One part of me (the football guy) can’t wait for Sunday. I love the Super Bowl. The whole day. The game. The pomp and circumstance. I can pretty much remember every Super Bowl in detail, and the day surrounding it, since around 1994 or 1995. They are all etched in my sports fan memory.
But another part of me just isn’t into this particular game and matchup. It’s fine. It’s not necessarily about the 2025 Seahawks (the best team in the NFL) or 2025 Patriots (good team with some great schedule fortune). It’s about something that the game is missing, which is ironically something so many pretend they don’t want.
There’s no mainstay. There’s no bad guy. There’s no villain. There’s no one to love or hate. Parity is a good thing, to an extent. The NFL has had it right for a long time: Parity, with a catch. Anyone can win, but the team with Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or Peyton Manning is exceedingly likely to at least be in this game.
Since 2001 (Brady’s first Super Bowl season), here are the big games that didn’t involve at least one of the big three quarterbacks in the last 25 years of pro football.
2022: Raiders-Bucs
2005: Steelers-Seahawks
2008: Steelers-Cardinals
2010: Steelers-Packers
2012: Ravens-49ers
2021: Bengals-Rams
Of the six, three had the Steelers. That comes with at least the backdrop of history and a blue blood franchise. Ravens-49ers was brother vs. brother. The Bucs-Raiders was the Gruden Bowl after Jon Gruden was traded from one franchise to the other. I suppose this year is similar to Bengals (young QB bursts on the scene in Year 2) vs. Rams, but Matthew Stafford going from Detroit to Los Angeles, Aaron Donald and Sean McVay’s Super Bowl redemption.
This year has Sam Darnold. It’s a cool story. But unless you are a Jets fan who loves self-inflicted misery, that as the lead story line has to be the least compelling of any big game of the last quarter century.
You know I’ll be watching every second. I’m just not as excited leading up to it.
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