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Super Bowl 49 is officially set. The Seattle Seahawks will face the New England Patriots in Glendale, Arizona in two weeks on Super Bowl Sunday. It was the expected matchup, and yet it is still a bit of an upset. In the current playoff format, instituted in 1990, we have not had a matchup of both No. 1 seeds. So, I guess there's always that. The Seahawks have opened as a 2.5-point favorite for Super Bowl XLIX.
The game features a couple interesting storylines. The first of course is Russell Wilson vs. Tom Brady. They are the "golden child" quarterbacks, so the media story on young vs. old will be in overdrive. The other interesting storyline is Pete Carroll facing off against his second NFL team. He took over in New England after Bill Parcells, and proceeded to guide the Patriots to worse and worse records. He left for USC, and we know how his history went from there.
As a 49ers fan, we find ourselves in an odd situation. We can root against the Seattle Seahawks winning their second consecutive Super Bowl, or we can root against Tom Brady winning his fourth ring. Given that Brady's Patriots have lost in his last two Super Bowl appearances, it strikes me as pretty easy to root for the Patriots in this one. Some may disagree, but four Super Bowl rings for Brady does not quite match Joe Montana's haul that included no Super Bowl losses.
The Seahawks face a couple questions heading into Super Bowl 49. Will Russell Wilson bounce back from a fairly awful conference title game performance, and will Richard Sherman's arm be healthy enough on Super Bowl Sunday. My guess is yes on both, but it will be an interesting matchup to watch nonetheless. Both teams struggled out of the gate before getting into a groove. There were other quality teams, but for the most part, the Patriots and Seahawks were the two best teams in 2014.