Sam Darnold completes a career comeback with the Seahawks with a Super Bowl 60 win
SANTA CLARA – Two years ago, Sam Darnold was the backup quarterback for the 49ers.
Learning under Kyle Shanahan and backing up Brock Purdy, Darnold has spent many games at Levi’s Stadium watching and learning as he tries to revive a career that many call a bust.
On the sidelines, Darnold watched as Purdy took the 49ers to the Super Bowl.
On Sunday night, Darnold returned to Levi and raised the Lombardi Trophy wearing Seattle Seahawks blue and green after a 29-13 victory over the Patriots, completing an arc that seemed impossible when he first signed with San Francisco.
“It’s unbelievable. Everything that’s happened in my career, but to do it with this team, I wouldn’t want it any other way,” said Darnold, who completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown. “I’m proud of our guys. Our defense, I mean I can’t say enough good things about our defense, our special teams. I know we won the Super Bowl, but we could have been a little better offensively, but I don’t care about that right now. It’s an unbelievable feeling.”
But it’s no surprise, at least not to Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald.
“Everything he’s done since he walked in the door has been a great player and a great leader,” Macdonald said after Seattle took the title.
Darnold’s last victory came after a loss in the NFL wilderness. The Jets traded the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft three years later to Carolina for a second-round pick and a pair of sixth-rounders. He landed with the 49ers and Vikings each year before signing a three-year deal with the Seahawks last spring.
The last Super Bowl among the four teams that released Darnold was the 49ers’ title following the 1994 season.
Darnold backed Brock Purdy with the 49ers in 2023 and parlayed his impressive showing — including a start in the regular-season finale — into a deal with the Minnesota Vikings.
He shined for the Vikings last season with 35 touchdowns and more than 4,300 yards passing before throwing in the NFC North final against Detroit and a wild-card loss to the Rams where he had an incredible nine sacks and two turnovers.
Despite that bad start to his first season, those first 16 games in Minnesota were enough to convince the Seahawks. Seattle signed him last season to a $55 million guaranteed contract and traded Geno Smith to the Raiders.
Darnold, 28, repaid their faith with more than 4,000 passing yards in the regular season and a career-high 67.7 completion percentage en route to a 14-3 season, his second straight year with that record.
He was even better in the playoffs, scoring five touchdowns and no interceptions. He followed up a star performance in the NFC Championship Game (25-of-36 for 346 yards and three scores) with a less impressive performance on Sunday, as he went 19-of-38 for 202 yards and a touchdown.
Not that it matters for USC’s first quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy as a starter.
“I don’t know if any quarterback in the history of the NFL has gone through what he had to go through in his first five years,” Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp said.
“To believe in him, to overcome everybody that’s telling him he’s not that guy anymore, that he’s not going to start, that he’s not going to be a playmaker, to go back to work and commit to his process and go out there in big moments this year again and again and just show up, stand in the pocket and make the tight ends happy and enjoy the game. The new Sam Darnold.”
