LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Professional football has a new champion, the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle defeated the New England Patriots 29 to 13 Sunday night at Super Bowl 60. It's the Seahawks second Super Bowl win. In a few minutes, we'll get a review of Bad Bunny's halftime show and the ads and talk about the politics of the Super Bowl. But we start with the game itself.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Steve Futterman was at the game in Santa Clara, California, and he is with us now. Good morning, Steve.
STEVE FUTTERMAN: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: Awake yet? After a late night out.
FUTTERMAN: Oh, yes.
MARTIN: All right. So Seattle was the favorite going into the Super Bowl. Turned out the oddsmakers knew what they were talking about.
FUTTERMAN: They did, indeed. You know, Michel. I've been to many Super Bowls. Some of the games are beautifully played. They just take your breath away. This was not one of them, especially if you like to see teams score, which most fans do. The key difference-maker yesterday was Seattle's solid defense. It held the Patriots scoreless for the first three quarters, but Seattle was also having trouble scoring.
MARTIN: Steve, I got to be honest, I stayed up late, too. I'm not sure it was worth it, so just - so explain what happened.
FUTTERMAN: Well, the Seahawks were able to drive into Patriot territory, but repeatedly, they had trouble getting into the end zone for the touchdowns. Four times, Seattle had to settle for a field goal. After three quarters, the Seahawks led 12-nothing. That is not a classic contest. Finally, early in the fourth quarter, Seattle did score a touchdown that made it 19-nothing. Then the Patriots finally started scoring, too, but it was way too late at that point. Now, the Seahawk fans here were elated, definitely. Some of them, like Leon Wexler (ph), though, acknowledged, while this was a great moment, it was not a classic game.
LEON WEXLER: It will go down in Super Bowl history as one of the worst Super Bowls in history, despite the positive outcome for Seahawks fans. It's an unbelievable win. We're over the moon, ecstatic. But at the end of the day, this was not a great game.
MARTIN: And I bet the Seattle Seahawks don't care at all.
FUTTERMAN: You're absolutely right. Take a listen to Mike Macdonald, the Seattle coach, during the presentation of the Lombardi trophy. He did not sound distraught.
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MIKE MACDONALD: I had 100% confidence. We got the best teams. We got the best fans in the world, 12s. We never wavered, man. We believed in each other. We loved each other. And now we're world champions.
FUTTERMAN: Now, also elated was the Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold. His story has been reported quite a bit as the lead-up to the game took place. He was the No. 3 draft pick in the 2018 draft but repeatedly failed to live up to expectations. He was considered pretty much what they call a bust until last year. Now he has led his team to a Super Bowl. He was emotional.
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SAM DARNOLD: Me and my dad don't really cry very often, and, you know, I told my dad I was - you know, and my mom - I'm here because of their belief in me. Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence, but, you know, it was because of my parents.
MARTIN: OK, before we go, can't ignore the Patriots. They did have quite a year.
FUTTERMAN: Not quite a year. It was an historic year. Last year, they won just four games. This year, they won 17. They have a highly respected coach, a quarterback. The future seems bright, but any player in the NFL will tell you a lot of things need to go right for a team to make it to the Super Bowl.
MARTIN: That is Steve Futterman in Santa Clara, California. Steve, thank you.
FUTTERMAN: Thank you, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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