Not many people would have predicted this Super Bowl matchup during the preseason - which makes things that much more interesting in the battle of two emerging quarterbacks.
This Super Bowl feels like a breath of fresh air.
It doesn't include the mainstay figures we've become accustomed to seeing like Patrick Mahomes, and while the AFC Champs are competing in their league-leading 12th big game, it's been a new cast of characters that has gotten them there.
Above all, the leaders of both the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots are two players nobody thought could lead their teams to the promise land at this point last season.
Sam Darnold, the QB of the Seahawks who posted 346 passing yards and three touchdowns to beat the Los Angeles Rams and win the NFC, was once a castaway in NFL quarterback circles.
Drake Maye, another high draft pick like Darnold, is seemingly just getting his career started, but an All-Pro regular season has carried into a fine postseason run as he defies what a young QB is capable of.
Either way, the underdogs have prevailed, and it's worth celebrating as they prepare to duel for all the marbles on Feb. 8.
Darnold found himself in the Pacific Northwest with a shiny new contract from the Seahawks that suggested he's ready for the primetime, though his playoff lapses said otherwise throughout his career.
Last season, Darnold had a career-defining revolution during the regular season with the Minnesota Vikings, but he was held without a touchdown in the playoffs in an elimination by the Rams.
Prior to that, Darnold had nearly fallen out of relevancy as he was demoted to backup duties in San Francisco after a tumultuous ending in Carolina and with the New York Jets, the team that drafted him third overall in 2018.
Despite now preparing to be a starter in the Super Bowl, Darnold was quick to correct a reporter saying it was his first time on the stage. While he was a backup, he experienced the hoopla of the Super Bowl festivities in 2023 with the 49ers.
However, that 2018 draft class - which includes the likes of Baker Mayfield, Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen - now officially sees its first quarterback reach the Super Bowl as a starter.
Darnold's 2025 season has ended just as it did in 2024: with a 14-3 record and Pro Bowl nod. But this year is different in that he has been unleashed by young head coach Mike Macdonald giving him the freedom he's never had before. It's allowed him to post a career high 67.7 completion percentage and help star wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba lead the league in receiving yards.
Maye has been equally as impressive in 2025, to the point where he will finish as either the winner or runner-up for the NFL MVP.
The second-year signal caller showed promise last year, but his team's 4-13 record didn't foreshadow all that would happen the following season.
Maye has been incredibly consistent despite the adversity of having a below-average offensive line and being without a true star pass-catcher. At just 23 years old, the UNC product led the NFL in completion percentage (72 percent) and QBR (77.1) during the regular season while tossing for 4,394 yards and just eight interceptions to 35 total touchdowns.
The new face of the Pats earned Pro Bowl status as a rookie - much earlier than Darnold in their career timelines - but this level of success is still unprecedented for his age.
Maye is set to become the second-youngest starting quarterback in Super Bowl history, just behind a 23-year-old future Hall of Famer Dan Marino in 1985. Maye (23 and 162 days) will be 35 days younger than Marino (23 and 127 days) at the time of their Super Bowl starts, which also both came in the second years of their careers.
It proves that, no matter how arduous a path, Super Bowl glory is still attainable at any stage of a player's career.
Everything is falling perfectly into place for both Sam Darnold and Drake Maye, but though both have become somewhat of winners in their own right ... only one can walk out of Levi's Stadium with the ultimate prize.
