Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s demons have worn Rams uniforms for years. On Thursday night, he finally outran them.
In one of the most improbable wins in Seahawks history, Darnold erased a nightmare matchup and a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to lead Seattle to a stunning 38-37 overtime victory over the Los Angeles Rams. The comeback clinched a playoff spot, vaulted the Seahawks into first place in the NFC West, and positioned them as the NFC’s No. 1 seed with two games remaining.
The circumstances made it even heavier. Seattle trailed 30-14 with fewer than 10 minutes left after Darnold threw his second interception, drawing boos from the Lumen Field crowd and putting the Seahawks on the brink of a season-altering loss. Instead, Darnold responded with poise, resilience, and a sequence of plays that rewrote both the game and his personal narrative against Los Angeles.
“It's everybody else that has different stories,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said postgame. “This is the guy that we watch every day. He's an ultimate competitor. He's a phenomenal leader. Just keeps fighting.”
That belief was tested. Seattle punted once and turned the ball over twice during a stretch where the Rams scored 17 straight points. The Seahawks defense, typically a strength, endured one of its worst outings of the season, allowing 581 total yards and seven completions of 25 yards or more.
Darnold didn’t flinch. Seattle scored three touchdowns after falling behind by 16, converting two-point attempts after each one. The final conversion, a strike to tight end Eric Saubert in overtime, sealed the 38-37 win and sent Lumen Field into chaos. Darnold finished 22-of-34 passing with two touchdowns, two interceptions, and three successful two-point conversions. The stat line wasn’t pristine, but the moment demanded more than efficiency.
“I didn’t think we played our best football,” Darnold admitted. “I certainly didn’t play my best football. But at the end of the day we won.”
Why this mattered ran deeper than one night. Prior to Thursday, Darnold had quite a brutal history playing against the Rams over the last two seasons:
• 0-3 record
• 34.0 QBR
• 7.0 yards per attempt
• 3 touchdowns
• 5 interceptions
That stretch included a one-sided playoff loss that ended his tenure with the Minnesota Vikings. Against every other opponent over that same span, Darnold has looked like a different quarterback:
• 25-4 record
• 60.0 QBR
• 8.4 yards per attempt
• 55 touchdowns
• 19 interceptions
Thursday Night was the outlier finally breaking. Seattle now sits at 12-3, holding a one-game lead over the 11-4 Rams and control of the NFC West. More importantly, it validated something the Seahawks have insisted all season.