Seven months after an improbable championship, the Seattle Seahawks open the 2026 NFL season as defending Super Bowl champions and 3.5-point favorites against the New England Patriots — the same team they dominated in February. The rematch arrives not as a coronation but as a reckoning, asking whether New England's path to the Super Bowl reflected genuine growth or fortunate circumstance. In the larger arc of sport, this game poses the oldest question: was last year's result a revelation, or merely a favorable arrangement of conditions?