The Super Bowl matchup is set as the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are set to square off in Super Bowl LX, a rematch 11 years in the making after Malcolm Butler's interception ended a Seahawks' comeback in the final seconds. There are entirely new teams and coaches this go round, but getting to the big game has made a big difference in the career trajectory of Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold.
While the Patriots may have had the easiest Super Bowl path of all time, the Seahawks had to navigate two of the toughest teams in the league to essentially win an NFC West Invitational to earn their trip to Santa Clara. Darnold may have been a supporting character in the win over San Francisco last week, but he put the Seahawks on his back Sunday night to forever change the narrative of his career.
For the final time this season, let's take a look at the winners and losers of Championship Sunday, beginning with a deeper dive into Darnold's best performance.
NFL Championship Sunday Winners and Losers
Winner: Sam Darnold
Facing a fearsome Rams' defense which picked him off six times during the regular season, Darnold was the unquestioned best player on the field Sunday night. The Rams had no answers for Darnold, who completed 25-of-36 passes for 346 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Seahawks return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years with a 31-27 victory.
That kind of performance is impressive even if you are fully healthy, but the fact that Darnold is nursing an oblique injury makes it even more epic. Darnold entered the season with a history of coming up small in big games, including a pair of stinkers for Minnesota in Week 18 and the Wild Card round last year, but a victory like this proves that Darnold belongs in the ranks of the elite, giving him a chance to complete one of the biggest comeback stories in NFL history.
Loser: Minnesota Vikings
While certain corners of the internet will rip the New York Jets and Carolina Panthers for giving up on Darnold, the franchise that deserves the most ridicule here is Minnesota. The end of the 2024 season didn't go well for Darnold but he had a career-reviving year in the Vikings' building and they let him walk in favor of J.J. McCarthy, who delivered a historically bad first season.
Seeing Darnold go to the Super Bowl will lead to a lot of despair for Vikings fans who saw their 14-win team fall apart by going from Darnold to McCarthy. Kevin O'Connell has garnered a reputation as a quarterback whisperer but he has a lot of egg on his face after seeing what Darnold managed to do in a situation that most viewed as a worse supporting cast than the one he left behind in Minnesota.
Winner: Zak Kuhr
Even if the road the Patriots took to the Super Bowl was rather easy in terms of quarterback play, it still requires smart game planning to shut down opposing offenses. New England's defensive play caller, Zak Kuhr, has been filling in for defensive coordinator Terrell Williams while he is away from the team to undergo cancer treatments and delivered a masterclass in the postseason.
The Patriots have come up with an array of unique looks to confuse Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud and Jarret Stidham in the playoffs, mixing up their coverages and pressures to elevate a unit that was pretty average during the regular season. Kuhr is likely going to put himself onto the head coaching radar in the future thanks to this run and can cement his resume by coming up with a plan to stifle Darnold in two weeks.
Loser: The Rest Of The AFC
This distinction applies more specifically to the rest of the contender class, including Buffalo, Kansas City, Baltimore and Denver as the Patriots are now a force to be reckoned with again. It sure doesn't feel fair that the Patriots only had to go through a five-year rebuild after a 20-year dynasty to find themselves in position to go on a new dynastic run with Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye succeeding Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, but this is the new reality in the AFC.
It is certainly fair to point out that Maye didn't play lights out in the postseason but Brady wasn't otherworldly during New England's first title run either. The Patriots will likely be underdogs by the time the big game kicks off, but the fact we are having a conversation about New England re-discovering their groove is bad news for the rest of the conference.
Winner: Denver Broncos' Defense
The Broncos may not have won the football game but their defense did everything they could to elevate backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham to a Super Bowl appearance. The only touchdown the unit surrendered came when Stidham turned over the football on his own 12 yard line as they sacked Drake Maye five times and held him to 80 yards passing while giving up only 141 rushing yards on 25 carries.
The performance was incredibly strong for the group and if Sean Payton coached the game a bit more carefully it may have been good enough to get to the Super Bowl. Like Caleb Williams' heroic throw last week, the effort the Broncos' defense provided will be lost to history since they didn't win the game.
Loser: Sean Payton
Payton made a big deal during the week about how he has had a lot of success with backup quarterbacks and looked good early when Stidham hit a deep bomb down the field to set up a touchdown on Denver's first drive. That early dopamine hit went to Payton's head and he made a very questionable decision to throw the ball on 4th-and-1 from the New England 14 early in the second quarter, bypassing three points he needed later in the game.
No one could have foreseen the game turning into a snow bowl by the end as the forecast didn't call for precipitation but going up 10-0 early may have altered how New England approached the game, forcing Maye to throw more against the teeth of the Denver defense while giving the Broncos the ability to lean more on their running game. That decision came back to bite the Broncos as Payton's belief in his ability to get the most out of a backup quarterback who hadn't thrown a pass in the regular season may have cost Denver a chance at the Super Bowl.