Sam Darnold, Super Bowl LX and the power of stoicism
The Seattle Seahawks are champions. Their quarterback has a story to share — with everyone. Here's our column from Levi's Stadium.
ICYMI, here’s our pre-Super Bowl feature on Sam Darnold’s odyssey.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Football is cruel. Super Bowl losses choke the words out of its most unflappable participants. First comes the torturous sights and sounds when the clock hits triple zeroes. Confetti falls. Music blares. As you navigate past all chaos to a somber locker room, wives and children of the victors descend from their boxes to pour onto the field.
You see the elation of everyone else.
Those players get to smudge the Lombardi Trophy with their fingerprints atop the sport’s summit. Not you.
Pads off, Drake Maye takes a seat atop a stool inside the New England Patriots’ interview room. All regrets loop through his mind. What would he want back? “Go back to the beginning and redo it,” he says, forcing a smile. Maye admits he threw one interception directly into a defender’s chest. Nobody hit his hand.
His shoulder was clearly more of a problem than the team let on all week. Maye shot it up with painkillers before the game. Asked if the injury limited him, he refuses to use it as an excuse. He was good enough to be out there. The pause before his answer, however, says enough. Questions continue. One international reporter thinks she’s talking to a player who just won the Super Bowl. She asks Maye what this championship means to him. He asks her to repeat the question. “Winning,” she replies. Maye — realizing this person is severely confused — does not snap, does not get riled up at all. His professionalism in the most emotionally charged moment of his sports life is staggering.
“Winning?” he asks. “Not really sure how to take that but, yeah, we came up short.”
Worse than those sights on the Levi’s Stadium field is the excruciating finality of a football season.
The Patriots’ head coach told players afterward that they’re only 307 days into a long journey. Problem is, those 307 days were loaded with memories. Maye knows that next year’s team will look completely different. In one month, the roster starts to flip. When Mike Vrabel is brought up by name, the 23-year-old Maye nods and speaks in four- and five-word bursts in a noble attempt to prevent himself from sobbing. For 15 minutes, his tear ducts put up more resistance than the Patriots offensive line vs. Seattle’s pass rush.
“He was the heartbeat,” Maye says. “No doubt about that. He was the reason why we’re here. I look forward to a relationship with him for a long time. A great person and a hell of a football coach.”
He snivels, wells up, eventually exits. There’s no guarantee Maye will ever get this close to a Super Bowl again.
Walk past the partition dividing these two teams and you enter a completely different world. Sam Darnold appears.
Like Maye, he was drafted third overall. Unlike Maye, he wasn’t even thinking about a Super Bowl in Year 2. Instead, Darnold was a national laughingstock following one “seeing ghosts” clip on Monday Night Football. For eight seasons, he’s been doubted by everyone: the Jets, Panthers, Vikings, even Tom Brady.
All he’ll ever be known as now is a Super Bowl champion.
Like Maye, Darnold is usually steely and reserved. He doesn’t cry often with his father. But after this 29-13 triumph over New England, they both soaked in the moment.
“I told my Dad and my Mom I’m here because of their belief in me,” Darnold says. “They believed in me throughout my entire career and I think that’s why I was able to believe in myself almost ad nauseum. Some people called me crazy throughout my career for believing in myself so much and having so much confidence. But it was because of my parents.”
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He was far from perfect. Darnold went a pedestrian 19 of 38 for 202 yards. The Seahawks pummeled the Patriots on the strength of their smothering “Dark Side” defense. But years from now, what everyone will remember most is this quarterback’s resiliency. Maye can heed wisdom from Darnold’s 1-of-1 climb to the mountaintop —all of us can.
Darnold’s career arc transcends the sport.
His world came crashing down. Repeatedly. Darnold was universally dismissed as an abject bust.
Not once did Darnold even hint that he was a victim of circumstance. Not once did Darnold appear bitter… or jaded… or seek bloody revenge in any way. Nor did success prompt a proverbial middle finger to anyone. All Super Bowl Week, he never MF’d the Jets. Never even came close to plucking that low-hanging fruit. Our culture magnifies and glamorizes the volatile response. If Starbucks screws up an order, by 2026 law, you’re required to turn the experience into a grave injustice worthy of full social-media condemnation. We see this impulse from everyday citizens to bureaucrats to celebrities to athletes. It’s hard to blame anyone. Sinister algorithms are manipulated to piss people off. We’re conditioned to get angry, to point fingers at anyone but ourselves.
Sam Darnold represents a different option.
He doesn’t ball up a fist and smite the world. Six years of humiliation only compelled this quarterback to work harder, stay positive, serve as the best teammate peers have ever encountered. All of our kids should be taught to handle life’s inherent haymakers this way.
On Feb. 8, 2026, stoicism made a powerful comeback.
This league’s full of quarterbacks who seek the hate. Be it real or perceived. Tom Brady never forgot he went No. 199 overall and Aaron Rodgers is an all-time grudge-holder. Their chip-on-shoulder approach is the norm. Darnold is abnormal. Mention his name to anyone in the quarterback’s life through this past decade and they could go on forever. Harrison Smith and Blake Cashman — speaking for the Vikings majority — lavished their former quarterback with praise to Go Long. Guys do not merely like this quarterback. They love him. They loved how he showed up, devoid of any theatrics whatsoever and worked his ass off.
Minnesota’s loss became Seattle’s championship gain.
Grizzled, bearded veteran Cooper Kupp is not one for hyperbole. He cannot think of another quarterback in NFL history who’s accomplished a turnaround quite like this.
“To go through the things that he’s had to go through. To believe in himself. To overcome everyone that told him that he wasn’t that guy anymore, that he couldn’t be a starter, that he couldn’t be a productive quarterback, to just come back to work and commit to his process — and then to go out there in the biggest moments this year over and over and over again — to just show up, stand in the pocket, to make the tough throws, managing the game, it’s an unbelievable story.
“I’m so thankful I got to know who Sam Darnold is as a person, because it explains everything that’s happened in his career because of the way that he goes about his business in his day to day.”
Super Bowl LX represented a perfectly imperfect final chapter. Darnold finally received the help he always deserved.
He overshot throws. Under duress, Darnold evaded one defender and just missed Jaxon Smith-Njigba on a potential 86-yard TD in the first half. He was the first to say he didn’t play well. (Then, he said it again.) Darnold credited the defense and special teams units. (Then, he did it again.) As the QB1 with the Jets and Panthers, Darnold lacked talent in personnel. As the QB1 with the Vikings, he had A+ talent around him. But after two bad games, he lacked organizational belief. In-between, he picked up the pieces with San Francisco as a backup to Brock Purdy.
Here, with the Seahawks, Darnold has all the above.
There was no need to do anything extraordinary against a clearly overmatched New England team. Heading into this game, Darnold realized his team would win if he didn’t turn the ball over. He was right. He committed zero turnovers, was only sacked once and made the throws required to win. With 13:24 remaining, Darnold supplied the dagger. At the Patriots 16-yard line, he faked a handoff and delivered a touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner with defenders in his face to give Seattle a 19-0 lead.
“Unbelievable play call,” Darnold says. “Great design by all of our coaches. They stay up at crazy hours of the night and try to design plays like that. They were in a coverage where A.J. got lost in the shuffle. He came wide open and made a great catch.”
GM John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald have built a powerhouse. Inking Darnold at $33.5 million per year was one of many bold moves that propelled Seattle to this title. Everything started with the decision to trade Russell Wilson a year early for a bounty of draft picks and then the decision to move on from Pete Carroll. This organization is proof that seismic change pays off.
Years past, Carroll and Schneider reported to ownership separately. Now, GM and head coach are in lockstep.
Seattle’s scouting department is a well-oiled machine with roots in those 90s Packers days. Schneider learned the trade from Hall of Famer Ron Wolf.
Seattle’s head coach is a force of nature. Afterward, Kupp shared how Macdonald organically got this team to love each other. OTAs were brutal. He made everyone work. But all along, Macdonald made a point to interlock his 10 fingers together and stress the need for this team to bond. All season, the Seahawks got into the habit of taking a full hour to meet in small groups.
The point? Get to know each other. They talked football. Life. Macdonald wanted players to let their guards down and share with each other how they’ve all reacted to adversity. NFL day-to-day life is such a runaway freight train. Macdonald prioritized these sessions as a way for everyone to catch their breath and see the bigger picture.
On the sideline, he’s also the sport’s preeminent defensive genius. Against Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, he knew exactly when and how to bring pressure. Nothing was random. Macdonald masterfully sequenced his pressures. One blitz set up the next. Cornerback Devon Witherspoon was weaponized and — for my money? — the Seattle corner deserved to win Super Bowl MVP. His four unblocked pressures wrecked drives. Witherspoon was responsible for the game-ending interception. Of course, that fifth overall pick used to select this cornerback out of Illinois was the result of that aforementioned Wilson trade.
This blowout of a Super Bowl was a perfect storm.
Schneider’s the best GM in the NFL. Macdonald’s the best defensive mind.
Darnold is this team’s soul.
There’s all the football stuff to love. He’s fearless in the pocket, willing to attempt any throw into any window. If Darnold thinks you are open, he’ll pull the trigger.
Super Bowls, however, are not only won those four hours on a February Sunday. One thought from the longtime Vikings safety Smith proved prescient. In our chat ahead of this game, Smith passionately detailed the value of failure.
“Everyone acts like you’re either the worst or you’re the GOAT,” Smith told us. “All the dumbass shit that people just come up with. They haven’t spent their professional life committed to improving — that’s going to take failure, that’s going to take times where you get beat. And then people drag you because you aren’t the greatest every play. Whoever everyone says is the GOAT — Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods — they all get beat and they all can get embarrassed. We don’t watch those clips.
“They were the best because they found ways to improve and use those as fuel. But that’s not sexy. That’s not sexy for us to watch a highlight video or a lowlight video of people just losing and then how they improve upon it. And I think Sam is a good example of a guy that just goes to work and he doesn’t make too big of a deal of anything.”
He failed early in his career — often.
His response was always the same — unflinching.
Back to mid-November, it looked like the ghosts might’ve been returning. Darnold threw four interceptions in a 21-19 loss to the Rams. Right then, linebacker Ernest Jones VI vehemently defended his quarterback. In a stream of F-bombs, Jones said “He’s our quarterback. We’ve got his back. And if you’ve got anything to say, quite frankly, fuck you.”
The Seahawks won their next 10 games.
His entire career, Darnold has watched three other quarterbacks in his 2018 draft class enjoy success. (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield have won a combined three MVPs and 13 playoff games. Until recently, Darnold was dismissed as the turnover-prone bastard of the bunch.
Now, he’s the first one to win a ring.
“I didn’t not believe,” he says. “It’s special, man. And it’s not about that. It’s never been about that. I’m just doing the best that I can every single day to be the best quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks. … We just played how we always play: resilient.”
Now, more people than just Mom and Dad believe. His life as an NFL starting quarterback should’ve been over following those Jets and Panthers flameouts. Quarterbacks almost never get a third opportunity to shine. As this media session wound down, one more time, Darnold thought back to his journey.
The ups. The downs. He says he learned so much about himself beyond football.
“It’s funny how things work,” Darnold says. “That’s life. I’m going to continue to keep working.”
Maye has seven months to stew over this loss. This night, he was the quarterback seeing ghosts all over the field. All a few days after losing the closest MVP race in 22 years to Matthew Stafford. This long wait won’t be easy for the kid who grew up battling his older brothers every day. Maye acknowledged the need to harness this immense sadness for good. Somehow.
He doesn’t need to look far for inspiration. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for Maye — for any quarterback, any athlete — to closely listen to what Sam Darnold has to say.
Honestly, all of us should be paying close attention.
ICYMI:
All links from our week in the Bay Area:
Rare Hawks: Why Ty Okada & Jake Bobo embody the Seattle Seahawks
Pod: SI’s Conor Orr on Super Bowl LX & Ahman Green on the Green Bay Packers
Q&A: Seahawks QB coach Andrew Janocko on the ‘resiliency’ of Sam Darnold
Real Football: Seattle Seahawks-New England Patriots Super Bowl LX Preview!
Carlton Davis: ‘I feel like it’s going to be another surprise win’
Southern Comfort: Patriots’ gator-huntin’ rookie Will Campbell is 1 of 1
‘It’s incredible:’ Super Bowl LX’s roots are in Ron Wolf’s Green Bay Packers
Pod: Stevie Johnson has a PSA for Buffalo Bills WR Keon Coleman!
Best Super Bowl storyline? Terrell Williams is cancer-free, back on the Patriots sideline
1 on 1: Seahawks GM John Schneider on Packers roots, Sam Darnold, building a winner (again)
I’m glad Darnold admitted how poorly he played. Even with NE putting their safety in the box to stop the run he couldn’t complete half his throws and was basically captain checkdown the second half.
Happy he won, but boy did that game have brutal QB play.
Nicely done covering both QBs and both angles of this game. We'll forever wonder if Maye was severely limited by that injury, or if he just froze up on the big stage. Waited all year for him to look like a 2nd year QB and he never did. Until the Super Bowl. Similar to Dan Marino in 1984 in that regard.
Will say about Darnold, he did not play great, but he repeatedly, constantly avoided letting New England's defense make a big play, and it's not because they weren't trying. Seemed like at least 6-8 times he stepped out of the way under heavy pressure, and at least his off-target throws were not intercepted (do we call that a skill or luck?) Can appreciate a level-headed guy like him winning a Super Bowl.