Winning a championship is the ultimate goal for any NFL athlete, but for Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, the taste of victory in Super Bowl LX was somewhat bittersweet. Despite Seattle’s 29-13 win over the New England Patriots, Darnold recently shared that he walked away from his first career ring feeling disappointed in his individual performance.
Speaking on the “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast with former NFL players Taylor Lewan and Will Compton, Darnold was candid about his self-assessment. He admitted that he felt “kind of bummed” by the nature of the victory, specifically because he didn’t feel he met his own standards on the league’s biggest stage. While his final stat line—19 of 38 for 202 yards and one touchdown—was serviceable, it was a far cry from the efficiency he displayed throughout the regular season.
Evaluating Sam Darnold’s Self-Critique and Missed Opportunities
The primary source of Darnold’s frustration stems from a significant drop in accuracy. After completing 67.7% of his passes during the regular season, that number fell to an even 50% in the Super Bowl. Darnold credited the Seattle defense for their dominant showing and noted that while he avoided turnovers, he felt he left too much production on the field.
“I missed way too many throws,” Darnold explained, expressing a desire to have put up more points. He noted that despite the 29-point total, his goal was to “ball out” and ideally push the score into the 40s. The feeling of not playing his best football during the most important game of his life has clearly lingered.
Darnold highlighted three specific plays that have haunted him since the final whistle:
The first was a missed connection in the opening quarter. On a third-down scramble, Darnold had Jaxon Smith-Njigba wide open for what likely would have been an 86-yard touchdown. He overthrew the receiver, a mistake that prevented Seattle from taking a 10-0 lead and kept them out of the end zone for the entire first half.
The second regret involved a deep post to Rashid Shaheed in the fourth quarter. With New England playing “zero coverage,” a successful throw could have resulted in a 59-yard touchdown and effectively ended the game sooner. Darnold attributed the overthrow to being “too juiced up” in the high-stakes environment.
Finally, he pointed to a missed out route to veteran Cooper Kupp in the third quarter. Darnold expressed disbelief that he missed such a fundamental throw, especially given the coverage look the Patriots provided.
The weight of these missed plays was so heavy that Darnold avoided watching the game film for months, only finally sitting down to review the tape just before the start of offseason team activities (OTAs). The stakes were high not just for the team, but for Darnold personally; had those two long touchdown passes connected, he would have finished with nearly 350 yards and three scores. Such a performance likely would have earned him Super Bowl MVP honors, an award that was instead given to running back Kenneth Walker.
Darnold’s path to a Super Bowl ring has been one of the more unique trajectories in recent NFL history. After a difficult first five years where many labeled him a draft bust, he revitalized his career during a standout 2024 season with the Minnesota Vikings. That resurgence led him to Seattle, where he finally secured a championship. However, rather than resting on his laurels, Darnold appears to be using his perceived shortcomings in the title game as motivation for the upcoming season.
While Sam Darnold is officially a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, his self-reflective nature shows a player who is more concerned with elite execution than just the jewelry. By acknowledging his missed opportunities in Super Bowl LX, Darnold is clearly setting a high bar for himself as he looks to prove that his career turnaround in Minnesota and Seattle was only the beginning.
