The Best Super Bowl LXI Matchup We'd Like to See

The Seahawks were a great team. The Patriots were a good team. In truth, though, Super Bowl LX wasn’t full of storylines and intrigue for most of the nation.

Going into the 2026 season, we should be hoping for Super Bowl LXI to have a bit more appeal. Enter the Ravens and Bears.

Coming into this past season, the AFC was thought to be a three-horse race between the Ravens, Chiefs and Bills. It turned out only Buffalo reached the playoffs, a place Baltimore would have been if not for Tyler Loop missing a game-winning, AFC North-clinching, 44-yard field goal in Pittsburgh as time expired in Week 18.

The 8–9 season ended up having major ramifications in Charm City, with longtime coach John Harbaugh being fired and offensive coordinator Todd Monken going to the Browns to helm their ongoing rebuild.

Meanwhile, Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry aren’t getting any younger. Jackson is entering his age-29 season. No quarterback has ever rushed for more than 676 yards in a season once entering their 30s, so this could be the last time we see Jackson’s legs threatening the 1,000-yard mark. As for Henry, he’s 32 years old with 2,662 carries on him, the most of any active back.

With new coach Jesse Minter leading the way, Baltimore could provide the ultimate headlines for a few reasons. One, the Ravens would finally reach the Super Bowl after years of falling painfully short with Jackson, giving him a chance to complete what has been a Hall of Fame career. Then there’s Henry, who like Jackson, has done everything but play in and win a Super Bowl.

On the NFC side, who would be a better story than the Bears?

Chicago hasn’t won a championship since 1985. Before that, its last NFL title came in 1963 when George Halas was on the sideline in Wrigley Field, beating Y.A. Tittle and the Giants in frigid temperatures.

In 2025, the Bears went from a perennial afterthought to a team showing its growth under first-time head coach Ben Johnson. Chicago won 11 games, the NFC North and then a heart-stopping wild card contest over the Packers, scoring 25 fourth-quarter points to stage a comeback victory. In the divisional round, the Bears took the Rams to the limit, ultimately losing 20–17 in overtime.

The big question with Chicago is whether it can stave off regression. The Bears were 7–3 in one-score games while also winning with epic comebacks against the Bengals, Giants, Bears and Commanders. There's concern about what happens with a first-place schedule in 2026.

Still, the Bears are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Caleb Williams became a stud, throwing for 3,942 yards with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions. In the postseason, Williams was scattershot with four scoring tosses and five picks, but made one clutch play after the next against Green Bay and Los Angeles. He’s also surrounded by a hoard of weapons in Colston Loveland, Rome Odunze, Luther Burden III, Kyle Monangai and D’Andre Swift, along with a top-end offensive line.

The pairing of Johnson and Williams looks like one which could help define the next decade in the NFL. The Bears are a cornerstone franchise of the league, with their original owner in Halas having put it together in 1920. Yet they’ve largely been starcrossed when trying to find a quarterback like Williams, arguably not drafting one as talented in the team’s long history since selecting Hall of Famer Sid Luckman with the No. 2 pick in 1939.

In a specific Baltimore-Chicago matchup, there’s also Ravens first-year offensive coordinator Declan Doyle facing his old team after coming over from the Bears this offseason. Doyle would be facing Chicago defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, a man he spent ample time around not only with the Bears, but across four seasons with the Saints from 2019–22.

There are arguments for other teams. The Bills would be similar to the Ravens, finally getting to the Super Bowl after many close calls. The Chiefs could rebound from their 11-loss season with Patrick Mahomes coming off a torn ACL, looking for his fourth ring.

In the NFC, the Lions could challenge for their first Super Bowl title. The Rams could host the Super Bowl, again, at SoFi Stadium. The 49ers could get to Super Sunday for the third time since 2019, with Kyle Shanahan seeking the ultimate redemption.

But few matchups would be more enticing, more full of storylines, than the Bears and Ravens meeting in Hollywood for all the glory.

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