Super Bowl LX won’t go down as the game of Sam Darnold’s life. But it will go down as the game that changed his life. Once considered a Jets draft bust, Darnold helped lead the Seattle Seahawks to a 29-13 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, forever securing his place in NFL histo ry. Darnold completed 19-of-38 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown to complete his epic redemption story. “I’ve always believed in myself because of my family and friends,” Darnold said on the NBC broadcast as confetti fell at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. “It’s as simple as that. As long as you believe in yourself, anything’s possible.” Darnold’s stats weren’t gaudy, but his steady, mistake-free performance was what the Seahawks needed on a night Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III totaled 161 scrimmage yards and Seattle’s defense dominated. The 28-year-old quarterback started slowly, completing only six of his first 17 pass attempts against a ferocious Patriots pass rush. By halftime, he had completed 9-of-22 attempts for 88 yards. But after four field-goal drives, Darnold broke the game open with a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner early in the fourth quarter, giving Seattle a 19-0 lead. That proved to be Seattle’s only offensive touchdown. On a night star wideout Jaxon Smith-Njigba managed only four receptions for 27 yards and briefly left for a concussion evaluation, Darnold spread the ball around to six different receivers. Those included Cooper Kupp, who led Seattle with six catches for 61 yards. Darnold finished Seattle’s championship run with 672 passing yards and five touchdowns without a turnover in wins against the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams and Patriots. “It’s been such a special journey with these guys,” Darnold said from the postgame podium. “So much hard work has been poured into this, and that’s it. It’s just a job well done.” Playing for his fifth team in his eighth NFL season, Darnold became the first quarterback from the loaded 2018 draft class to win a Super Bowl. Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield are yet to even appear in one. The Jets traded up to take Darnold with the No. 3 pick in that 2018 draft, envisioning him as the franchise quarterback that had eluded them for decades. But Darnold went just 13-25 as a starter and threw 45 touchdowns against 39 interceptions over three seasons with the Jets before they traded him to the Carolina Panthers. Weeks later, the Jets drafted Zach Wilson with the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft to replace Darnold. Darnold spent two seasons in Carolina and another as a backup in San Francisco before he signed with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2024 season. That same offseason, the Vikings used a first-round pick on quarterback J.J. McCarthy, but a preseason knee injury cost McCarthy his rookie year, clearing the starting job for Darnold. Darnold delivered a breakout campaign in Minnesota, throwing a career-high 35 touchdown passes and leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record. But Darnold struggled in the Vikings’ two biggest games, including a first-round rout by the Rams in his playoff debut. The Vikings opted last offseason to move forward with McCarthy, leaving Darnold to sign a three-year, $100.5 million contract with the Seahawks. “Sam came into our room at the right time,” Seahawks general manager John Schneider told NFL Network after Sunday’s win. “He was the third pick in the draft. The guy’s got talent. In my opinion, we all need to be more patient with quarterbacks.” Darnold proved to be the missing piece for a Seattle team featuring standout offensive weapons such as Smith-Njigba and Walker, as well as a stingy defense that allowed an NFL-low 17.2 points per game in the regular season. Under Darnold, the Seahawks finished 14-3, won the NFC West and earned the NFC’s top seed. Despite suffering an ill-timed oblique injury in practice last month, Darnold continued to prove doubters wrong this postseason, including in an NFC Championship Game victory over the Rams in which he passed for 346 yards and three touchdowns. “He shut a lot of people up tonight,” Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said after that Jan. 25 win. The same goes for Sunday night — and then some. ...read more read less