Seahawks reach Super Bowl after 31-27 NFC title win over Rams as Darnold shines
Sam Darnold threw three touchdowns and Seattle’s defense made a late fourth-down stop to secure a 31-27 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship, sending the Seahawks to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years.
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The Seattle Seahawks are headed back to the Super Bowl after an electrifying 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship game on Sunday, January 25, 2026. Quarterback Sam Darnold, in his first season with Seattle and playing for his fifth NFL team, delivered one of the best performances of his career on the sport’s biggest stage short of the Super Bowl.
Darnold threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers, completing 25 of 36 passes despite playing through an oblique injury, according to the Associated Press. Wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba powered the passing attack with 10 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown, one of the top postseason receiving totals in franchise history.
The game turned on key high-leverage moments. Los Angeles drove deep late in the fourth quarter with a chance to take the lead, but Seattle’s defense produced a decisive stop: on fourth-and-4 from the Seahawks’ 6-yard line, Rams coach Sean McVay went for it, and Matthew Stafford’s pass was broken up in the end zone, preserving Seattle’s advantage.
The Rams matched Seattle’s firepower for long stretches, with Stafford throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns, but Los Angeles was undone by costly mistakes. A muffed punt in the third quarter set up a quick Seahawks touchdown that widened the gap and forced the Rams into chase mode for much of the second half.
Seattle will meet the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California. The matchup revives a familiar rivalry: the Seahawks’ last Super Bowl appearance ended in a loss to New England, and the franchise now gets a chance at a different ending with a new quarterback and a defense that again delivered in the game’s biggest moments.
For Darnold, the win caps a remarkable turnaround. Once cast aside by previous teams and questioned after uneven stretches earlier in his career, he has now quarterbacked the Seahawks to the league title game and earned a shot at a championship, giving Seattle’s season a storybook arc heading into the final game.