The Patriots finally had some life, a reason to believe that they still had a chance in Super Bowl 2026 despite getting dominated the entire game up until that point.
A questionable decision by head coach Mike Vrabel then hurt their odds at a comeback.
Fifty-seven seconds after the Seahawks went up 19-0, the Patriots scored their first points of the game on Drake Maye’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Mack Hollins with 12:27 left in the fourth quarter on Sunday.
But rather than go for a two-point conversion to try to cut the deficit to 11, the Patriots sent kicker Andy Borregales out to kick the extra point and make it 19-7.
A successful two-point conversion would’ve put the Pats in position to kick a field goal for one of the two scores they needed to tie the game, along with a touchdown and a second two-point conversion. A 12-point deficit meant New England — barring an unusual score like a safety — still needed two touchdowns against the stifling Seahawks defense to have a chance to win.
Social media users quickly realized the math wasn’t mathing.
“Why didn’t Vrabel go for two there?! 11 points is a big difference from 12 points…,” Barstool Sports’ Steven Cheah wrote on X.
“Going for two seems like a no-brainer here. Surprised they kicked the PAT,” CBS’s John Breech wrote. “Maybe Vrabel didn’t have time to think because he was in such shock that his team scored.”
“What are we doing after the TD @Patriots? Have to go for two there. Then TD and Two point and you’re a FG down. Now….still two TDs down,” Kevin Kelley, an Arkansas state champion high school football coach, wrote.
The Patriots forced a Seahawks punt on the next possession, but Maye threw an interception to ex-Giant Julian Love on second-and-3 from New England’s 44-yard line with less than nine minutes left.
Seattle then kicked a field goal with 5:35 left to go up 22-7 en route to a 29-13 victory.
