The Patriots vs. Seahawks Super Bowl proves that the NFL is in a good place, just like the NBA

The The New England Patriots are playing against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl 60. The Patriots have long been one of the greatest teams in the NFL with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, winning six Super Bowls and forming arguably the best dynasty in history. The Pats even beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl 49, during one of the tournaments the biggest league games everand one in which an an all-time Super Bowl icon was held. That, of course, would be Russell Wilson’s interception on Malcolm Butler’s goal line.

However, neither the Patriots nor the Seahawks have been as successful in recent years. Instead, recent Super Bowls have been dominated by performances by the Kansas City Chiefs, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles. Parity is back in the NFL, and there could be fresh blood in the championship game for years to come. The same can be said for the NBA, and the parallels between the two biggest sports in America are now undeniable.

The state of the NFL

Few would have expected the Patriots or Seahawks to make it this far this year. New England finished 4-13 in each of the last two seasons. The team’s offense, in particular, has been atrocious in previous years. However, the team invested in Drake May with the third overall pick in 2024. So did they spent more money than any other team in free agency. May turned into an MVP candidate, and the rest of the roster enabled one of the biggest season-to-season jumps in league history under the guidance of Patriots legend Mike Vrabel.

Meanwhile, the Seahawks were expected to be good, but maybe not great. It was unclear how Sam Darnold would perform in his first year with the team. Once viewed as a bust outlineDarnold didn’t break out until last season with the Minnesota Vikings, but some still thought his first good year was a fluke. instead, Darnold has proven himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. Jackson Smith-Njigba has developed into one of the The NFL’s best receivers by the way too.

Not only are the two teams playing in the Super Bowl coming out of left field, but most of the playoff teams are new overall. In the AFC, the Denver Broncos endured a long playoff drought, but made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game. If it hadn’t been for Bo Nix’s last-second injury in the Divisional Round, or if a nasty storm hadn’t hit Denver when the Broncos played the Patriots, it’s possible they would have been in the Super Bowl. The Jacksonville Jaguars are also a team that came out of nowhere, with Trevor Lawrence starting to look more like the generational talent that was thought to be coming out of Clemson.

Also, thanks to improved quarterback play from former top picks who didn’t burst onto the scene as aggressively as expected, the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers emerged as division winners. Caleb Williams and Bryce Young did whatever it took to lead their teams to victory, and now there should be plenty of Super Bowl contending teams for years to come.

Last year’s champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, haven’t gone anywhere, and the Chiefs, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens should return to form next season, especially since they all employ elite quarterbacks. Even rebuilding teams like the New York Giants, Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders have exciting young cores that could leapfrog the Patriots/Seahawks. The Raiders have the top pick and are expected to add Fernando Mendoza as their franchise signal caller. Mendoza led Indiana to one of the best national championship winning seasons in college football history. It will be nearly impossible to predict who will make it to next year’s Super Bowl, but the days of just a few dominant teams seem to be in the rearview mirror.

State of the NBA

While the NFL is just beginning its journey with parity, the NBA has had constant changes at the top of the standings for years. In fact, another team has hoisted the Larry O’Brien trophy in each of the previous seven seasons. The Oklahoma City Thunder are the most recent champions, with the Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors having won previous championships. While the Thunder are built incredibly well for both the present and the future, they’ve looked human in recent weeks, so that’s no guarantee they’ll become the dynasty many originally thought.

The Celtics improved despite Jayson Tatum being sidelined, and the Nuggets surrounded Nikola Jokic deeper than ever before. The Warriors’ dynasty is coming to an end, but Stephen Curry should never be counted out, a The Bucks retained two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo within the trade term. LeBron James and the Lakers will be pushing for one more championship before he retires, this time with Luka Doncic as his counterpart. The Raptors are still a contender, despite their roster looking much different than when they won it all in 2019.

All of these recent champions are still contenders, but they’re far from the only teams with legitimate paths to the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs are breaking out with Victor Wembanyama and a young core leading the way, the Minnesota Timberwolves have made back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances, and the Houston Rockets have become a threat when they traded for Kevin Durant in the offseason.

While the Eastern Conference has been viewed as the weaker conference for years, last year’s NBA Finals showed that an Eastern team can, in fact, make noise. The Indiana Pacers were one win away from a championship, and it’s possible they would have beaten the Thunder if Tyrese Haliburton hadn’t torn his Achilles tendon. Without Halliburton this season, the Pacers have fallen all the way to the bottom of the standings, but could return to form as contenders next season when Halliburton returns, especially with the recent trade for Ivica Zubacwhich gives the team a replacement for Myles Turner.

Furthermore, Cade Cunningham has the Detroit Pistons atop the Eastern Conference standings, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been rebuilt after trading for James Harden, and the New York Knicks are starting to heat up.

This could very well be the eighth straight year that a new team wins the NBA Finals. Don’t be surprised if the NFL follows suit and has new contestants and champions on a yearly basis. Parity is great, and both the NFL and the NBA show it.