Super Bowl 2026 expert predictions: Will Seattle Seahawks or New England Patriots lift Lombardi Trophy in Santa Clara, California?

Who will win Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara? The Sky Sports NFL team make their predictions as the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots face off at Levi's Stadium on Sunday.

Seattle win led by Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Kenneth Walker, but the Cinderella Story is and will be the defense led by Leonard Williams in that very talented group. Although Sam Darnold will be recognised he will not be the story behind the success. The New England Patriots are exciting and in the future will be a great team to watch, but this year goes to Seattle and that defense, bringing them back to dominance.

You're going to have to do that against Sam Darnold, confuse him, show him something different at the line of scrimmage, force him into making those mistakes. I think if they're able to capitalise on that, and then I also think Drake Maye is going to have to be this Patriots team. We've seen some ups and downs. He's not had a very great QB rating, his EPA per play is one of the lowest. He's going to have to use his legs, and we've seen that this defense of the Seahawks have struggled at times with rushing quarterbacks. However, there's only been seven design QB runs against them all season long, so perhaps mixing some of that in. And then Sam Darnold, what's fascinating with him is you're going to throw the ball to Jaxon Smith-Njigba, you've got to be able to stop him. And you've got to then be able to cover because Sam has a great offensive line that protects him.

The tight end AJ Barner is sneaky good, he's my X factor and based on last week's game Darnold seems to be protecting the football better. New England are on a heater right now so I think this will be a close hard-fought game decided on turnovers and the play of both special teams units. In the end Aden Durde, Seattle's defensive coordinator, will be the second UK-born coach, behind Al Saunders with the Rams in 97, to hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

Then we've got a Seahawks defense that is just aggressive and just violent and intentional and has a lot of stars, going against one of the youngest stars in the quarterback who is a candidate for MVP. There is Jaxon Smith-Njigba against Christian Gonzalez as well. There's so much to watch. It's the cream of the crop, these are the best teams in the league, it's anybody's game. It's going to be so close, both quarterbacks have to protect the ball. I can see it being a very low-scoring game, just because of the strength of the defense.