The New England Patriots won the Super Bowl 60 coin toss at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday after the Seahawks called tails and the coin came up heads. New England elected to defer to the second half, giving Seattle the ball to start the game.
The result continued a trend that should worry Patriots fans. Heading into Super Bowl 60, coin toss winners had won just 25 of 59 previous Super Bowls. New England’s history is even worse. The Patriots entered Sunday 0-3 in Super Bowls, where they won the opening flip, having lost after winning the toss in Super Bowls 31, 46 and 52. Every one of their six Lombardi Trophies came in years when they lost the coin toss.
Seattle’s track record isn’t much better. The Seahawks were 1-2 in Super Bowls where they won the toss, with their lone conversion coming in the Super Bowl 48 demolition of Denver. Combined, these two franchises were 1-5 in Super Bowls when they won the coin toss heading into Sunday’s game.
The Coin Toss Curse and Why Deferring Has Become the Default
The broader pattern is striking. Between Super Bowl 49 and Super Bowl 56, coin toss winners lost eight consecutive games. Kansas City snapped that streak by winning the toss and the title in back-to-back years at Super Bowls 57 and 58.
But the Chiefs won the toss again in Super Bowl 59 last February and lost to Philadelphia 40-22, resetting the conversation about whether the flip carries any real weight.
New England’s decision to defer followed the modern playbook. Teams increasingly want the ball to start the second half, giving them a chance to score at the end of the first half and again on the opening drive of the third quarter. That double-dip strategy has become standard operating procedure, and head coach Mike Vrabel stuck with it Sunday.
Joe Montana delivers the coin toss!
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Tails had been on a run heading into the game, coming up in eight of the last 12 Super Bowls and 31 of the previous 59 overall. Heads broke through Sunday, bringing the all-time count to 29 heads and 31 tails across 60 Super Bowls.
Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, and Lynn Swann Served as Honorary Captains
The NFL selected three legends to represent different eras of Super Bowl history for the ceremonial coin toss. Peyton Manning commemorated the 10th anniversary of his final NFL game, when the Denver Broncos defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50, a game also played at Levi’s Stadium.
Joe Montana represented the San Francisco 49ers dynasty, having won his first championship in the Bay Area at Stanford Stadium in Super Bowl 16. Lynn Swann honored the 50th anniversary of Super Bowl 10, where his four-catch, 161-yard, one-touchdown MVP performance led the Pittsburgh Steelers past the Dallas Cowboys 21-17.
The coin itself carried significance. As part of the America 250 celebration marking the nation’s upcoming semiquincentennial, the NFL commissioned a custom silver replica of the Libertas Americana medal. Benjamin Franklin originally designed the medal after the victory at Yorktown to present to the French for their assistance during the Revolutionary War.
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The “heads” side features a profile of Lady Liberty stamped with “4 Juil 1776,” while the “tails” side depicts the goddess Minerva protecting the infant Hercules from an attacking lion, an allegory of France’s role in shielding the young United States from British rule.
None of the coin toss history guarantees anything about Sunday’s outcome. As one Stanford study noted, randomness has no memory. But in a game where both franchises have historically struggled after winning the flip, the Patriots now carry that weight into the second half with a deferred possession waiting.
