Once the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Sam Darnold’s career seemed destined to be remembered as a cautionary tale. He was labeled a bust with the New York Jets, flamed out in Carolina, faded into the background in San Francisco, and was ultimately discarded by the Minnesota Vikings. Eight seasons later, that narrative is officially dead.
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On Sunday night, Darnold delivered the defining performance of his career, throwing for 346 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Seattle Seahawks to a 31–27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game. The victory sends Seattle to Super Bowl LX. And sends Darnold’s critics scrambling.
“I mean, he just shut a lot of people up tonight,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said after the game. “So I’m really happy for him.”
Darnold was sensational from start to finish, matching throws with MVP candidate Matthew Stafford on the game’s biggest stage. He connected with Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a momentum-swinging touchdown with 20 seconds left in the first half, flipping the game in Seattle’s favor.
Following a disastrous Rams special teams mistake, Darnold capitalized by firing a strike to Jake Bobo over the middle for another score. Later, he ripped a perfectly placed spiral through Los Angeles’ zone coverage to Cooper Kupp for a 13-yard touchdown, the play that ultimately proved decisive.
The performance was a masterclass in poise and precision. Darnold finished 25-of-36 passing with zero interceptions, repeatedly delivering when the moment demanded it most.
Seattle complemented Darnold’s brilliance with timely defense and game-changing special teams. Devon Witherspoon made back-to-back pass breakups inside the six-yard line late in the fourth quarter, forcing a turnover on downs that kept the Rams off the scoreboard.
On special teams, the Seahawks forced two muffed punts from Rams returner Xavier Smith, recovering the second to set up Darnold’s touchdown pass to Bobo.
“It’s a team win,” Macdonald said. “And then, you can’t talk about the game without talking about our quarterback.”
For Darnold, this marks his first NFC Championship win as a starter. He previously earned a conference title as a backup with the 49ers during their Super Bowl run two years ago, but this one was different; this one was his.
After five teams, nearly 3,000 pass attempts, and almost eight full seasons in the league, Darnold has become the first quarterback from the vaunted 2018 draft class, which included Baker Mayfield and MVPs Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, to win a conference championship as a starter.
When his best was required, Sam Darnold delivered it. Two weeks from now in Santa Clara, he’ll have a chance to put the final stamp on a career resurrection that once seemed impossible.
