Matthew Michael Hasselbeck is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Boston College Eagles and was selected in the sixth round of the 1998 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. After a season on the practice squad and two seasons backing up Brett Favre, he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 2001, where he spent the majority of his career. Hasselbeck led Seattle to six playoff appearances, including the franchise’s first Super Bowl appearance during the 2005 season. He was selected to three Pro Bowls in his career. Hasselbeck also played for the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts. He is a former analyst for ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown and Monday Night Countdown.

Super Bowl XL was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2005 season. The Steelers defeated the Seahawks by the score of 21–10. The game was played on February 5, 2006, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. It is the most recent Super Bowl broadcast on ABC who lost the rights to broadcast Super Bowl games in the next NFL TV contract and the first where all aspects of the game itself were aired in HD. This was the last of 10 straight Super Bowls to feature a team seeking its first win.