A.J. Barner scored the first touchdown of Super Bowl LX. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) (Kevin C. Cox via Getty Images)
Frank SchwabSenior writerMon, February 9, 2026 at 2:32 AM UTC·3 min readSANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Seattle Seahawks had a long wait to get the first touchdown on the board in Super Bowl LX. When they got it, they made it look easy.
With 13:24 left in the fourth quarter, tight end A.J. Barner got behind the defense and was wide open for a 16-yard touchdown. That gave the Seahawks a 19-0 lead over a New England Patriots team that couldn’t move the ball.
It also was a long awaited relief for anyone who bet Barner to score the first touchdown. He was 12-to-1 odds to score the game’s first touchdown at BetMGM.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt was a low-scoring game without a touchdown for hours. There were only three field goals and no touchdowns in the first half. For a huge audience that might not be enthralled by a defensive battle, it was a first half that was light on any offensive highlights. It was so quiet that the thought of there not being a touchdown, which had never happened in a Super Bowl, seemed possible. The odds of that at BetMGM were 125-to-1.
It was rare to get to the second half without a touchdown. Two years ago, the San Francisco 49ers scored the first touchdown of the Super Bowl with less than five minutes remaining in the second quarter. Super Bowl LX breezed past that.
The latest it had gone before that was the Super Bowl seven years ago, when the first touchdown of an ugly Patriots win over the Los Angeles came with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Neither team was even moving the ball well in the first half, especially the Patriots. They had 51 yards total in the first half. They started the second half with a three-and-out.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt seemed like perhaps there would be a quick first touchdown. The Seahawks had a strong first drive to start the game, but the Patriots held inside the red zone to hold Seattle to a field goal and a 3-0 lead. On Seattle’s second drive Jaxon Smith-Njigba had an 86-yard touchdown in front of him after he got behind the defense on a third down, but under pressure Sam Darnold overthrew him. It was a prime opportunity to get a huge play and Darnold barely missed it.
Early in the second quarter Rashid Shaheed almost had a deep catch but Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez broke it up. It could have gone for a 76-yard score, but it was just incomplete.
Kenneth Walker III got the Seahawks offense going again with a couple of long runs after the near-miss to Shaheed. But the Seahawks offense bogged down again in the red zone and settled for another field goal.
The fourth quarter began and still no touchdown had been scored. But the Seahawks defense forced and recovered a fumble on a strip-sack of Drake Maye, giving them a possession inside Patriots territory. Darnold found Barner wide open in the end zone, and there was a score in Super Bowl LX.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementEveryone at home had waited a long time to see anyone get in the end zone.
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