Super Bowl 2026 highlights: Seahawks beat Patriots

Kenneth Walker III is running into free agency with a Super Bowl MVP.

Walker capped a prolific postseason with another big performance on the ground.

While the defense carried Seattle for much of the postseason, Walker was once again the engine of the offense by rushing for 135 yards and adding 26 receiving for his third straight 100-yard game from scrimmage in the postseason. He became the first running back since Terrell Davis 28 years ago to win Super Bowl MVP.

Walker stepped up his game after backfield mate Zach Charbonnet went down with a season-ending knee injury and it couldn’t have come at a more important time for the Seahawks or a more opportune time for Walker.

▶Read more about Walker’s MVP performance

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

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New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) and teammates walk off the field after losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Drake Maye was a dependable and steadying force for the New England Patriots this season. The second-year quarterback never got the chance to be that when his team needed him most in the Super Bowl.

Maye was the NFL’s most accurate passer during the regular season and finished second in MVP voting, but he was hounded by the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense throughout. He threw two touchdown passes but was sacked seven times, had two interceptions and lost a fumble that led to a TD by Seattle in New England’s 29-13 loss on Sunday.

Maye finished 27 of 43 for 295 yards and there were few highlights before he and the Patriots finally found some traction in the third quarter. Left tackle Will Campbell gave up two of the sacks on Maye as the Seahawks sent several blitzes to his side of the line.

▶Read more on Maye’s frustrating Super Bowl debut

“It’s just a dream come true because a lot of people play their whole career and never make it this far. So, it’s a blessing. I thank Coach Macdonald and the team for sticking together.

“We went through adversity throughout the season, but we stayed together. You know that adversity showed who we were as a team. We got a brotherhood going on right now, and it’s special.”

The Seahawks had throttled the New England Patriots all game but still had only managed a 12-0 lead in a tight game when linebacker Derick Hall made the play that would open the way for Seattle to claim its second title.

Hall sacked New England quarterback Drake Maye in the third quarter and stripped the ball away for a fumble that was recovered by defensive lineman Byron Murphy II. Five plays later, Seattle reached the end zone for the first time in the game on a 16-yard touchdown catch by tight end AJ Barner on the way to a 29-13 victory in Super Bowl 60.

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) fumbles as he is sacked by Seattle Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall (58) during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

It was the first turnover of the game, and it essentially helped Seattle put the game away. Hall finished with two sacks after only getting two all season.

For Hall, 24, to even play in his first Super Bowl, let alone make it to the NFL, was an impressive accomplishment in its own right.

▶ Read more on Hall’s Super Bowl impact

How fitting that Sam Darnold delivered the capstone of his topsy-turvy NFL career in the very same place where he recently revived it.

On the sideline of Levi’s Stadium two seasons ago, Darnold patiently paid his dues behind Brock Purdy as San Francisco’s backup quarterback and soaked up every ounce of knowledge he could from the coaches.

Back in the Bay Area on Sunday and beneath the bright lights, Darnold became a Super Bowl champion in his first year under center for the Seattle Seahawks — his fifth team in eight seasons.

▶Read more about Darnold’s rise to Super Bowl champion

“To do this with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way. So proud of our guys, our defense. I mean, I can’t say enough great things about our defense, our special teams.

“I know we won the Super Bowl, but we could have been a little bit better on offense, but I don’t care about that right now. It’s an unbelievable feeling, man. I’m just so happy for the guys in the locker room and the coaches that put in so much effort throughout the whole season.”

Defense won this championship.

Devon Witherspoon, Derick Hall, Byron Murphy and the rest of Mike Macdonald’s ferocious unit pummeled Drake Maye, and the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 on Sunday to win the franchise’s second Super Bowl.

Sam Darnold threw a touchdown pass to AJ Barner, Kenneth Walker III ran for 135 yards and Jason Myers made all five of his field-goal tries.

Uchenna Nwosu punctuated a punishing defensive performance by snagging Maye’s pass in the air after Witherspoon hit his arm and ran it back 45 yards for a pick-6.

Seattle’s “Dark Side” defense helped Darnold become the first quarterback in the 2018 draft class to win a Super Bowl, ahead of Josh Allen, Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson.

Labeled a bust, dumped by two teams and considered expendable by two others, Darnold proved his doubters wrong while helping the Seahawks go 17-3.

▶ Read the AP’s Super Bowl game story

A couple was actually married during the wedding scene at Bad Bunny’s halftime show.

Representatives for the artist say the couple invited Bad Bunny to their wedding, and he invited them to instead be part of his Super Bowl show.

During a segment where Lady Gaga joined Bad Bunny to perform “Baile Inolvidable,” they took their vows.

Bad Bunny served as a witness and signed their marriage certificate.

Trailing 19-0 after Drake Maye’s fumble that set up Sam Darnold’s touchdown pass, Maye made sure Super Bowl 60 won’t be a shutout.

Maye finally got a little time to operate in the pocket and threw a 35-yard TD pass to Mack Hollins.

It brought instant life to a Patriots offense that had punted on eight of its first nine drives and saw Maye sacked five times.

In an ad for Amazon’s new Alexa+, Hemsworth is convinced the AI-powered assistant is going to try to kill him. The actor runs through a range of different scenarios of how that could play out, but changes his tune after Alexa offers to book him a massage (and a cinnamon scrub).

Some marketing experts aren’t sure how the message will land. “I suspect this is meant to be funny, but it might reinforce some people’s very real concerns about AI,” said Tim Calkins, a clinical professor of marketing at Northwestern University.

Alexa+ isn’t the only example of AI taking over — at least commercial breaks — Sunday night. Amazon-owned Ring also marketed an AI-powered “Search Party” that it says can help people find lost dogs. Other big names included Google’s Gemini and Oakley Meta’s AI-enabled glasses.

Among the more heartstring-pulling commercials Sunday night, two different advertisers have used songs by the late children’s show host Fred Rogers.

Lady Gaga sung his classic “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” in a tearjerker for Rocket Companies. Meanwhile, the National Football League features “You Are Special” to promote its work with youth sports organizations.

Kimberly Whitler, a marketing professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, said Rogers’ music reflected larger calls for unity seen this year. “A key thread running through this year’s Super Bowl ads was a desire for peace, harmony, community, and neighborliness,” she said.

Trump has criticized the NFL’s decision to have the Puerto Rican singer as the halftime entertainer, so the president’s critique was expected. Bad Bunny sang exclusively in Spanish.

“Nobody understands a word this guy is saying, and the dancing is disgusting, especially for young children that are watching from throughout the U.S.A., and all over the World,” Trump said on social media. “This ‘Show’ is just a ‘slap in the face’ to our Country,” which Trump claimed is “setting new standards and records” daily.

“There is nothing inspirational about this mess of a Halftime Show and watch, it will get great reviews from the Fake News Media, because they haven’t got a clue of what is going on in the REAL WORLD,” he added before again urging the NFL to immediately replace its new kickoff rule. Trump said it’s “ridiculous.”

Laura Dern, Sam Neill and Jeff Goldblum reunited to depict their younger selves in a “Jurassic Park” themed ad for Xfinity. But this time, disaster is avoided after a network modem is plugged in.

The spot also shows Samuel L. Jackson, in a clip the Comcast-owned telecommunications company confirmed was taken from the original 1993 film. This isn’t the first time Super Bowl viewers have seen some Jurassic Park nostalgia during ad breaks. Back in 2018, Goldblum relived his time outrunning a T-Rex in a “test drive” for Jeep

Bad Bunny performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, and brought out special guest Lady Gaga. (Feb 8.)

The sun hung low when Bad Bunny emerged in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields during his half time show, surrounded by jibaros in pavas (rural farmers in traditional straw hats), viejitos playing dominos (an affectionate term for older men) and a piragua stand (shaved ice) — undeniable symbols of Puerto Rico.

From a small Caribbean island with a complicated colonial history, to the world: The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio brought Puerto Rican culture to the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for his 2026 Super Bowl halftime show in what was always going to be a landmark moment for Latinos.

He started with his huge reggaeton hits, “Tití Me Preguntó” moving into “Yo Perreo Sola,” as he remerged on top of the casita (“little house”) from his Puerto Rican residency — Cardi B was a guest at his pari de marquesina, a house party.

▶ Read AP’s full review of Bad Bunny’s halftime show

The second half is underway and the Patriots will need to buck history if they are going to win the Super Bowl.

New England trailed 9-0 at the break, becoming the 15th team that failed to score a point in the first half of a Super Bowl. The previous 14 teams all lost, including Kansas City last year against Philadelphia and the Rams in Super Bowl 53 against the Patriots.

Bad Bunny began his halftime performance in a sugar cane field, walking past pickers and food stands as he performed his hit “Tití Me Preguntó.”

He carried a football and wore an all-white football jersey with the number 64 and his real last name, Ocasio.

He then stood atop a tiny pink house with dancers in the front yard and performed “Yo Perreo Sola” and stood atop a pickup truck as he did “EOO.”

The game was expected to be a matchup of two stingy defenses.

It was in the first half, and it was a very busy day for both special teams.

The Patriots punted on five of their six drives. That counts a final possession that was just a one-play kneel down with 11 seconds left.

Seattle got three field goals from Jason Myers.

The Seahawks have settled for field goals but hold a two-score lead heading into halftime thanks to kicker Jason Myers’ third conversion. He made a 40-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

It hasn’t been pretty for Seattle’s offense, which ranked fifth in scoring in the regular season. Sam Darnold, who is fresh off his second straight Pro Bowl season, was nearly picked off by cornerback Christian Gonzalez on third down. Instead, the pass fell harmlessly to the turf for Darnold’s 13th incompletion of the first half. Darnold is 9 of 22 for 88 yards.

The Seahawks continue to run the ball well, though. Kenneth Walker III has 94 yards on 14 carries, but 59 of those came on two runs. Otherwise, New England has done a solid job of slowing him down.

Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who had the most yards receiving of any player in the NFL in the regular season, was targeted seven times and only caught one pass for 4 yards. Veteran Cooper Kupp has been Seattle’s best offensive player with four catches for 44 yards receiving

New England managed just four first downs, 51 total yards and converted only 2 of 7 third downs in the first half against the stingy Seahawks defense.

The 51 yards are second-fewest in a first half over the last 35 Super Bowls — and the only team with fewer in that 35-year stretch was the Chiefs with 23 last season. The only time the Patriots had fewer was -19 against the Bears in Super Bowl 20.

Two different advertisers have featured songs from the Backstreet Boys in their Super Bowl spots.

T-Mobile showed the band singing a version of its 1999 hit “I Want It That Way.” And cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase used a karaoke scroll of “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).”

“By using ‘Everybody,’ we were signaling that crypto has moved past that early adopter phase,” Coinbase chief marketing officer Cat Ferdon told the AP ahead of the game. “It’s mainstream, it’s accessible and it’s for everybody.”

Drake Maye was sacked three times and hit five times in the first half. Asked about his QB’s protection at halftime, New England coach Mike Vrabel said he need better protection from the whole offensive line.

“From all sides,” Vrabel said. “We have to do a much better job.”

Bad Bunny will look to distill a 10-year career and a heavy load of cultural expectations into a 13-minute halftime show when he takes the stage in a few minutes.

The 31-year-old has been rising to every moment in a monumental year. A week ago, he won the Grammy for album of the year for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” a love letter to his native Puerto Rico that was the most streamed release of 2025.

Now, he takes on a performance that by its very existence is a landmark for Latino culture.

He said this week that fans didn’t need to learn Spanish to enjoy his set — but they should be prepared to dance.

Artificial intelligence is filling a lot of commercial breaks this Super Bowl. And the rivalry between the makers of ChatGPT and Claude is in the spotlight.

Anthropic, the AI developer behind Claude, is using its gameday slots to point out that its chatbot doesn’t have ads — in apparent jab to OpenAI, which is beginning to bring digital advertising on its free and cheaper versions of ChatGPT. That struck a nerve with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who shared a social media post earlier this week calling his competitor’s ads funny but “deceptive.”

Meanwhile, OpenAI aired an ad Sunday about Codex, its coding agent.

If the Patriots are going to get anything going on offense, they’ll need to keep Drake Maye upright.

Maye is first QB to be sacked three times on the first four drives of a Super Bowl since Tom Brady in Super Bowl 42 vs the Giants.

Maye is 5-of-7 passing for 39 yards.

While the Seahawks have struggled to throw the ball, Walker is finding holes and making the Pats pay.

Walker ran for 55 of his 71 yards in the game on Seattle’s second scoring drive. It was the most in a single drive in the Super Bowl since Willie Parker had 75 — all on one run — for the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Seahawks in Super Bowl 40.

Since reserve running back Zach Charbonnet went down with a season-ending knee injury against the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round, Walker has taken on the role of bell cow and run with it. Including the Super Bowl, Walker has run the ball 47 times for 249 yards rushing and four touchdowns in the playoffs.

Walker continuing to dominate on the ground would buoy the Seahawks’ chances of hanging onto their lead.

In a surprise movie teaser from Netflix, Brad Pitt appears to be stepping back into a familiar role.

According to Variety, Pitt is reviving his part as stuntman Cliff Booth from Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.” Tarantino wrote the script for the coming sequel, the outlet reported, but David Fincher has stepped in to direct.

“And away we go,” Netflix posted on social media shortly after the ad aired.

New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs walks off the field before the NFL Super Bowl 60 football game against the Seattle Seahawks, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Left back pylon. One knee. Head bowed. Eyes closed.

That’s how Stefon Diggs spent some of his final moments prior to kickoff of the first Super Bowl of his career — a staple of the wide receiver’s routine before each game this season.

Following pregame warmups, he also calls his teammates in to huddle around him as he leads one of a series of impassioned, fiery and often viral speeches.

Then, he turns the volume down for his prayer in the corner of the end zone.

Both are necessary for the player whom teammates call the emotional centerpiece of their Super Bowl run. And for Diggs, it’s been fuel during a comeback season that didn’t seem likely after his tenure in Houston last season was cut short by a knee injury.

Last year, a “KissCam” moment caught on a Coldplay concert’s jumbotron erupted online — and later resulted in resignations of an HR executive and CEO at software company Astronomer.

Pepsi took its own spin on the debacle in an ad for its zero sugar soda, while taking aim at the brand’s top competitor. A Coca-Cola loving polar bear is shown having an existential crisis after discovering the taste of Pepsi Zero Sugar, and soon finds a companion who also prefers the drink. The couple is exposed on a concert’s big screen — but they choose to dance it off as Queen’s “I Want To Break Free” plays in the background.

The Seahawks have made a meal on opposing offenses this season, blitzing weak points in offensive lines.

Through the Patriots’ first two drives, the target has been rookie left tackle Will Campbell.

It resulted in Campbell yielding a pair of sacks and helped contribute to two Patriots’ punts.

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