Super Bowl XLIX will be remembered as arguably the greatest in the history of the event, and one of the greatest NFL games ever played. In New England, it’s remembered fondly as a suspenseful back-and-forth battle between the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, culminating with a classic Tom Brady comeback and Malcolm Butler’s late interception at the goal line to seal the victory.
Brady and Bill Belichick’s Patriots entered the game with three Super Bowl championships together. But they hadn’t won the big one in a decade, and they’re off the heels of two heartbreaking Super Bowl losses to the New York Giants in 2007 and 2011.
Brady finished 37-of-50 for 328 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions through the air, and famously went 13-for-15 with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the Patriots back in the lead. The Seahawks seemed as though they had made enough plays to score the final go-ahead touchdown, but in arguably the most important single play in sports history, Malcolm Butler picked off Russell Wilson at the goal line with just 20 seconds left in the game.
The win marked the Patriots’ fourth of six Super Bowl championships under Brady and Belichick. It was the first of three championships for team mainstays Patrick Chung, Julian Edelman, Stephen Gostkowski, Rob Gronkowski, Dont’a Hightower, Devin McCourty, Matthew Slater, and James White. Nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who won a championship with the Patriots as a rookie in 2004, earned his second.
Keep scrolling for dozens of classic photos from Super Bowl XLIX between the Patriots and Seahawks.