With 4:12 left in the fourth quarter Saturday, cameras cut to a fan holding a sign over the railing at Levi’s Stadium. While the Seahawks unfurled a 16-play, 94-yard, eight-minute march to emphatically finish the San Francisco 49ers, this sign told some of the story:
IN SAM 12S TRUST
It didn’t take long for Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold to reward that trust. On the next play, Darnold took a snap on third-and-10, rolled right from a constricting pocket and threw back across his body to wide receiver Cooper Kupp for a soul-stomping 24-yard gain. It was his flashiest flourish in an otherwise efficient outing, in which Darnold completed 20 of 26 passes and threw for 198 yards without a touchdown or a turnover.
But Darnold was not the difference in Seattle’s dominant 13-3 win.
Nor is he the reason to believe these Seahawks can win the Super Bowl.
Don’t just trust Darnold.
Trust this team.
Trust a defense that literally crushed quarterback Brock Purdy on the final play of the game, and figuratively crushed the 49ers for four quarters. A San Francisco offense that averaged 42.3 points and 455.3 yards in its previous three games mustered three points and 173 total yards on Saturday. In coach Mike Macdonald’s second season, his defense leads the NFL in third-down conversions (32.1%) and yards per carry allowed (3.7) and sits second in scoring (17.2 points allowed per game) and opponent yards per play (4.6).
Trust Seattle’s unrelenting monsoon of maulers — defensive linemen Leonard Williams, Byron Murphy II and DeMarcus Lawrence, linebackers Ernest Jones IV and Drake Thomas, defensive backs Nick Emmanwori and Devon Witherspoon, etc. And trust that the whole is even more impressive than its punishing parts.
Trust that the Seahawks’ running game is rounding into form. All season, offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak has stubbornly committed to the run, even when — for weeks and weeks — it wasn’t working. That patience is paying dividends. The Seahawks ripped off 180 rushing yards, 4.6 yards per carry and a 27-yard touchdown, with Kenneth Walker III (133 total yards, 6.1 yards per carry) and Zach Charbonnet (97 total yards, 1 TD) taking turns torching San Francisco.
In its last three games, Seattle has rushed for 514 yards, 5.1 yards per carry and five touchdowns. A reliable running game will control clock, extend drives and put Darnold and wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in advantageous positions in postseason play.
Trust that a reliably resilient team will find ways to win. After all, Seattle secured franchise records for wins (14) and road wins (8), while going 3-0 on short rest and 5-0 after road trips to the eastern time zone. The Seahawks overcame injuries, travel miles, time zones, scheduling snafus and all other available excuses. It stands to reason they’ll continue to overcome.
Trust that home field matters. History says so. After all, the Seahawks have secured the NFC’s No. 1 seed three other times in franchise history (2005, 2013, 2014). Each Seattle season ended at the Super Bowl.
“It’s huge to be able to play in front of the 12s,” Darnold said Saturday. “It’s unlike any other stadium that I’ve ever played in, in terms of how loud it can be and how tough it can be for another offense to operate. So we’re really looking forward to playing at home for the playoffs.”
Trust that Macdonald will continue to put his players in positions to succeed. The 38-year-old should win NFL Coach of the Year honors, even if he won’t performatively celebrate. When asked Saturday if he smoked a cigar with his players in the Levi’s Stadium locker room, Macdonald smiled and said: “No, I’m an amateur when it comes to that stuff.”
Not when it comes to game-planning, considering Macdonald outclassed 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan. Not when it comes to culture-building or instilling an impervious, process-oriented approach.
“One at a time. Keep stacking ‘em,” Macdonald said after the most impactful regular-season win in franchise history. “If we want to go where we want to go, and we’re a young team with an idiot head coach, second year, trying to figure it out, that’s our mentality. We’re just going to keep attacking, day by day, and worry about that. [We’ll] let everybody else tell the stories.”
You know what stories have been told about this team. Darnold is a land mine, built to blow; he can’t deliver when it counts. The Seahawks’ ceiling is dictated by their quarterback. They’ll go as far as their flawed, flinching signal caller carries them.
Enough.
On Saturday, Darnold did deliver. But this team was always more than a lazy story line. It was more than the national narrative, a question mark blotting out everything else. It was more than a single player’s haunted history.
(Full transparency: I, too, have questioned whether the Seahawks can win a Super Bowl with Darnold at quarterback.)
With the NFL’s premier point differential, coach and defense, plus home-field advantage and a first-round bye, the Seahawks should be considered Super Bowl favorites.
Darnold is some of the story.
But this team has given fans much more to trust.