Bill Belichick followed Pete Carroll as head coach of the Patriots in 2000, and on Sunday he made sure New England chased the defending champion Seattle Seahawks to Glendale, Ariz., where the teams will meet Feb. 1 in Super Bowl XLIX.

The Patriots buried the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. Carroll oversaw a furious Seahawks rally with 15 points in 44 seconds, and Seattle beat the Green Bay Packers 28-22 in overtime in the NFC title game.

Seattle returns to the Super Bowl, looking to become the first repeat champion since New England won Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, 32-29 over the Carolina Panthers, and bagged another in 2005, taking Super Bowl XXXIX with a 24-21 decision against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Both of this year’s Super Bowl teams enter on huge highs, Seattle’s unlikely rally against Green Bay and New England’s dominance against Indianapolis.

“The second half of that game was the second half of our season,” Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin said. “When we were 3-3, 6-4, people counted us out. They gave up on us.”

Both teams were the top seed in their conference entering the playoffs.

The Seahawks will be 354 days removed from winning their first ever Lombardi Trophy when the teams take the field at University of Phoenix Stadium for the 49th Super Bowl in NFL history. Belichick won his first three Super Bowl appearances (2001, 2003, 2004) but lost with the Patriots in 2007 and 2012.

The Patriots lost Super Bowl XLII, 17-14 to the New York Giants, at University of Phoenix Stadium in 2008.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft fired Carroll in 1999 and hired Belichick, now the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach.

Carroll was winning championships in the Pac-10 at Southern California as the Patriots marched to dynasty status in the 2000s.

The other constant for the Patriots through it all is Brady, who was drafted in the sixth round in 2000 and started for the 2001 Super Bowl team that shocked the heavily favored Rams. Sunday’s win over the Colts was a record 20th in the playoffs for the coach-quarterback combo.

Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson beat Brady and Belichick in Seattle in 2012, a game remembered for Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman yelling at Brady postgame, “You mad, bro? You mad, bro?” Sherman said Brady told him during the game to come find him if the Seahawks won, and Sherman did.

Wilson had cause to be mad after a poor first half Sunday. However, even on one of his worst statistical days, he found the magic touch in overtime, going 5-of-5 for 80 yards.

The prized passers, stars overlooked entering the NFL but now chasing historic success, will be prominent in the NFL’s grand finale. Similar in poise and excellence under pressure, the player’s styles are diametric opposites. Brady, 37, had 33 touchdowns in the regular season and completed 64.1 percent of his passes.

Brady won the AFC Championship Game for the sixth time in nine tries to set a record for Super Bowl appearances.

Wilson, 26, led NFL quarterbacks with 849 rushing yards and 7.2 yards per carry in a decidedly run-heavy offense that ran 525 times in the regular season, compared to 438 for the Patriots. Wilson had 20 regular-season touchdown passes and seven interceptions with no receiver noted as a legitimate No. 1 threat outside.

Not only will Super Bowl XLIX feature two of the NFL’s best quarterbacks, but two of the best cornerbacks will oppose them. All-Pro cover men Darrelle Revis and Sherman once disputed their greatness over social media. Now they get to show their stuff on the same field.

That is, if Sherman’s injured elbow allows it.

The Seahawks’ left cornerback and leader of the vaunted Legion of Boom secondary got hurt Sunday but played through the ailment. Seattle free safety Earl Thomas, whose value is often understated, exited with a shoulder injury but returned. If either player is unavailable after two weeks to prepare for the Patriots, it would be surprising, but the Seahawks scheduled MRI exams for Monday.

“They’re going to have to take more than our arms,” Sherman said.

The Seahawks lost only once since mid-October, and they carry an eight-game winning streak to Glendale.

New England lost to the Packers, 26-21, on Nov. 30, snapping a seven-game losing streak. The Patriots are 5-1 since then, the lone loss in a meaningless regular-season finale against the Buffalo Bills.

The Patriots finished fourth in the NFL in scoring (29.3) in the regular season and first in margin of victory at 9.7 points per game.

Seattle’s swarming defense was suffocating during the current win streak. On the year, the Seahawks led the NFL in total defense (267.1 yards per game), points allowed (15.9 per game) and passing defense (185.6 yards per game).