Why Sam Darnold quoted Natasha Bedingfield after Seahawks' NFC Championship win over Rams

The latest chapter of the Sam Darnold redemption tour involved the quarterback guiding his Seattle Seahawks to a 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Sunday's NFC Championship Game. 

Following the victory that punched Seattle's ticket to Super Bowl LX, Darnold channeled his inner singer-songwriter while speaking with NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. 

Sam Darnold always felt his career story was "unwritten"

"What does Natasha Bedingfield say? It’s unwritten? Something like that," Darnold said about his career path. "There’s always more work to be done. And as long as I have belief in myself, and I believe in my teammates to go out there and do their job every single play, there’s nothing that you can’t do. And for me, I’ve always believed in myself. I understand my talent. I think it was just a matter of time before everything kind of fell into place. I think coming here, being able to be with [Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald] and his defense, the way that those guys roll, and then having great coaches on our offensive staff and having great players around me, I just come into work every single day and I don’t expect anything. I just go through my reads, do what I’m supposed to do and do my job."

The New York Jets made Darnold the third overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, but they gave up on him after just three seasons that included him seeing "ghosts" during games. He later failed to cement himself as a long-term answer for the Carolina Panthers, and he then spent the 2023 campaign as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers. 

Darnold's career was jump-started when he led the 2024 Minnesota Vikings to a 14-3 record and a playoff berth. Minnesota let him reach free agency last March, and he received a three-year, $100.5M contract from the Seahawks. 

He was worth every penny of that deal when he passed for 346 yards with three touchdowns and zero interceptions to lead Seattle past Los Angeles and to the first Super Bowl trip of his career. 

Does Sam Darnold feel vindicated after winning conference title game? 

Darnold understandably could have taken some victory laps while mentioning that Sunday's result vindicates him after all that happened from 2018 through last January. He instead went down a different route while chatting with Breer. 

"I mean, I’m going to be completely honest with you, Albert — that thought doesn’t even cross my mind ever," Darnold explained. "I’ve always just lived my life one day at a time. And I think being in this position, playing the position I do, being with such a great group, I think I would be doing everyone in this building a disservice if I thought about it that way. And so for me, I’m just going to continue to be me and do everything I can every single day to help this team win football games. And at the end of the day, I’ll look up, and I can be proud of that. So that’s my mindset, just with, I guess, life in general."

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Seahawks as 4.5-point favorites over the New England Patriots for Super Bowl LX. It sounds like Darnold will be unmoved by such lines over the next couple of weeks.