{"id":732205,"date":"2026-02-05T23:30:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/732205\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:30:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:30:42","slug":"how-the-skies-parted-for-super-bowl-qb-sam-darnold-when-he-came-to-the-49ers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/732205\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018the skies parted\u2019 for Super Bowl QB Sam Darnold when he came to the 49ers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the <\/a>Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the \u201cSection 415\u201d podcast <\/a>wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hours before Super Bowl 60 kicks off Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks will bus into Levi\u2019s Stadium. They\u2019ll settle into the plush San Francisco 49ers locker room, which has been readied for the NFC champion in this season\u2019s biggest game.<\/p>\n

Since the football gods have a sense of humor, the 49ers\u2019 biggest rivals will take over their most sacred space. And although most of the Seahawks are unfamiliar with the room, their most important player knows it well. <\/p>\n

Quarterback Sam Darnold spent a transformative season of his career there in 2023. The No. 3 overall pick from the 2018 NFL Draft arrived as a football castaway on a one-year deal to be Brock Purdy\u2019s backup. He left primed for big success: with the Minnesota Vikings in 2024, then \u2014 after signing a contract worth more than $100 million \u2014 with Seattle this season. <\/p>\n

Darnold\u2019s 2023 home base, in the most spacious corner of the 49ers locker room with the closest possible proximity to both the snack and equipment rooms, was prime real estate. <\/p>\n

On Wednesday, he said he might request the same locker for the Super Bowl that he occupied in his season with the 49ers. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat might be a good idea, to get some familiarity there,\u201d Darnold said, chuckling. \u201cThat was a great spot. It was in the back corner, and I had nothing on the left side, so I could put my backpack down. It was a great spot there \u2014 it was really comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps the locker brings good fortune to QBs. Josh Dobbs replaced Darnold as one of Purdy\u2019s backups in 2024 and took over the corner locker. Dobbs will also suit up for this Super Bowl; he\u2019s Drake Maye\u2019s backup for the New England Patriots. Following Dobbs\u2019 departure, Mac Jones took over the coveted locker and delivered a resurgent 2025 season over eight games filling in for an injured Purdy.<\/p>\n

1 day ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

5 days ago<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Tuesday, Jan. 27<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

The success stories of both Darnold and Jones helped transform how many view the dynamics of quarterback development in the NFL. Both had been largely written off following vexing struggles with their first teams \u2014\u00a0Darnold with the New York Jets; Jones with New England \u2014 before succeeding in coach Kyle Shanahan\u2019s 49ers offense. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou need tons of help to allow you to go show how great you can be,\u201d said Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, who struggled to begin his career in Tampa Bay before legendary 49ers coach Bill Walsh traded for him in 1987. \u201cIf you do not get that help, you are limited in how great you can be. To be great, you need help. And there are not 32 places in the league today that give you that help. In fact, I wouldn\u2019t say there are 15. The skies parted for Sam when he came to San Francisco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said longtime running back Frank Gore, who played with Darnold in New York late in his career: \u201cWhen I was with the Jets, I felt bad for Sam. Because I knew what it took for a player to be great and a team to be great, and he didn\u2019t have that over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Darnold started only one game for the 49ers (the regular-season finale, with no playoff implications) he credits his year in the Bay Area \u2014 especially, his time in the QB room with Purdy \u2014 for setting up much of the success he\u2019s seen in the two seasons since.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrock helped me a ton,\u201d Darnold said last summer (opens in new tab)<\/a>. \u201cWith certain things of how to prepare and even just watching him play \u2014 how he processes on the field and all those certain things. \u2026 His poise, whether he made a good play or a bad play \u2014 you celebrate on the field with your teammates, you get pumped, but then you come right back to the sideline, and you have the same demeanor. That was something I always admired about Brock.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then the other thing is how he prepared. I say this all the time, but I give Brock a ton of credit in showing me the ropes that way. He showed me so much in how to prepare and how to study. He was so helpful that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darnold said he would let mistakes compound during his early career with the Jets. But words of wisdom from another 49ers great, Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice, helped him embrace a more free-flowing mentality that has translated to success on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cJerry Rice said that he never had a perfect practice or a perfect game,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the mindset I try to have. It\u2019s not always going to be perfect. That\u2019s why everybody loves this game, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s some of the best reality TV there is. Because it\u2019s about how can you move on from mistakes to continue to better the team and better yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darnold finished with 4,048 passing yards this season, fifth-most in the NFL. His best work has come in the season\u2019s biggest moments, many of which took place in two critical home games against the Los Angeles Rams. One was a regular-season affair in December; Darnold led a game-winning overtime drive that paved the way for Seattle to earn home-field advantage in the playoffs. The second came in the NFC Championship Game rematch against the Rams in which Darnold threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was calling and telling people about how good Sam was back in 2020,\u201d Gore said. \u201cI knew he was good because I\u2019ve been around ball for a long time. But in football, it can\u2019t just be you out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one is more familiar with this dynamic than Young, who became one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time with the dynastic 49ers. Young said Darnold, following his time with the 49ers, resolved to stick with offenses related schematically to Shanahan\u2019s. Minnesota, coached by Kevin O\u2019Connell (a disciple of Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay, who worked under Shanahan), qualifies. So does Seattle, where former 49ers assistant Klint Kubiak is the offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember Sam talking about the impact the year with the 49ers had on his career and how to look at the position,\u201d Young said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t realize there was so much help to be had. Once he felt that, he made sure to stay in the family \u2014\u00a0to Minnesota, and to Seattle with Klint. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018I need to stay in the family, because I now know these guys understand how to make my job easier and tougher on the defense. And now I can show how great I am.\u2019 And that\u2019s exactly what\u2019s happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gore, a model of durability who played 16 years in the NFL, credited Darnold\u2019s perseverance for earning this shot at daylight \u2014\u00a0and a return to his old locker room at Levi\u2019s \u2014 this time for a game on the grandest stage of them all. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnybody who\u2019d have to deal with what he dealt with probably would\u2019ve given up,\u201d Gore said. \u201cBut he stuck with it, and he\u2019s in the Super Bowl now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,2644,7,2812,6,1161,252,2624,2623,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-732205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-brock-purdy","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-kyle-shanahan","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-san-francisco","14":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","15":"tag-sanfrancisco","16":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116020631512039666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=732205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/732205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=732205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=732205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=732205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}