those guys to go around.
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Seattle didn’t reinvent football and how it’s played. Having a great defense with a special teams unit that consistently makes winning plays has never been a secret, though it doesn’t get talked about as much in this era of offensive football. There’s nothing wrong with the Seahawks’ offense either, it just got the job done with a quarterback who probably isn’t on the elite tier and was on the discard pile not long ago.
If the Seahawks can put together a champion based on sound, smart moves without an elite quarterback, what’s everyone else’s excuse?
Here are the winners and losers from Super Bowl LX:
Witherspoon has been an impact player since coming into the NFL as the fifth overall draft pick in 2023, and with Mike Macdonald’s scheme he has become one of the NFL’s best defensive players. After Sunday, he’ll get more notice. Witherspoon did it all against the Patriots. He had a sack and three quarterback hits on well-timed blitzes. He helped hold Patriots leading receiver Stefon Diggs to 37 yards on three catches as well. Macdonald had Kyle Hamilton when he was the Ravens’ defensive coordinator and while Witherspoon isn’t the same player, they both are tremendous assets in the scheme due to their versatility.
Witherspoon can do it all and after his Super Bowl dominance, he should start to get mentioned along with the great cornerbacks in the game.
“Whatever my coach needs me to do, I go out there and do,” Witherspoon said.
Metrics already loved Witherspoon. He was Pro Football Focus’ No. 1 graded cornerback this past season. Now he has a ring to go with it after a stellar Super Bowl. This was a day in which his reputation got a huge bump.
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“I just made the plays that came to me,” Witherspoon said. “It’s nothing crazy.”
Kenneth Walker III: Walker will be remembered as a Super Bowl MVP. He broke a strangely long drought for running backs winning the award, going back to Terrell Davis in Super Bowl XXXII, which was 28 years ago.
It also validates Walker as a player. He had been good for the Seahawks, with a pair of 1,000-yard rushing seasons in his first four years in the NFL, but when the Seahawks needed more of him after Zach Charbonnet’s torn ACL, he delivered in a big way.
Walker handled 27 of Seattle’s 29 running back carries in Super Bowl LX and gained 135 yards. Before the Super Bowl he had not had 20 carries in a game all season. Coming up big in the biggest game will now be remembered forever, thanks to his MVP.
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“He’s a special player,” Seahawks receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said. “He’s a special player.”
Mike Vrabel: It didn’t seem like it in the moment after being dominated in the Super Bowl, but Vrabel and the Patriots had a remarkable season.
They went 14-3 in the regular season, a stunning 10-game improvement from 2024. They’re a young team and while it’s hard to bank on going to another Super Bowl right away, they are set up well for the next few years.
Vrabel noted after the loss he had been on the job 307 days (Drake Maye repeated that number later, so it’s something Vrabel had made his team aware of), which was to point out that they’re still fairly early in the process of building a long-term winner.
“I’m sorry we didn’t get this done, but we’ll be back,” Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez said. “‘Vrabes has done an amazing job. Everybody on this team loves playing for him.”
Seahawks special teams: Seattle had the No. 1 special teams unit in DVOA this season, and it continued to show against the Patriots.
Kicker Jason Myers hit five field goals, the most in a single Super Bowl, and he also surpassed LaDainian Tomlinson for the most points by a player in a single year (regular season and playoffs) in NFL history, with 206 to Tomlinson’s 198 from his MVP season in 2006.
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Michael Dickson, meanwhile, punted seven times for an average of 47.9 yards and pinned New England deep on several occasions. That proved important in a game where the Seahawks largely leaned on their defense and run game.
LOSERS
Drake Maye: Fair or not, a rough Super Bowl will cast some doubt on Maye going into his third season.
It was a curious season. Maye barely missed winning NFL MVP over Matthew Stafford. He was great for most of the regular season. Then he had a poor postseason, though it didn’t cost the Patriots until the Super Bowl.
For three quarters it looked like the Patriots might be the first Super Bowl team to be shut out.
“There’s plays I’ll think about for the next seven months,” Maye said.
He has a solid foundation. It’s hard to believe he won’t be one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for a while. But after a rough Super Bowl and uninspiring playoff run, there will be more questions about him than you’d expect from an MVP runner-up.
Patriots’ offensive line: The Patriots weren’t supposed to be as far along in their rebuild as they were. Having a great season doesn’t change that they still have things to work on within the roster.
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One of those things is the offensive line. The Patriots had a terrible offensive line before this past season, and it was reasonable for most of this season. But it struggled in the playoffs. Maye was sacked six times in the Super Bowl. He was sacked five times in each of the Patriots’ first three playoff games. That’s unacceptable.
Left tackle Will Campbell, the fourth overall pick of the draft, struggled in the last few games as he seemed to hit a rookie wall. The Patriots will have to figure out what caused that, and keep building the line around him. Vrabel said the Seahawks didn’t do anything with their pressures that was unexpected. New England just struggled to protect.
“Sometimes we blocked them, sometimes we didn’t,” Vrabel said.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — About 10 minutes into a despondent postgame sigh, the reality settled in for Drake Maye. The one that drops into the stomach for many quarterbacks who crumble into the negative side of the ledger in the biggest game of their lives. The one where you’ve lost a Super Bowl, and next comes losing part of the team that helped deliver it.
One question after another, the New England Patriots quarterback stared just over the top of the microphone in front of him, but just below the gaze of the reporters encircling him. Eventually, his eyes began to well and his voice cracked.
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“I’m so proud,” he said, contemplating the Patriots’ unlikely run to Sunday’s Super Bowl. “That’s probably the reason I’m choked up the most.”
He took a beat between his words, trying to hold his composure.
“This team is uh … ”
“Something that uh … ”
“I’m just glad to be part of.”
This moment hurt for Maye, who also revealed to reporters that he received a pain-killer injection in his right shoulder before Sunday’s game. The emotions were understandable. There are many ways to lose a Super Bowl. And New England’s 29-13 defeat to the Seattle Seahawks was not remotely pretty. The offense was suffocated, overwhelmed and often bullied. The defense, while stout much of the night, couldn’t carry the load alone. And the magical season — which saw New England go from last place in the AFC East in 2024 to this Super Bowl stage — felt like it was fighting off a closing curtain at halftime, despite facing only a 9-0 deficit.
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It was the kind of loss that sets the offseason in motion with the burden of knowing the roster, coaching staff and personnel department all have an uphill hike ahead. The kind of journey where you have to work hard and smart to anchor the franchise to this 2025 success, lest it become a cautionary tale of arriving too early with an overall team that is still too fragile to establish consistency into 2026 and beyond. The Washington Commanders were that kind of franchise in 2024, storming into the NFC championship game with rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and a roster that was nowhere ready to backstop elite success in the event of health issues at the quarterback spot. And when that quarterback spot went sideways in 2025, so did the feel-good story of 2024 Commanders.
That could be these Patriots. That’s why the next 307 days of head coach Mike Vrabel will matter as much as the previous 307 days.
The saving grace — once the hurt of Sunday’s loss subsides, if it ever really does — is that Maye is experiencing this defeat at 23 years old and in his second year as an NFL starter. As historical quarterback continuums go, he resides in an impressive fraternity of Super Bowl starters who experienced this stage ahead of the curve, joining eight others who managed to play in a Super Bowl as NFL sophomores. Among them: Pro Football Hall of Famers Dan Marino and Kurt Warner; expected future Hall of Famers in Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger and Russell Wilson; still-in-motion starters Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy; and the lost career (or however you wish to view it) of Colin Kaepernick.
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That group is an interesting NFL mashup of success and failure sprawled across decades, showcasing that while some quarterbacks are destined for more Super Bowl opportunities — Brady, Warner, Roethlisberger and Wilson — others either never again stepped on the biggest stage (Marino and Kaepernick) or are still trying to find their way back (Burrow and Purdy). The direction of Maye? It now depends on both his own progression and the strides of virtually everything around him in the Patriots organization.
That thought should have represented the undercurrent in the minds of New England fans when Vrabel opened his Sunday night remarks intent on reminding everyone that all of this is just beginning.
Asked what he told his team after Sunday’s loss, Vrabel replied, “That I’m proud of everything they did. That I’m disappointed just like they are.”
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“I reminded them that we’re 307 days into what is hopefully a long, successful relationship and program,” Vrabel said. “And that it’s OK to be disappointed. We have to be disappointed and upset together. Like I always do, I [told] them I’m appreciative and thankful and grateful that I get to coach them. Part of our identity not being a frontrunner. Just like every year, somebody is going to lose this game and we have to remember what it feels like and make sure it’s not repeated.”
Of course, reaching another Super Bowl and making sure past mistakes aren’t repeated, is more than just remembering a feeling, especially when a franchise is still a significant work in progress. For all the well-built dynasty-era Patriots rosters that found consistent success like winding a clock each season, you have something different in this New England team that will spend this offseason trying to reconfigure a dozen components inside a Swiss watch containing 200 parts. There’s meticulous work ahead here. And even in the midst of Maye’s sudden rise to a near-MVP level in 2025, the raising of his ceiling has to be one of the cogs within it.
That includes all the euphoria of winning that accompanied the 14-3 regular season. And now it includes all the losing Sunday, a rebuke that delivers New England back to a 2026 starting line with little more than the stinging reminder of missed opportunity in the form of an AFC championship trophy.
It’s a haunting hurt that Maye seemed to understand clearly in defeat.
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“That’s what fuels you,” Maye said of the emotional low taken from the Seahawks loss. “I think that’s the biggest thing about life. It’s gonna have times like this. It’s how you bounce back. All the guys in that locker room are gonna use this as fuel. I’d go to war with those guys anytime, any day, anywhere. That’s motivation to get back here and not have this feeling. … I told those guys in the locker room, this is fuel. If it’s not, then I don’t know what this feeling can do for you, because this is tough.”
It’s fuel for the coaching staff, too. While the exact responsibilities for a litany of Super Bowl breakdowns will be unraveled over the next few hours, days and weeks, there’s little hiding that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels didn’t have his best performance. Or that Seattle’s ability to disguise some pressure looks weren’t always recognized by Maye. Or that the offensive line — most especially left tackle Will Campbell — has an absolutely vital offseason ahead.
New England’s $35 million to $40 million in 2026 salary cap space — while an above-average margin — will have to be spent very wisely this offseason. The skill position pieces around Maye (most especially at wide receiver) will require a lot of attention. His line will need additions, and possibly even some reshuffling. The defense will require depth and extensions, most notably with cornerback Christian Gonzalez. And the well of 11 draft picks will have to produce some players capable of stepping in and having an impact as rookies.
For any franchise, that’s a lot of work. For a team that just lost in the Super Bowl, it’s a surprising amount of heavy earth that still has to be moved. But there’s also one significant step forward that appears to finally be out of the way: Even in a postseason when he accounted for only six touchdowns against four interceptions, seven fumbles and was sacked 21 times — even when he made several costly mistakes in the biggest game of his life — New England’s quarterback sounded resolute in the desolation of his first title shot.
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“There’s plays I’ll think about for the next probably seven months, until we’re back in September playing the first one [of the season],” Maye said Sunday night. “That’s the nature of it.”
On some days, in the absolute biggest game, so is losing. And Maye didn’t know that a year ago.
To outwit the New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald tapped into one of his trademark idiosyncrasies.
Seahawks colleagues describe the second-year, 38-year-old defensive guru as an analytical thinker for whom “Excel is his best friend.”
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Players and coaches know that when they talk to Macdonald, he may not respond immediately. He is not ignoring them. He is calculating his response.
“He usually has the look where he would literally pause, look off, and it’s like the most awkward five seconds of your life,” defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Karl Scott told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. “It’s him getting to where he needs to get to give you the answer that he feels best about.
“His processor is working up there.”
The calculating and recalculating is effective for the creation of a game plan.
It’s lethal for a quarterback playing on the biggest stage.
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So as the Seahawks prepared to face second-year quarterback Drake Maye and the Patriots, a defense that prides itself on running myriad plays out of identical pre-snap looks understood: Seattle needed the opposing quarterback to do what its coach so often does in conversation.
The Seahawks needed Maye to pause, to hesitate, to wonder what the Seahawks were going to do after the snap. Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels had drilled film that showed Seattle employing late rotations and drops that confounded quarterbacks who trusted their initial read.
The Seahawks kept the heat on Drake Maye throughout Super Bowl LX in a resounding defensive performance. (Photo by Matthew Huang/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
McDaniels told Maye: “You gotta confirm it once the ball’s snapped.”
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But waiting to confirm the Seahawks’ defensive plan left Maye exactly where the Seahawks wanted him.
“Once he [gets] on point, he get[s] the ball out very early, it’s very hard to stop him,” cornerback Devon Witherspoon said as cigar smoke and Champagne bottles signaled the Seahawks’ 29-13 Super Bowl LX victory. “So I think we had a great game plan for that. …
“Just make him hold the ball a little bit longer than he normally do.”
Make Maye pause just as Macdonald regularly does in conversation. Better yet, force that hesitation and then attack a quarterback who’s no longer in rhythm.
In an NFL era that increasingly favors high-flying offenses and quarterback-centric team builds, the Seahawks won their first Super Bowl in 11 years by bucking trends. When they needed a head coach, they hired not the latest Los Angeles Rams offensive mind whom they tabbed as the next Sean McVay but instead a defensive mind whom past colleagues have long hailed as a defensive Sean McVay of sorts.
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When the Seahawks needed a quarterback, they did not draft one with a premium pick nor pay top dollar to acquire the most proven option; they instead bet on 2018 No. 3 overall pick Sam Darnold’s potential to do enough among a highly talented surrounding cast and instructed Darnold in the final game: Protect the ball, and we’ll win. Sunday, Darnold became the first quarterback to start for at least four teams (he’s started for five) then win a Super Bowl.
The Seahawks won with a head coach whom colleagues say coaches defense like offensive coaches coach offense, which is to say that Seattle’s defense doesn’t bank on reacting when it could instead detail out plays with specific roles for each player and an unusual emphasis on situational football, disguises and blitzes that could come from anywhere.
That combination buoyed Seattle to a win that was closer than the final result suggested. And it could leave many of the 31 other NFL teams wondering if their recent offensive obsession is the straightest path to a Super Bowl.
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“We lost and we were beat,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said. “Outcoached and outplayed.
“Give them credit.”
With heavy pressure, Seahawks knocked Maye off Super Bowl mountain
During offseason practices and training camp last summer, McDaniels drew a picture of a mountain on the board of a meeting room and explained his quarterback philosophy.
Many NFL offenses, including the increasingly popular Shanahan-McVay system, are trending toward alleviating responsibilities and stressors off of quarterbacks. McDaniels, whose six Super Bowl berths as offensive coordinator are a league record, believed in the opposite. The more he teaches quarterbacks every intricate detail, the more they can process the information that defenses threw at them, he figures. Even without grizzled vet Tom Brady under center, McDaniels clings to that premise.
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So last summer, alongside the edge of the mountain imagery, McDaniels spelled out lessons in ascending order of difficulty. Cadence formed the base of the mountain, followed by breaking the huddle, alignment, footwork and progression reads, Patriots second-string quarterback Josh Dobbs told Yahoo Sports. Then came concepts ranging from red zone and short-yardage to third-and-long and end-of-game situations.
“And then at the top of the mountain, there’s all these difficult things that defenses do, you know, to try to make you make mistakes,” McDaniels said Thursday. “It’s not easy all the time going up the mountain cause you’re gonna be asked to do some of these things and they’re gonna trick us and they’re gonna get us.
“But once you learn, and then you get to the top of the mountain? I’ve always told them that the view from the top is a lot better than the view from the bottom.”
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels failed to outwit Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald and his stellar defensive unit on Super Bowl Sunday. (Photo by Kathryn Riley/Getty Images)
(Kathryn Riley via Getty Images)
McDaniels’ philosophy helped guide Maye to a league-best 72% completion rate, the MVP runner-up by one vote and an AFC championship title. But on the biggest stage, the Seahawks’ concepts at the top of the proverbial mountain thwarted rather than empowered Maye.
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Seattle, rather than New England, hoisted the Lombardi Trophy atop the pro football mountain.
Maye wasn’t able to carry an offense that relied heavily on him to elevate the Patriots most of the season. Maye was pressured on 52.8% of his dropbacks, the most since Next Gen Stats began tracking such data, and he absorbed six sacks while turning the ball over three times on the night.
Through three quarters, Maye had completed just 8 of 18 pass attempts for 60 yards as the Patriots converted just 2-of-11 third downs before the final period.
Late in the game, the Patriots found the end zone in what some Seahawks later described as garbage time. But before the Patriots ruined Seattle’s shutout bid with 12:30 to play, New England punted eight times and fumbled another possession away.
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The Seahawks’ blitzes were one source of Maye’s disorientation.
Seattle’s designated blitzer was unexpected.
With Devon Witherspoon, Seahawks bucked their playoff blitz pattern
Remember how Macdonald coaches defense like his rivals coach offense?
Well, Seattle’s top mind schemed cornerback Devon Witherspoon the way San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan schemes Christian McCaffrey and Atlanta Falcons brass scheme Bijan Robinson.
Witherspoon, the fifth overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, had rushed the passer just 21 times in 12 regular-season games this season. He had not rushed the passer, which is to say the defensive back had not blitzed, in either of the Seahawks’ prior playoff games.
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So what did “Defensive Sean McVay” dial up against a quarterback who had fumbled more times in three playoffs games than 17 regular-season games?
Witherspoon blitzed six times, generating a career-high four pressures, including a sack, that encapsulates why Maye had such a long and frustrating night.
As the Patriots faced third-and-9 with 7:23 to play in the first quarter, Seattle lined up not four, not five, but six defenders at the line of scrimmage. Then, as New England snapped the ball, linebacker Ernest Jones IV dropped into coverage and Witherspoon creeped up from behind the line to blitz Darnold.
Witherspoon sacked Darnold for a loss of 10 yards and forced the first of what would become a very routine Patriots play on Sunday: a punt. The Patriots were so unprepared for Witherspoon’s blitz that he managed to race through unblocked. Witherspoon was unblocked on all four of his pressures, according to Next Gen Stats.
“I haven’t been blitzing a lot this year but like I said, it was best for our team,” Witherspoon said. “I enjoy them a lot.”
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The Patriots would not enjoy them.
Instead, in the fourth quarter, Witherspoon’s pursuit would cause a play in which he did not show up on the stat sheet or even the description of the play in the NFL’s official record of how the game unfolded.
And yet, the play was “just a microcosm of our whole season,” Scott said, because Seattle’s defense hinged less on one star than the average NFL defense and instead on a swarming collective that set each other up for home-run plays. With 4:37 to play in the fourth quarter, after the Patriots had finally found a glimpse of momentum, including their initial score, Witherspoon waited for the tell that Macdonald had outlined during film study and indeed saw the timing of an offensive line movement that gave him a green light. Witherspoon burst through the line again and punched it out of Maye’s hands.
Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu grabbed the loose ball before it hit the ground and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. The Patriots were mathematically a long shot to rally before that. With the 14-point swing on the drive, Seattle’s win clarified further.
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“Spoon had a phenomenal game,” Macdonald said. “Affected the quarterback, made the play on the ball. We haven’t blitzed him that much this year. He hasn’t made that many plays on the quarterback. Not for a lack of wanting to on his end.
“Called his number today and made it happen.”
‘Illusion of complexity’ gave Seahawks a trophy that is no mirage
From the San Jose Marriott in the days preceding Super Bowl LX, Macdonald told his team in a meeting that their best recipe for winning was to be themselves.
Perhaps the message will sound cliché to some; and perhaps it will convey stability and consistency to others. But Macdonald wasn’t just floating vague sentiments. He was explaining to his players how he tempered his own nerves ahead of the biggest moment, during a week in which he said too much time was one of his biggest challenges.
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The analytical, spreadsheet-loving mind had too much time to crunch numbers. The calculating, scheming defensive mastermind was still installing wrinkles on Saturday, Love said.
“Lot of thought, lot of effort, lot of adjustments,” Love said. “It always goes up to the whistle because we’re just chasing that edge.”
So Macdonald’s message to his players in their team meeting, after a season of defining their ethos as “loose and focused”?
“He’s like, ‘I go through the game plan every week and I get to Friday and start stressing and stuff,’” edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence told Yahoo Sports. “He’s like, ‘Next thing you know, I see you guys and it’s like all of [the stress] is thrown away. Just because of y’all’s attitudes and you know how y’all approach each and every day.’
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“He told us the key was being ourselves.”
So on Sunday, in sunny Northern California, the Seahawks leaned into their identity of disguises and they ran zone at times after they aligned pre-snap bluffing they would run man. The Seahawks painted pictures for Maye other than the truth of what they would run, and they married their rush and their coverage to create pressure he was unable to overcome.
“We use disguise and shell coverage to play everything out of and create that illusion of complexity,” defensive coordinator Aden Durde told Yahoo Sports on Thursday. “I’ve been on teams that you want to disguise, but I feel like teams I’ve been on, they want to disguise multiple different looks, where here it’s just like, ‘This is what we are.’
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“We don’t pressure a lot, but when we do pressure, everyone pressures, and if everyone pressures that means everyone drops. So it’s all connected on all three levels.”
On Sunday, the blitzes and pressures and disguises all connected to light the way to a Seahawks championship.
“They had a hard time operating,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider said of the Patriots. “[Macdonald] worries himself overthinking and overstrategizing, but he’s amazing at it. And he knows football. He knows the offensive side and the defensive side.
“He did a great job and he did a great job of being himself. And when players see that authenticity, they buy into that right away. They can recognize a fake right away, and he’s not fake at all.”
Neither, on the floor of the home locker room at 9:25 p.m. local time, was the Lombardi Trophy. Fingerprints dulled its luster some. But the trophy that Seahawks players and coaches had lifted and posed with and danced around and kissed sat abandoned on the carpet of the locker room as its new owners fled for the party that awaited.
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Perhaps it was fitting: The trophy that had shuffled hands and stages all night now reflected the image of the head coach who won it, taking a pause that was not awkward before more action awaited it later that night.
The trophy that Macdonald had earned in large part because of his calculating pauses, and those pauses’ ability to make Maye pause, could breathe.
So could a locker room of Seahawks players with different faces and backstories than the last Seattle dynasty. Schneider discussed, as one of the few holdovers, how difficult it was to again reach the elusive stage and how much he appreciated team owner Jody Allen’s willingness to grant a front office a caliber of longevity the league often doesn’t when a decade passed between Lombardis.
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Witherspoon celebrated the championship reputation his coach had earned, albeit with a dose of shade toward the NFL Coach of the Year contest that had crowned Vrabel, rather than Macdonald, its winner. (Ballots incorporate only regular-season performances.)
“It was just so easy to follow his game plan because you know he wanted the best for you,” Witherspoon said of Macdonald. “I mean, he means everything to me. And [when] he didn’t get Coach of the Year, I felt some time of way about that because I mean, who outperformed him this year, really?
“We etched ourselves in history, so it really don’t matter [now] to be honest, though.
“But talking about a coach who [is] going to battle for you, who [is] going to treat you right, man, who’s a player’s coach — it’s hard to put these words in. It’s hard to put it together in the words, man.
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“I just love Coach Macdonald. That’s my guy, man.”
Pause to think about it, and that’s a Super Bowl champion.
The Winter Games have begun in Italy. From the rink to the slopes, a new generation of stars has emerged to chase gold. We’ll keep you connected to all of the thrilling moments and top stories as we track the medal race each day of the Games.
The U.S. curling team bounced back to advance to the semifinals for the first time in team history, while the US women’s hockey team and figure skaters look to continue their domination. Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe look for another medal, while a new face has emerged in the women’s freeski slopestyle.
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Here are the top five things to watch today at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics:
1. U.S. mixed doubles to compete in first curling semifinal
Survival was the best word to describe Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin’s back-to-back wins over Estonia and Sweden in round-robin play on Sunday. After going into Saturday’s matchups with a record-setting 4-0 start, the U.S. mixed doubles pair dropped back-to-back matches to undefeated Great Britain and previously winless South Korea.
After early play Monday, the semifinal stage is set: USA vs. Italy, Great Britain vs. Sweden.
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For the American and Italians, it will be a rematch of … Monday morning’s match, where the Italians rode a four-point end to a 7-6 victory.
2. Will Hilary Knight break the Olympic scoring record against Switzerland?
The U.S. women’s hockey team is off to a commanding start, entering Monday’s matchup against 1-1 Switzerland undefeated at 2-0. Only Sweden (3-0) has a better record. Each of Team USA’s games has featured a balanced attack, scoring five goals in each game.
3. Madison Chock, Evan Bates aim to turn three straight world titles into Olympic gold
Team USA duo Madison Chock and Evan Bates will look to continue their domination when they enter Monday’s rhythm dance portion of the individual ice dance competition. On Friday and Saturday, they posted the top scores in the rhythm dance and free dance portions of the team event, helping push the U.S. over the edge to take gold on Sunday.
While Chock and Bates have won three straight world championships, they have no individual Olympic medals, finishing just off the podium at the 2014, 2018 and 2022 Games.
4. Erin Jackson, Brittany Bowe look to medal in speed skating
U.S. speed skaters Erin Jackson and Brittany Bowe will begin their quest to repeat as medalists in this year’s Winter Olympics with the women’s 1000m on Monday. Jackson won gold in the 500m in 2022, while Bowe won bronze in 2022 (1000) and 2018 (team pursuit).
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This is a special Olympics for longtime friends Jackson and Bowe. Jackson, 33, was a U.S. flag bearer in the Opening Ceremony. This will be the 37-year-old Bowe’s final time competing in the Winter Olympics.
5. One of Team USA’s youngest competitors looks to make a name for herself
Seventeen-year-old Avery Krumme qualified for Monday’s women’s freeski slopestyle final after finishing fourth in the qualification run. She looks to become the first American to medal in the history of the event.
Krumme was born in Canada and switched her nationality to represent the United States in 2024.
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But she’ll have to compete with Eileen Gu, American born but competing for China. Gu is the favorite and was the silver medalist in Beijing.
Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 (Day 3)
Alpine Skiing
Men’s team combined
4:30 a.m.: Downhill (USA Network)
7:50 a.m.: Slalom (USA Network coverage begins at 8 a.m.)🏅
Curling
Mixed doubles round-robin
4:05 a.m.: Switzerland vs. Canada, Italy vs. USA, Norway vs. South Korea, Czechia vs. Estonia
12:05 p.m.: Semifinals (airs on CNBC at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.)
Figure Skating
10:20 a.m.: Rhythm dance (USA Network)
Freestyle Skiing
Slopestyle
6:30 a.m.: Women’s final (USA Network)🏅
Hockey
Women’s pool play
6:10 a.m.: Japan vs. Italy
10:40 a.m: Germany vs. France (USA Network coverage begins at 12 p.m.)
2:40 p.m.: USA vs. Switzerland (USA Network)
3:10 p.m.: Canada vs. Czechia
Luge
Women’s singles
11 a.m.: Run 1 (USA Network)
1 p.m.: Run 2 (USA Network)
Ski Jumping
Normal hill
1 p.m.: Men’s final (airs on USA Network at 5:30 p.m.)🏅
“I shot it up, so not much feeling,” Maye said when asked how his shoulder felt. “It was good to go, and it felt all right.”
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Heading into the Super Bowl, Maye was limited in practice with a shoulder injury he suffered in the AFC championship win over the Denver Broncos. On the team’s initial injury report, the 23-year-old quarterback was listed as questionable with a shoulder injury and an illness that caused him to miss a practice.
Despite being removed from the injury report and telling reporters he felt well heading into the game, Maye struggled in the Super Bowl. Maye completed 27-of-43 passes for 295 yards, 2 touchdowns, 2 interceptions and a fumble, with most of his passing yards coming in the fourth quarter. Maye’s second interception was returned for a touchdown and all but closed the game.
Maye’s protection also did him no favors. He was sacked six times on Sunday, compared with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, who was sacked once. Patriots rookies Will Campbell and Jared Wilson struggled against the power of the Seahawks’ pass rushers and the quickness of secondary players on blitzes sent by head coach Mike Macdonald on the left side of the offensive line.
Despite Maye’s performance, he didn’t know if his shoulder limited him in Sunday’s game.
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“I think it would be hard to say that,” Maye said. “I was feeling good enough to be out there. I wouldn’t put the team in harm’s way to not be myself. Just didn’t make plays tonight.”
Maye struggled this postseason. The MVP runner-up finished with a 40.0 QBR in the playoffs, which ranked only above the Chicago Bears’ Rex Grossman in 2006 and the Denver Broncos’ Peyton Manning during his final season in 2015. Only Manning won a Super Bowl in that group.
Despite facing four of the top six regular-season defenses in yards allowed, Maye was able to win in different ways and help lead his team to the Super Bowl in his second NFL season. Maye moved the ball on the ground when defenses shut down the passing game or when winter weather conditions limited air yards against the Broncos in the AFC championship game.
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In the end, it was not enough to win it all.
“This hurts,” an emotional Maye said after the Super Bowl. “It definitely hurts. They played better than us tonight,” he said. “They deserved to win that game. For the whole team and myself, what a journey it’s been for us. I love this team and those guys in the locker room. We left it all on the field and just came up short. We didn’t play our best, and that’s what happens. … It’s going to sting for a while, but that’s what you sign up for.”
Monday is another busy day at the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics. Five gold medals are up for grabs in men’s team combined alpine skiing, women’s slopestyle, men’s normal hill individual, women’s big air and the women’s 1000m speed skating.
Also, the U.S. women’s hockey team looks to improve to 3-0 when they take on Switzerland at 2:40 p.m. ET.
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As we wait for those events, there were several that took place early Monday morning, including one that saw another gold medal handed out.
Gu held the top spot following the first run with a score of 86.58 compared to Gremaud’s 83.60. But the second run saw Gremaud move ahead of Gu with an 86.98.
Needing a strong score to have a shot at gold, Gu fell on first rail in her third and final run to give Gremaud her second consecutive Olympic title. Gu had to settle for silver for the second straight Olympics.
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Avery Krumme, the youngest competitor in the field at 17 years old, finished in 11th place with a score of 52.90
2. Breezy Johnson, Mikaela Shiffrin team up
The women’s combined event will take place on Tuesday and U.S. Ski & Snowboard announced the pairings for the event that sees a downhill skier teamed up with a slalom skier.
Johnson, who earned the USA’s second gold medal in women’s downhill on Sunday, is paired with two-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time World Champion Mikaela Shiffirin.
Here’s who the U.S. will send out together on Monday:
Team 1: Breezy Johnson (downhill), Mikaela Shiffrin (slalom)
Team 2: Jackie Wiles (downhill), Paula Moltzan (slalom)
Team 3: Bella Wright (downhill), Nina O’Brien (slalom)
Team 4: Keely Cashman (downhill), AJ Hurt (slalom)
3. U.S. mixed curling doubles team loses, moves on to semifinals
The U.S. team of Cory Thiesse and Kory Dropkin lost their final round-robin match to Italy 7-6, but they won’t have to wait long for revenge. Both teams finished 6-3 and will meet in the semifinals on Monday at 12:05 p.m. ET.
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Great Britain (8-1) will meet Sweden (5-4) in the other semifinal. Tuesday will be a medal day with the bronze medal match at 8:05 a.m. ET and the gold medal final at 12:05 p.m. ET.
4. Italy out front in men’s team combined
Giovanni Franzoni won silver in Saturday’s downhill and followed with a strong showing in the downhill portion of the men’s team combined with a time of 1:51.80. The Italian will now wait to see what teammate Alex Vinatzer can do in the slalom portion later this morning.
Three Swiss teams are right behind the Italians, with Alexis Money (+0.17), Marco Odermatt (+.28) and Franjo von Allmen, who won gold in the men’s downhill on Saturday, placing second, third and fourth, respectively.
