On Sunday, the New England Patriots' fairy tale 2025-26 season came to a sobering end with a blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. It was a harsh reality check for the Patriots, who saw their offense completely shut down for the majority of the game, and now face an offseason full of questions.
After the game, head coach Mike Vrabel revealed his message to the players in the wake of the tough loss.
“I talked about a disappointing finish to a phenomenal, exciting, enjoyable year,” said Vrabel, per Mike Reiss of ESPN on X, formerly Twitter.
Vrabel also kept it real on what the Patriots can take away from their 2025 campaign.
“We learned how to win,” he said, per Mark Daniels of MassLive.
Throughout the 2025 season, the Patriots faced accusations of only having an impressive record due to their insanely light schedule, which was the easiest that the NFL had seen in multiple decades.
Those criticisms continued into the playoffs, when the Patriots took on multiple incompetent offenses, and a Denver Broncos team playing without starting quarterback Bo Nix, en route to the Super Bowl.
However, New England's fortune ran out in the big game, as Drake Maye suffered through his worst game as a professional quarterback, consistently finding himself unable to see past the Seahawks' creatively-schemed defense.
It was also a brutal game for the Patriots' offensive line, which gave up relentless pressure, often on downs where the Seahawks didn't even bring a blitz. The game will almost assuredly cement that Will Campbell will be moved to a different spot on the offensive line heading into next season.
In any case, fans will get to see what the Patriots are really made of next year when they take on a much tougher slate of opponents, thanks to the fact that they will be facing a first-place schedule after winning the AFC East this year.
