The Seattle Seahawks had a playoff run for the ages en route to their second Super Bowl championship in franchise history. They obliterated the San Francisco 49ers to the tune of 41-6 in the Divisional Round. Seattle then outlasted the explosive LA Rams in a 31-27 shootout. Finally, the Seahawks earned revenge on the New England Patriots by dominating them 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Oh, not to mention they did it in the 49ers' home stadium and celebrated in San Francisco's locker room.
You simply couldn't script it better even if you tried.
However, one aspect of Seattle's remarkable run that I feel is getting a tad overlooked is just how incredible quarterback Sam Darnold performed in the NFC Championship game. Plenty of buzz about the Seahawks this season revolved around wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba, their defense, and Kenneth Walker III in the playoffs. All deservedly so! But we need to be talking more about what Sam Darnold did in the conference championship because it was one of the best performances we have seen from a quarterback in recent years.
No, that is not an exaggeration. Darnold's 346 passing yards are tied with Aaron Rodgers (who had the same total in a loss in 2020) for fifth most by a quarterback in a conference championship game over the last decade. Read that last sentence again and truly let it sink in.
If you are curious about the full top five performers from the last decade (the 2016-2025 seasons) you can see it below. Keep in mind, the year I have listed is by the NFL season, not the calendar year the game was actually played in. This is how the NFL keeps track of their seasons.
Sam Darnold in 2025 and Aaron Rodgers in 2020 – 346
A keen eye will recognize the name of the other quarterback from the 2026/2026 NFC Championship: Matthew Stafford with 374 yards. Yes, Stafford also put forth a legendary passing performance. He became the first quarterback to have 350+ passing yards, three touchdowns, no turnovers, and still lose the conference championship game. Of course, for all his yards, he did throw back-to-back incompletions on third and fourth down in the most crucial point of the game. The Rams were at Seattle's six-yard line, and Stafford's failure to throw a touchdown kept the score 31-27 with 4:54 left in the game, which the Seahawks burned away.
Los Angeles didn't get the ball back until there was only 0:25 seconds remaining, and 44 of Stafford's 374 yards were in garbage time when the game was already decided. So, realistically, take those away and Stafford only had 330 meaningful yards. Although, that's not how the NFL keeps track of things. In his final two games against the Seahawks, Stafford had 831 passing yards and six touchdown passes... and went 0-2.
Aside from Stafford and Rodgers, all the other quarterbacks in the top five - including Sam Darnold - all won their respective conference championship game. Interestingly, all were NFC except for Tom Brady in 2016 and 2018.
For those who are interested, Sam Darnold's 346 yards in the 2025 NFC Championship game rank No. 17 all-time when counting every single NFC and AFC championship game in the Super Bowl era.
Drake Maye performed the entire postseason the way were were all told Sam Darnold would once the playoffs got here… meanwhile, the actual Sam Darnold put forth one of the best performances we’ve seen at the conference championship level in the past decade pic.twitter.com/B7npQNpeIg
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: NFL playoffs: Seahawks QB Sam Darnold had a historic NFC championship