In this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, Mark Madden of TribLive and 105.9 The X doesn’t mince words when it comes to discussing Seattle’s 29-13 win over New England in Super Bowl LX.

“I think it was a fitting cap to a really bad NFL season. I thought this was one of the worst NFL seasons I can recall,” Madden said. “It was just a bad Super Bowl. Sometimes it’s gonna be. I don’t expect every Super Bowl to be great. There were no great teams. Seattle was a very, very good team, but I don’t put them into a class with some of the Kansas City teams that have won recently?”

To be honest, I don’t even know if I put them in the same class as the Seattle team that won a Super Bowl at the end of the 2013 season.

“Actually, the Steelers would have beaten them if Kaleb Johnson knew the kickoff rules,” Madden joked.

None of this is to suggest quarterback Sam Darnold and the Seahawks aren’t deserving of praise for how they dominated the game.

“Darnold made just enough plays. He was a great story going into the game, and having won the Super Bowl, certainly a great story coming out of it,” Madden said. “The key factor was (Kenneth) Walker, who deservedly got MVP. And that Seattle defense never gave New England a chance.”

Madden actually seems to think what happens from here to New England might be the more interesting storyline.

“The Seahawks were worthy winners (Sunday), and of the Lombardi,” Madden said. “New England, they’re probably embarrassed by how they played. I know Drake Maye is probably embarrassed by how he played. I think they just got there a year early. That doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily ever be back.”

To that point, during the broadcast on NBC, Mike Tirico made a reference to Dan Marino getting Miami to the Super Bowl in his second year, then never getting back. Now we’ll have to see if Maye falls into that same box, or if he can take the next step.

“You want to take advantage of every opportunity, but I just don’t think they were quite ready for the prime time that is the Super Bowl.

Also in the podcast, Madden and I talk about Cam Heyward’s future, Aaron Rodgers, the Mike McCarthy hire, and we play “the what-if game” about what could’ve happened if the Steelers had pursued Sam Darnold this offseason.

We also discuss Andrew McCutchen’s situation with the Pirates, Pro Football Hall of Fame voting, Lindsey Vonn’s fall and Olympic hockey.