The Seattle Seahawks‘ defense looks good enough to carry them to a Super Bowl. However, there are troubling clouds hanging over Seattle’s offense, which is beginning to live up to all the doom-and-gloom predictions we saw this past offseason.
The core of the problem is that Sam Darnold got exposed by the Los Angeles Rams a few weeks ago, and aside from a couple of deep bombs to Jaxon Smith-Njigba the following week Darnold has yet to regain his composure.
Sunday’s 26-0 victory over the Minnesota Vikings was a dominant win, but also a highly-flawed one – as Darnold struggled mightily against Brian Flores’ blitz packages.
Thanks to this latest dud, Darnold has taken a serious tumble in the newest NFL quarterback power rankings from CBS Sports. He’s now ranked No. 11, down five spots from last week.
“He’s cooled off a bit since a blazing start as the Seahawks’ gunslinger, but Seattle’s swarming defense affords some leeway. As always, the lingering question is whether he can show up big under pressure.”
Sep 25, 2025; Glendale, Arizona, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold (14) looks on in the second half against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
There’s no way around it. Darnold has simply not performed well these last three games – and you can bet that every other team left on the Seahawks’ schedule is paying attention to what has worked for the Rams, Titans and Vikings and will attempt to do more of the same.
Darnold played exceptionally well in the team’s first nine games this season, enough to garner some league MVP buzz.
However, no quarterback goes through a full regular season without facing some adversity and it was inevitable that Darnold would face a rough stretch as defenses figured out how to deal with Seattle’s gameplan.
Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak can help by mixing things up, and Seattle’s offensive line has to do a better job of protecting Darnold than they have lately.
All that being said, the onus is on Darnold to adjust to what defenses are throwing at him and learn to produce against those looks. If he can’t, then this whole experiment will come crashing down just as his meanest detractors predicted after he signed with the Seahawks.
We believe Darnold has evolved enough that he will eventually figure things out and break back into positive territory. Seattle fans just have to hope that it happens sooner rather than later.
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