Sam Darnold Quotes Natasha Bedingfield to Explain Super Bowl Run After Being Trolled Early in Career

After leading the Seattle Seahawks to Super Bowl LX, star quarterback Sam Darnold could've had a lot to say to his naysayers from earlier in his career, but he took the high road instead.

"What does Natasha Bedingfield say? It's unwritten? Something like that," Darnold said after the Seahawks' 31-27 win over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. "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."

Darnold endured a rough start to his career after being selected by the New York Jets with the No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He bounced around the league with stints with the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers before landing with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 and earning his first career Pro Bowl selection.

Despite Darnold's success in Minnesota, the Vikings allowed him to walk in free agency, and he joined the Seahawks to prove that his breakout campaign was no fluke. He led Seattle to a 14-3 record and the NFC's No. 1 seed, becoming the only quarterback besides Tom Brady to ever record back-to-back 14-win seasons.

"I think coming here, being able to be with 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," Darnold said of his success with the Seahawks. "I just go through my reads, do what I'm supposed to do and do my job."

Darnold had one of the best performances of his career when it mattered the most, throwing for 346 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions on 25-of-36 passing to lead the Seahawks past the Rams in the conference championship.

"You can't talk about the game without talking about our quarterback," Macdonald said after the victory, per ESPN's Brady Henderson. "He shut a lot of people up tonight, so I'm really happy for him."

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To make Sunday's performance even more impressive, Darnold had been hindered throughout the week with an oblique injury, but he showed no signs of slowing down against Los Angeles.

"To come out [and play] the way he played, barely practicing, barely throwing the ball, it was really incredible," Macdonald said. "It should go down as one of the best performances in playoff history, I would imagine. It's hard to stack it, but I can't imagine anybody playing any better."

Darnold will try to keep up his impressive play when the Seahawks meet the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX, and his teammates have the utmost confidence that he could help them hoist the Lombardi Trophy.

"I'm rolling with Sam all day," Seahawks star receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said. "We believe in him. The building believes in him. The city believes in him. It's awesome to run out onto the field with him."