Mike Vorel: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold will accept apologies from the doubters now

Mike Vorel, The Seattle Times on Jan 26, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — Sam Darnold will accept your apologies now.

Maybe you, a loyal 12, never doubted Darnold — whose career was once discarded like a penny flipped into a fountain. Maybe, despite the demotions and public implosions, you continued to believe. Maybe, even during Darnold’s dramatic descent — five deflating seasons with the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers, a backup stint in San Francisco, a Minnesota reclamation ruined by the Los Angeles Rams — you knew he’d be here, holding up a trophy while green confetti fell.

If so, you might be the only one.

But it’s not just that Sam Darnold is Super Bowl bound. A dominant defense didn’t carry its question-mark QB’s bad oblique across the finish line. He’s not bound to be another Trent Dilfer, a trivia answer tacked to a supreme supporting cast.

Darnold wasn’t the weak link Sunday. Far from it.

He was the resilient reason why they won.

In a 31-27 victory in the NFC Championship Game, Darnold banished his personal boogeymen, with punishing aplomb. He roasted the Rams for 346 passing yards and three touchdowns, calmly driving daggers into his doubters.

When the Seahawks needed an emphatic start, Darnold dropped a picturesque parachute to wide receiver Rashid Shaheed for a 51-yard gain. When they needed to regain momentum, trailing 13-10 late in the first half, he climbed a pocket and launched a 42-yard laser to a leaping Jaxon Smith-Njigba. When they needed to finish that drive, he stood his ground and found Smith-Njigba again for a 14-yard score. When they needed to capitalize on Los Angeles' muffed punt, he absorbed a blow and hit Jake Bobo for a 17-yard touchdown. He took advantage of a turnover, not the other way around.

When they needed to kill clock and rain dirt on the Rams’ coffin, Darnold did just that, connecting with Cooper Kupp and Smith-Njigba for back-to-back first downs.

The Seahawks needed every play in those paragraphs. Because Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford played like the presumptive MVP, throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns. He made a typically dominant Seahawks defense look alarmingly average (again). Seattle’s ground game — which had surpassed 160 rushing yards in its previous four outings — also sputtered, to the tune of 75 total yards and 2.9 yards per carry.

But under siege, Darnold dunked on his doubters.

What will he do against another possible MVP, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye?

“You can’t talk about the game without talking about our quarterback,” Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said. “He shut a lot of people up tonight, so I’m really happy for him.”

Added Smith-Njigba, who unsurprisingly exploded for 10 catches and 153 receiving yards: “I can’t say enough about Sam, man. It’s been a great first year. We’ve got one more to go. But for him to overcome what he had to overcome, I’m rolling with Sam all day. We believe in him. The building believes in him. The city believes in him.”

Nationally, at least, that belief hasn’t always been there. Not when he was banished to backup obscurity in San Francisco. Not when he was sacked nine times in a playoff loss to these Rams last season. Not when he coughed up a quartet of interceptions in a 21-19 loss Nov. 16 in Los Angeles.

But after that loss, Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV kept it simple, saying: “He's our quarterback, we've got his back, and if you've got anything to say, quite frankly, (expletive) you.

Rams safety Kamren Kinchens did have something to say, telling the Los Angeles Times last week: “Usually, you hope a guy doesn’t make the same mistake twice. In my case, I’m hoping he makes the same mistake twice, because that’s more picks for me.”

What do Darnold’s doubters have to say now?

“Doubt Sam if you want to. Sam’s going to show up every time,” Jones said Sunday, with a cigar resting in the former Ram’s right hand. “That’s what we’ve known, and that’s why I stood on that knife for him, and I’d do it all over again.”

He’ll do it — they’ll all do it — two weeks from now, when the Seahawks meet the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. That’s the same franchise that once made Darnold infamous, when the former No. 3 pick said he was “seeing ghosts” in a 33-0 loss to New England in 2019.

Darnold smoked some supposed ghosts Sunday. Why not do it all again?

“I almost forgot about it. So, thanks,” Darnold said, when asked about the “seeing ghosts” game. “No, for me, there was a lot that I didn’t know back then. I’m just going to continue to learn and grow in this great game. There’s a lot of stuff I can get better from today, even. I feel like I missed some throws out there that I shouldn’t miss.”

After eight seasons and exactly 100 regular-season games, after surviving a sea of doubt others would drown in, after reclaiming his career and signing with the Seahawks, Darnold’s moment arrived, and he didn’t miss it.

Actually, no need for apologies. More doubt will do.

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