It's not a misprint: Sam Darnold will be one of two starting quarterbacks in Super Bowl 60.
Darnold might like an unlikely, surprising and random QB to win a conference championship coming out of the 2025 NFL season. Credit the Seattle Seahawks for making a bold decision against the grain to earn the ultimate NFC payoff.
Darnold is the first QB of the 2018 first-round draft class — not Josh Allen, not Lamar Jackson, not Baker Mayfield — to get to a Super Bowl. It's also not like he was a caretaker, game-managing type for the Seahawks. Seattle wouldn't be facing New England on Feb. 8 in Levi's Stadium in search of its second ring and revenge from Super Bowl 49 heartbreak without his play through the playoffs.
MORE SEAHAWKS-RAMS NEWS:
- Seahawks take down Rams to advance to Super Bowl 60
- Sam Darnold, Jaxon Smith-Njigba star for Seahawks in NFC championship
- Rams' special teams blunders continue in NFC championship
- Seahawks Pope trend continues with Super Bowl 60 berth
Why Seahawks' bold move to sign Sam Darnold paid off
It's a far cry from the disappointing Jets No. 3 overall pick from eight seasons ago, one who went 0-3 against those same Patriots. Darnold is also miles away from the QB who started for the Panthers for a season and a half, losing to the Patriots one more time.
Go figure one 2023 season operating as the 49ers' backup QB to Brock Purdy through Super Bowl 58 led Darnold down the path, beating both the division rival 49ers and Rams in playoff rubber matches and giving him another chance to beat the Patriots on the 49ers' home field.
That Darnold serendipity was put in motion by clicking with someone else who spent that same '23 year with the 49ers as passing game coordinator — Klint Kubiak. That solid extra developmental year in the right system opened the door for him to be a fit in the Vikings' QB-friendly offense under Kevin O'Connell.
Darnold's "career year" with the Vikings in 2024 showed what happened when he was paired with a solid young offensive line and an elite go-to wide receiver. But the Vikings also had a flawed defense predicated on forcing takeaways and a mediocre at best running game in a pass-happy system.
In the end, after Darnold had his 13-4 season in Minnesota, there was too much put on him as a passer to win in the playoffs. The Rams routed the Vikings in the wild-card round, 27-9, a game in which Darnold was sacked nine times.
More than a year later vs. The Rams, no one will care that he was sacked three times. The Seahawks and their fans will just remember how he outdueled likely league MVP QB Matthew Stafford with 346 yards and 3 TDs in a third thriller between the teams, a 31-27 win.
So why was the outcome so much better for Darnold with a different 13-4 team in Seattle, when he also led the league in most QB turnovers, with 20? Simple: He went to a team where he was one part of the solution, and not needing to be the savior.
The Seahawks had pride that they had the top offensive line and their version of Justin Jefferson in Jaxon Smith-Njigba. They also knew they had a budding defense under the scheming of coach Mike Macdonald with little weakness. They then imagined what it would be like to put Darnold in a run-heavy offense to facilitate his downfield passing.
The Seahawks saw in Macdonald's first season that elevating Ryan Grubb from college play-caller at nearby Washington and sticking with Geno Smith as the QB in a new offense wasn't working. So they blew it up, replacing Grubb with Kubiak, free from the Saints after the firing of Dennis Allen. Darnold also was set to be free from the Vikings with J.J. McCarthy taking over. Once the Raiders bought into trading for Geno Smith, it was all there for Darnold and the Seahawks to be a perfect match.
MORE SEAHAWKS-RAMS NEWS:
- Sam Darnold balls out in front of Tom Brady after Raiders owner passed on QB
- Cooper Kupp delivers knockout blow to former team
- Listen to Tom Brady sing 'Physical' during Ram-Seahawks NFC championship
- What's next for Matthew Stafford after loss to Seahawks?
Just like moving on from Russell Wilson with Smith at the right time, GM John Schneider did the same, going from Smith to Darnold. The Kubiak-Darnold reunion worked better than anyone could have imagined, thanks to Smith-Njigba exploding for one of the best all-time receiving seasons, the line filling a few holes and Kubiak striking the ideal balanced and explosive offense: 50 percent run, 50 percent pass.
San Francisco gave Darnold the reset. Minnesota gave Darnold the resurgence. Seattle gave Darnold the rest of the elements he needed to win in the playoffs. When he protected the ball and played within Kubiak's system, big things happened. That didn't happen in the first game and a half against the Rams, as the Seahawks didn't look good. His second game and a half against the Rams is what put them atop the NFC West and put them into the Super Bowl.
Looking back, the Seahawks' serendipity with Darnold has nothing to do with how he silenced his doubters again and doubled up on his winning play. But it was rather how all the stars aligned to land Darnold in Seattle.
Darnold, like he was vs. Stafford three times, will be seen as having no chance to outduel likely MVP runner-up Drake Maye and beat the Patriots for the first time in his career. But that's also not accounting for the superior support that got him this starting Super Bowl shot in the first place.
The more you examine the Seahawks as a team and less Darnold as an individual, the less unlikely and surprising it is to consider how far they went with him. There will be two weeks for a lot more outside of Seattle to discover that is the case.