After a wild regular season and an even crazier postseason, there are only four teams left standing in the NFL, which means there are now only four possible Super Bowl matchups still in play, so we’re going to rank them.
Of the four matchups that could still happen, three of them would be a rematch of a previous Super Bowl, which means there’s only one matchup we could still get that has never happened (and we’ll cover that later). Of the three possible rematches, all of them have happened at some point over the past 15 years:
- 2013: Super Bowl XLVIII (Seahawks over Broncos)
- 2014: Super Bowl XLIX (Patriots over Seahawks)
- 2018: Super Bowl LIII (Patriots over Rams)
Note: The Rams lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 when they were located in St. Louis.
Basically, if the Patriots make the Super Bowl, they’ll be facing a team that will be out for some revenge.
This year’s Super Bowl is being played at Levi’s Stadium, which just happens to be the same building where Denver won its last Super Bowl in 2015. Speaking of the Broncos, they won’t have Bo Nix if they make the Super Bowl. Nix is out for the year after fracturing a bone in his ankle during Denver’s 33-30 overtime win against Buffalo in the divisional round. The loss of Nix definitely makes any Super Bowl with the Broncos a little less attractive, and we certainly took that into account with these rankings.
By the way, if you still haven’t marked your calendar for the Super Bowl, you should go ahead and do that now: The game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. ET on Feb. 8 and will be broadcast on NBC.
So what’s the best potential matchup for Super Bowl LX?
Let’s get to the rankings and find out.
4. Seahawks vs. Broncos
Hypothetical point spread: Seahawks -9.5
This game would give us Jarrett Stidham going up against the best defense in the NFL and I’m pretty sure we all know how that would turn out. The fact that the Seahawks would be nearly a 10-point favorite isn’t surprising at all and if this game did turn into a blowout, it would actually fit a trend that’s developed over the past five decades.
Over the past 50 years, the two top seeds have faced each other in the Super Bowl 14 times, and for the most part, those games have turned into blowouts. Out of those 14 games, 10 have been decided by double digits, including Super Bowl XLVIII, when the Seahawks smashed the Broncos 43-8.
One interesting storyline in this game is that it would be the Russell Wilson Bowl, and it might give future teams some confidence that you can turn your roster around quicker than you think. These two teams made one of the biggest trades in NFL history when the Seahawks shipped Russell Wilson off to Denver in 2022. It was a bold move that’s already paid off for the Seahawks, because they’ve already rebuilt the franchise.
As for the Broncos, they foolishly gave Wilson a huge contract extension following the trade, and after it became clear he wasn’t working out, they decided to cut him and take an NFL record-setting dead-cap hit. If the Broncos are in the Super Bowl, that would mean they got to the big game less than 24 months after eating all the dead money on Wilson’s contract. The moral of the story is that you can survive a bad trade or a bad move or a bad contract as long as you’re willing to acknowledge it didn’t work and quickly move on.
3. Rams vs. Broncos
Hypothetical point spread: Rams -8.5
If the Broncos make the Super Bowl, they’ll either have to face the best defense (Seahawks) or the highest-scoring offense (Rams), so there’s really no good option for a Denver team that won’t have Nix.
The one upside of this game is that it’s the only one still possible that’s NOT a rematch. We would get a NEW SUPER BOWL MATCHUP.
We actually almost got a Rams-Broncos Super Bowl in 1989. Denver advanced to the Super Bowl that year, but the Rams ended up losing to the 49ers in the NFC title game. The Broncos probably would have preferred to play the Rams since they ended up losing to the 49ers, 55-10, a score that still stands as the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history.
This game would also give us one very interesting storyline with Sean McVay and Sean Payton coaching against each other in a postseason game for the first time since McVay’s Rams beat Payton’s Saints in the 2018 NFC title game, which involved arguably the most controversial pass interference no-call in NFL history. I’m guessing we would see the replay of that no-call at least 400 times during Super Bowl week.
If this game does happen, the biggest winner would be the Walton family. The Rams are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is married to Walmart heiress Ann Walton Kroenke. The Broncos are owned by the Walton-Penner group, with one of their main investors being Rob Walton, who is Ann’s cousin. If we actually get this Super Bowl matchup, the NFL should just go all in and sell tickets to the game at Walmart.
Besides the ownership ties, this game would also give us the Rams’ high-flying offense going up against a Broncos defense that surrendered the third-fewest points in the NFL this year.
Prisco’s NFL Championship Sunday picks: Jarrett Stidham does enough for Broncos, Seahawks lean on defense
Pete Prisco
2. Seahawks vs. Patriots
Hypothetical point spread: Seahawks -3.5
This game would be a rematch of Super Bowl XLIX, and if that happens, the NFL should just go all out and totally embrace it. They should let Marshawn Lynch handle the honorary coin toss, but have the toss at the 1-yard line, and then just before the coin is actually tossed, Russell Wilson would come in and toss it, but it would get intercepted by Malcolm Butler who would then actually toss the coin.
Super Bowl XLIX was on NBC with Cris Collinsworth in the booth, and this year, Collinsworth will once again be on the call for NBC. Maybe we could involve him in the coin toss.
One big reason why this game would be so attractive is because it would give us an unbelievable matchup on both sides of the ball. For one, we’d get to see AFC’s highest-scoring offense going up against a Seahawks defense that gave up the fewest points in the NFL this year. Not only that, but we’d get to see the NFL’s third-highest scoring offense in Seattle going up against a Patriots defense that surrendered the fourth-fewest points.
A great AFC offense vs. a great NFC defense? A great AFC defense vs. a great NFC offense? You’d never be able to take your eyes off the game.
The Patriots have forced six turnovers in two playoff games and they’d be facing a quarterback in Sam Darnold who had the most turnovers in the NFL during the regular season with 20. The Seahawks would essentially have to defy recent history to win with Darnold. Since 1990, only one QB has led the NFL in turnovers and won the Super Bowl in the same year, and that was Eli Manning, who did it thanks to a miracle run by the Giants in 2007.
1. Rams vs. Patriots
Hypothetical point spread: Rams -3
If this Super Bowl happens, the NFL needs to cancel the MVP vote and just give the award to the quarterback who wins the game. Matthew Stafford and Drake Maye were the two MVP front-runners for most of the year, and having the season end with these two quarterbacks dueling it out with the Lombardi on the line would make this a must-watch game.
There’s a good chance that Stafford and Maye will end up as the top two vote-getters in the MVP race this year, and if that happens, it would mark the fourth time this century that the top two vote-getters have faced each other in the Super Bowl. The only other times it happened came in 2009 (MVP Peyton Manning vs. runner-up Drew Brees), 2016 (MVP Matt Ryan vs. runner-up Tom Brady) and 2022 (MVP Patrick Mahomes vs. runner-up Jalen Hurts).
In the first two games, the MVP runner-up got revenge by beating the MVP in the Super Bowl. In the third game, Mahomes became the first MVP since 2000 to win the Super Bowl (The 2025 MVP award will be handed out just three days before the Super Bowl on Thursday, Feb. 5).
If Stafford were to be voted MVP and win this game, that would likely cement his status as a Hall of Famer.
Another reason we should want this game to happen is because it would give us two of the smartest head coaches going head to head, with offensive genius Sean McVay battling wits with defensive mastermind Mike Vrabel. The Patriots coach won three Super Bowls while playing for the Patriots, and this would give him a chance to win one for the first time as a head coach.
If this Super Bowl happened, it would mark the third time the Rams and Patriots have met in the big game, tying Cowboys-Steelers as the only other Super Bowl matchup to happen three times.
Vrabel was on the field as a player in the first Patriots-Rams Super Bowl, a game where New England pulled off a stunning 20-17 upset as a 14-point underdog. McVay was the Rams’ head coach in the second Patriots-Rams Super Bowl, a game where Bill Belichick’s defense held McVay’s offense to just three points in a 13-3 win.
The Patriots’ first Super Bowl win over the Rams kick-started their dynasty with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick in 2001. Their second win over the Rams was the unofficial end of that dynasty in 2018. Now, in a cosmic twist, Vrabel and Maye could kick-start their own dynasty with a win over the Rams.