Darnold and the Seahawks are Super Bowl champs, so there isn't much to gripe about...is there?
Seattle Seahawks fans and players will look back fondly on 2025 as the franchise, in Mike Macdonald's second year, became Super Bowl champions.
But maybe not everyone is as thrilled as they should be.
Quarterback Sam Darnold, who killed off any narratives surrounding him in 2025, led the Seahawks to a 14-3 regular-season record and was even better in the playoffs.
Granted, Sam didn't exactly have to play super well as the defense did its job, but quarterbacks are judged on how they perform in the postseason.
Darnold has done something Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, and Lamar Jackson haven't, and that's win a Super Bowl.
So, you would be expecting Sam to be rather happy about the fact that he's now a champion, right? Well, sort of.
Darnold was a guest on Bussin' With The Boys and detailed that he wasn't exactly happy with how things played out against New England.
"I didn't play great in the Super Bowl," Darnold said. "I missed way too many throws. We still won. Our defense balled out. I didn't turn the ball over, which helped.
"But dude, to win the Super Bowl that way, I was kinda bummed. I want to score 40 points, you know what I mean? I want to go out there and ball out, and it's just, dang, I didn't play my best football in the Super Bowl? That sucks."
Darnold wasn't great, but he wasn't bad either, completing 19 of his 38 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown. But perhaps even more importantly, he didn't have a turnover in the 29-13 win.
Of course, there are things that Darnold would want back, as he cited a couple of missed throws, but in the end, he's a Super Bowl champ, so you can make the case that it doesn't really matter.
But it is clear it does to Sam, and it feels like it is sticking in his paw that he didn't play up to his standard in the biggest game of his career.
Of course, he didn't play badly either, but the silver lining is that he is a Super Bowl champ, and it doesn't matter how well he played; he's still got a ring.
And that's something other star-studded quarterbacks in the league can't say right now.
