Seahawks prove you don’t need superstar quarterback to win it all
February 9, 2026
The Trent Dilfer theory is back, and I tend to agree. How about you?
49 comments
Trent Dilfer won a SB. Remind yourself that every day
Slander against Darnold!
But really, he didn’t have to do much in the Super Bowl, but he was awesome in NFCCG to top the Rams. Much better player than Dilfer.
Are you arguing Trent Dilfer would have gotten paid $100.5 million for 3 years if he played in this era? That would be an interesting discussion.
I mean….3rd overall pick and a pretty good record recently.
He’s no slouch
Do you need a superstar QB? Not necessarily
Do you need a good QB? Yes
Sure, a QB like Dilfer can win but most always you at least need a good QB and Sam Darnold is a damn good QB. We don’t even have an average one let alone a QB like Sam Darnold. I just don’t see teams being able to win a SB w a bad QB like Trent Dilfer in the current NFL
I would say the eagles have proven that a few times too, all in the last decade. Still have to have an elite offense around non-elite QBs for it to work though.
Seahawks were just a well rounded good team. You need good QB play to win a Super Bowl and he gave them that
Jalen Hurts isn’t a superstar QB.
Darnold was a top 10 QB this season. So do you need mahomes? No. Do you need a top 10 QB? Yeah of course
You don’t need a superstar QB if you have elite special teams and defense.
You also can’t have a bad QB under any circumstance.
All 3 of our current QBs are a lot closer to bad than being not superstar, but kinda good QBs that can replicate Darnold-like play
The GEQBUS will remember that.
There is no single proven recipe. This is loosely my priority list.
Top notch offensive line.
Top 10 qb
Dominant defensive line.
He won 14 games with Minnesota. They basically fielded a similar team minus Darnold and missed the playoffs. You don’t need a goat QB but you need someone who can have games where they throw 300+ yds and a couple TDs
Seattle 5th in completion percentage, top 10 in yardage. #1 receiver… Not a good passing team
… Or a QB, for that matter
Stop. Because you’ll leave off the part about them having the Offensive Player of the Year at WR.
People forget Darold is 1st rd pick lmao
I’ll be revisiting this article next year when Pat Mahomes runners trots his way to another Super Bowl because why not.
I think the lesson to be learned is that just because a guy is drafted high by a dysfunctional organization and then tossed aside doesn’t mean he sucks – he just wasn’t developed appropriately. Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold have both shown that.
This has been proven a ton. Do people forget about Hurts already? He isn’t a superstar but he is good. Brady, Manning and the others made a whole generation think only the stars win. They’re forgetting about Dilfer, Brad Johnson and so many more. There is a reason the greats only usually win a couple if they’re lucky.
The dude played amazing against Stafford and the rams. If anything, you need one to *get* to a superbowl, but not necessarily to win one.
This is what upset me about our D, they kept lamenting about the O. Man up and dominate on D.
Jim McMahon, Doug Williams, Brad Johnson, Nick Foles?
Yes, but you do need a game changing wide, a complimentary aggressive rb AND a component offensive line.
Already proven with Trent Dilfer and Mark Rypien.
People are really shading Darnold because the Seahawks were never on TV. He’s been great for two seasons and he outplayed the MVP in the NFCCG game.
Even in the SB he wasn’t playing conservative, he constantly tested NE’s defense with tight window throws and his evasion within the pocket was ELITE shit.
There’s a lot of coping about him on this sub for some reason, but he’s really good.
Elite arm talent and the willingness to throw under pressure. He’s being underrated.
What a complete football team looks like with a great system
Macdonald-Kubiak is one of the best play calling pairings in NFL history. Not just Darnold, the Seahawks roster was good but not elite or all-in like many SB winning team.
They have a good amount of young players who have yet to hit their prime and solid vets but nothing unheard of. Macdonald and Kubiak elevated that team and having two nerds is huge.
This fan base will never get it.
Keep convincing yourself you don’t need an elite QB.
This is a laughable post.
Who (in their prime) would you rather have on your team, Darnold or Dilfer?
It’s not even close, so it’s not a good comp.
Yeah but they also didn’t have like a 1/3rd of their cap tied into a creep who doesn’t really want to play at QB (Watson)
A superstar QB can hide a ton of deficiencies that you may have on the rest of your team.
For example, Mahomes hasn’t had a stellar RB for quite a while and besides Kelce he also hasn’t had a top WR since Hill left.
The Seahawks had the best defense in the league. Their kicker went 5/5. Their RB won MVP. They had a top 3 WR in the league.
Like Darnold doesn’t need to be a superstar because he had superstars in every other position group
He was still a high 1st round draft pick so the potential was always there to be a super star, just never got with the right system until Niners/Minny/Seattle.
I think the better lesson is you need the right system to support a qb with good traits.
Sure if you are completely loaded everywhere else and have a slightly above average qb yeah that’s enough. Very hard to get that good of a roster though
can we put hurts in the same group as well? while he won MVP in the big game last year, that defense carried the team and took a lot (all?) the pressure off hurts.
i think this shows that if you can get constant pressure from your front 4 and stop the run while simply not turning the ball over, you’re going to win a fair amount of games. any extra your offense gives will make you win *a lot* of games.
Disagree. Darnold has a phenomenal season. Just because he didn’t have a *great* SB shouldn’t diminish his season and postseason. I don’t think this season is the year to present the Dilfer theory.
Darnold was great vs an incredible NE defense. Anyone Remember what they did to Cle?
So Cleveland still has a chance?
Superstar? No. A solid game manager is enough with a disciplined, talented team. Do the Browns have that? No.
darnold is a qb. he’s not top 5, but he’s definitely a qb
Yeah sure, patriots proved you need your O-line to not suck.
**you do if your head coach is over 60.
No coach over 60 has done it without HoF caliber talent at QB except for Pete Carrillo, who did it with Russ (borderline HoF) and Tom Coughlin, who did it with Eli (also borderline HOF).
Monken is 60.
Yeah but you still need a good quarterback.
He was still drafted in the first round….
They have an amazing defense, a record-breaking kicker, and JSN. We…do not.
Sometimes a team needs a QB to make decent plays without making major mistakes. We have seen this more than a few times (ex: Ravens / Bears).
You don’t need a superstar quarterback, but it does make it a helluva lot easier than not having one.
Sam Darnold won 14 games in back-to-back seasons with different teams, and won a Super Bowl. I think also he didn’t turn the ball over during the post-season. How is he not a great quarterback? Has any other QB won 14 games back-to-back on different teams?
What you do need is a star WR. Which we haven’t had in 13 years.
49 comments
Trent Dilfer won a SB. Remind yourself that every day
Slander against Darnold!
But really, he didn’t have to do much in the Super Bowl, but he was awesome in NFCCG to top the Rams. Much better player than Dilfer.
Are you arguing Trent Dilfer would have gotten paid $100.5 million for 3 years if he played in this era? That would be an interesting discussion.
I mean….3rd overall pick and a pretty good record recently.
He’s no slouch
Do you need a superstar QB? Not necessarily
Do you need a good QB? Yes
Sure, a QB like Dilfer can win but most always you at least need a good QB and Sam Darnold is a damn good QB. We don’t even have an average one let alone a QB like Sam Darnold. I just don’t see teams being able to win a SB w a bad QB like Trent Dilfer in the current NFL
I would say the eagles have proven that a few times too, all in the last decade. Still have to have an elite offense around non-elite QBs for it to work though.
Seahawks were just a well rounded good team. You need good QB play to win a Super Bowl and he gave them that
Jalen Hurts isn’t a superstar QB.
Darnold was a top 10 QB this season. So do you need mahomes? No. Do you need a top 10 QB? Yeah of course
You don’t need a superstar QB if you have elite special teams and defense.
You also can’t have a bad QB under any circumstance.
All 3 of our current QBs are a lot closer to bad than being not superstar, but kinda good QBs that can replicate Darnold-like play
The GEQBUS will remember that.
There is no single proven recipe. This is loosely my priority list.
Top notch offensive line.
Top 10 qb
Dominant defensive line.
He won 14 games with Minnesota. They basically fielded a similar team minus Darnold and missed the playoffs. You don’t need a goat QB but you need someone who can have games where they throw 300+ yds and a couple TDs
Seattle 5th in completion percentage, top 10 in yardage. #1 receiver… Not a good passing team
… Or a QB, for that matter
Stop. Because you’ll leave off the part about them having the Offensive Player of the Year at WR.
People forget Darold is 1st rd pick lmao
I’ll be revisiting this article next year when Pat Mahomes runners trots his way to another Super Bowl because why not.
I think the lesson to be learned is that just because a guy is drafted high by a dysfunctional organization and then tossed aside doesn’t mean he sucks – he just wasn’t developed appropriately. Daniel Jones and Sam Darnold have both shown that.
This has been proven a ton. Do people forget about Hurts already? He isn’t a superstar but he is good. Brady, Manning and the others made a whole generation think only the stars win. They’re forgetting about Dilfer, Brad Johnson and so many more. There is a reason the greats only usually win a couple if they’re lucky.
The dude played amazing against Stafford and the rams. If anything, you need one to *get* to a superbowl, but not necessarily to win one.
This is what upset me about our D, they kept lamenting about the O. Man up and dominate on D.
Jim McMahon, Doug Williams, Brad Johnson, Nick Foles?
Yes, but you do need a game changing wide, a complimentary aggressive rb AND a component offensive line.
Already proven with Trent Dilfer and Mark Rypien.
People are really shading Darnold because the Seahawks were never on TV. He’s been great for two seasons and he outplayed the MVP in the NFCCG game.
Even in the SB he wasn’t playing conservative, he constantly tested NE’s defense with tight window throws and his evasion within the pocket was ELITE shit.
There’s a lot of coping about him on this sub for some reason, but he’s really good.
Elite arm talent and the willingness to throw under pressure. He’s being underrated.
What a complete football team looks like with a great system
Macdonald-Kubiak is one of the best play calling pairings in NFL history. Not just Darnold, the Seahawks roster was good but not elite or all-in like many SB winning team.
They have a good amount of young players who have yet to hit their prime and solid vets but nothing unheard of. Macdonald and Kubiak elevated that team and having two nerds is huge.
This fan base will never get it.
Keep convincing yourself you don’t need an elite QB.
This is a laughable post.
Who (in their prime) would you rather have on your team, Darnold or Dilfer?
It’s not even close, so it’s not a good comp.
Yeah but they also didn’t have like a 1/3rd of their cap tied into a creep who doesn’t really want to play at QB (Watson)
A superstar QB can hide a ton of deficiencies that you may have on the rest of your team.
For example, Mahomes hasn’t had a stellar RB for quite a while and besides Kelce he also hasn’t had a top WR since Hill left.
The Seahawks had the best defense in the league. Their kicker went 5/5. Their RB won MVP. They had a top 3 WR in the league.
Like Darnold doesn’t need to be a superstar because he had superstars in every other position group
He was still a high 1st round draft pick so the potential was always there to be a super star, just never got with the right system until Niners/Minny/Seattle.
I think the better lesson is you need the right system to support a qb with good traits.
Sure if you are completely loaded everywhere else and have a slightly above average qb yeah that’s enough. Very hard to get that good of a roster though
can we put hurts in the same group as well? while he won MVP in the big game last year, that defense carried the team and took a lot (all?) the pressure off hurts.
i think this shows that if you can get constant pressure from your front 4 and stop the run while simply not turning the ball over, you’re going to win a fair amount of games. any extra your offense gives will make you win *a lot* of games.
Disagree. Darnold has a phenomenal season. Just because he didn’t have a *great* SB shouldn’t diminish his season and postseason. I don’t think this season is the year to present the Dilfer theory.
Darnold was great vs an incredible NE defense. Anyone Remember what they did to Cle?
So Cleveland still has a chance?
Superstar? No. A solid game manager is enough with a disciplined, talented team. Do the Browns have that? No.
darnold is a qb. he’s not top 5, but he’s definitely a qb
Yeah sure, patriots proved you need your O-line to not suck.
**you do if your head coach is over 60.
No coach over 60 has done it without HoF caliber talent at QB except for Pete Carrillo, who did it with Russ (borderline HoF) and Tom Coughlin, who did it with Eli (also borderline HOF).
Monken is 60.
Yeah but you still need a good quarterback.
He was still drafted in the first round….
They have an amazing defense, a record-breaking kicker, and JSN. We…do not.
Sometimes a team needs a QB to make decent plays without making major mistakes. We have seen this more than a few times (ex: Ravens / Bears).
You don’t need a superstar quarterback, but it does make it a helluva lot easier than not having one.
Sam Darnold won 14 games in back-to-back seasons with different teams, and won a Super Bowl. I think also he didn’t turn the ball over during the post-season. How is he not a great quarterback? Has any other QB won 14 games back-to-back on different teams?
What you do need is a star WR. Which we haven’t had in 13 years.