It took three quarters, but the Patriots finally got on the board in Super Bowl LX. Trailing 19–0, Drake Maye connected with wide receiver Mack Hollins and sparked some life back into New England fans watching at home.
But just as fast as the joy came, it was immediately followed by confusion. Rather than go for two and attempt to cut the Seahawks’ lead to 11 points—thus making it possible to tie the game with a field goal and another touchdown and two-point conversion—coach Mike Vrabel elected to kick the extra point to make the game 19–7, meaning New England still needed at least two touchdowns, no matter what else happened.
The move felt shocking in the moment, and became even more shocking when the math got involved.
The Patriots lost 8.1 percentage points of win probability by electing to kick the PAT, per @NextGenStats number https://t.co/j1oioDdqJI
— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) February 9, 2026
There’s still 10 minutes to play, and yes, there’s still a chance that this works out for the Patriots. Football is a funny game like that. But in the moment, this was a simply baffling.
It took New England three quarters to run a single play inside the Seattle 40-yard line. To ask your offense to find the end zone two more times in 10 minutes, when they’ve stalled all game, feels like a big ask.
Further, if New England had gone for two and failed to convert, the score would have just been 19–6, meaning the Patriots would ... still need two touchdowns in order to take the lead.
The only real way the decision works out for Vrabel in these final minutes is if the Seahawks get one more field goal, and their made extra point keeps the deficit at 15 points, rather than a missed two-point conversion which would have put them down 17 points and thus three scores.
Feels like a bad call.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Patriots Make Baffling Decision to Not Go for Two After Finally Scoring in Super Bowl.
