SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The wind whipping off the San Francisco Bay feels different this week. Maybe it’s the ghost of Super Bowl XLIX hovering over Levi’s Stadium, or maybe it’s the pure, unfiltered shock that the New England Patriots are even here.
Let’s be real: Nobody had this on their 2025 bingo card. Coming off back-to-back 4-13 disasters, New England looked dead in the water. Then came the hiring of Mike Vrabel, the ascension of Drake Maye, and a 17-3 tear that has defied every analytic model in existence. Now, they stand 60 minutes away from a seventh Lombardi Trophy.
But here’s the question burning through sports radio from Boston to Bangor: If they pull off the upset against the 4.5-point favorite Seahawks, where does this ring rank? Does the “Miracle of Maye” top the “Legend of Tom”?
We ranked the potential victory against the six ghosts of championships past.
The Hypothetical Ranking: Where Super Bowl LX Fits
1. Super Bowl XXXVI: Patriots 20, Rams 17 (2002)
The Gold Standard. You never forget your first. The 2001 Patriots were a team of castoffs and “patriot missiles” led by a backup quarterback named Brady. They faced “The Greatest Show on Turf” as 14-point underdogs. The world waited for the Rams to blow them out; instead, Bill Belichick bullied the league into introducing teams as a unit, Ty Law returned an interception for a score, and Adam Vinatieri split the uprights through the confetti. It wasn’t just a win; it was the birth of an empire.
2. Super Bowl LI: Patriots 34, Falcons 28 (OT) (2017)
28-3. That score is a punchline, a meme, and a nightmare for Atlanta fans forever. Down 25 points with barely a quarter to play, Brady went nuclear. Julian Edelman made a catch that defied physics (and gravity), and James White became a touchdown machine. It’s the greatest comeback in sports history. Period. The sheer impossibility of the math makes this a lock for No. 2.
3. Super Bowl LX: Patriots vs. Seahawks (2026)
The Resurrection. If they win Sunday, it lands here. Why? Because the Brady-Belichick safety net is gone. This isn’t a “reload”; it’s a resurrection. Critics wrote this franchise off as a dinosaur extinction event post-2020. Yet, here is Mike Vrabel, on the verge of becoming the fifth rookie head coach to win it all. Here is Drake Maye, poised to become the youngest QB to hoist the Lombardi. A win Sunday breaks the tie with Pittsburgh for most rings ever (7) and proves the “Patriot Way” wasn’t just one man. It’s an institutional DNA.
4. Super Bowl XXXIX: Patriots 24, Eagles 21 (2005)
The Dynasty Sealer. Three rings in four years. Only the Cowboys had done it before. This game was a masterclass in efficiency. Brady hit Deion Branch repeatedly, the defense broke Donovan McNabb (literally making him sick in the huddle), and they cemented themselves as the team of the 2000s. It lacks the drama of the others, but the historical weight is heavy.
5. Super Bowl XLIX: Patriots 28, Seahawks 24 (2015)
“Malcolm, Go!” The interception at the goal line is the single most swing-shifting play in NFL history. Seattle had it won. Marshawn Lynch was right there. Then, undrafted rookie Malcolm Butler jumped the slant. It ended a 10-year drought for New England and launched the second half of the dynasty. This game is iconic, but the 2004 win ranks higher for completing the trilogy.
6. Super Bowl LIII: Patriots 13, Rams 3 (2019)
The Defensive Masterpiece. Casual fans hated it; purists loved it. Belichick dismantled the high-flying Sean McVay offense, holding them to a single field goal. It was the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, but it gave Brady his sixth ring and bookended the dynasty against the same franchise it started with. It wasn’t pretty, but flags fly forever.
7. Super Bowl XXXVIII: Patriots 32, Panthers 29 (2004)
The Shootout. This game was wild—zero points in the first and third quarters, 61 combined points in the second and fourth. It was a slugfest that ended, naturally, with a Vinatieri kick. It’s an absolute classic, but in a trophy case this crowded, “exciting” finishes seventh behind “historic.”
“We heard the noise all year. ‘Rebuild year.’ ‘Too young.’ We kept the receipts. Now we’re in California, and we aren’t here to take photos of the Golden Gate Bridge. We’re here to finish the job.” — Rhamondre Stevenson, Patriots Running Back (Media Day, Thursday)
The X-Factor: Mike Vrabel
This cannot be overstated: Mike Vrabel has changed the temperature in Foxborough. The Week 1 loss to the Raiders felt like the “same old post-Brady Patriots.” But Vrabel didn’t flinch. He adjusted the scheme, trusted his young QB, and brought a physicality back to the defense that had been missing. If he wins Sunday, he joins an elite club of coaches to win a Super Bowl in their first year—but he’d be the first to do it with the same franchise he won rings with as a player. That is storybook stuff.
