AGAINST ALL ODDS
THE STORY OF THE SEATTLE SEAHAWKSâ 2025 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
Credits
SPORTS EDITOR
Paul Barrett
BOOK EDITOR
Paul Barrett
SEAHAWKS EDITOR
Nathan Joyce
COLUMNISTS
Matt Calkins, Mike Vorel
REPORTERS
Bob Condotta, Tim Booth
On the cover
COPY EDITORS
Laura Gordon, Janelle Kohnert
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
James Gregg
Photo Editors
James Gregg, Bettina Hansen, Colin Diltz, Travis Ness, Mindy Ray, Michelle Gutierrez, Cara Brannan
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Jennifer Buchanan, Dean Rutz, Nick Wagner, Kevin Clark, David Ryder, Karen Ducey,
Erika Schultz
Holding the Lombardi Trophy after the Seattle Seahawksâ victory over the New England Patriots, coach Mike Macdonald savored the franchiseâs second championship in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, 2026, in Santa Clara, Calif.
JENNIFER BUCHANAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Copyright Š 2026 by The Seattle Times ⢠All Rights Reserved
ISBN: 978-1-63846-196-8
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner or the publisher.
This book is an unofficial account of the Seattle Seahawksâ season by The Seattle Times and is not endorsed by the NFL or Seattle Seahawks.
Published by Pediment Publishing, a division of The Pediment Group, Inc. ⢠www.pediment.com
Printed in Canada.
LEFT: Seahawks linebacker Derick Hall made a big entrance during introductions before Seattle played the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 25, 2026, at Lumen Field. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
The Seahawks did not care, and they made NFL history
BY BOB CONDOTTA ⢠FEB. 11, 2026
The Seahawks â as coach Mike Macdonald famously stated after their victory over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC title game â were the team that did not care in 2025.
They did not care that an offseason of personnel turnover highlighted by the trades of quarterback Geno Smith to Las Vegas and receiver DK Metcalf to Pittsburgh had observers around the league questioning if they were even trying to win in 2025.
They did not care that observers questioned why they were signing the well-traveled Sam Darnold to replace Smith, those same observers having already determined that Darnold was not capable âof winning the big one.â
They did not care that most prognosticators predicted theyâd finish third at best in the NFC West behind the two teams that had ruled the division the previous four years, the Rams and San Francisco 49ers. They did not care that they entered the season given 60-1 odds to win the Super Bowl, better than only 12 other teams. Hereâs what they did care about:
⢠Showing up for the voluntary offseason program in April to begin adapting to the new offense with Darnold and under first-year coordinator Klint Kubiak.
⢠Embracing âMacdonald-ismsâ â such as 12 as One, Process over Results and Stacking Wins â as he made the culture fully his in his second year succeeding Pete Carroll.
⢠Buying in to Macdonaldâs team-bonding exercises to become what all involved said was the closest team theyâd played on, along the way creating a unique vibe often displayed through a game they made up called shadowboxing (even if no one knew whose idea it was).
⢠Accepting Macdonaldâs selfless defensive philosophy, sacrificing individual stats for victories, becoming a unit that lived up to its self-adopted name of The Dark Side to continually turn the lights out on opposing offenses. Ultimately, what they cared about mattered so much more than what they didnât care about. It powered the Seahawks to the most regular-season wins (14) in team history, which earned them the No. 1 NFC
playoff seed.
They rode that wave and their unmatched Lumen Field advantage to the Super Bowl, where they defeated the New England Patriots 29-13 for the second Lombardi Trophy in the 50-year history of the franchise. Some observers ranked the Seahawks defense among the best in NFL history.
Not that they cared about that.
âWe were the best defense this year,â cornerback Devon Witherspoon said. âThatâs all that mattered.â
What they cared about more than how they will be remembered was the memories they made.
âWeâre going to be 60 years old and doing reunions and stuff,â punter Michael Dickson said. âAnd Iâm so happy I get to do that with this group.â
The 12s will also remember the 2025 season forever, and we hope this book â filled with breathtaking photos and vividly-written game stories, columns and features â will serve as a fitting keepsake of the year the Seahawks did not care so much that they made NFL history.
OPPOSITE: Seahawks fans celebrate Cooper Kuppâs third quarter touchdown, putting Seattle up 31-20 over the Los Angeles Rams during the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 25, 2026, at Lumen Field.
NICK WAGNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Get to know Sam Darnold, the biggest unknown for Seahawks fans in 2025
BY BOB CONDOTTA ⢠SEPT. 5, 2025
So, you might be wondering, just who is Sam Darnold, the man who will soon become the 25th starting quarterback in the Seahawksâ 50th year as a franchise?
You can find the basic facts in his media guide bio.
That heâs 28 years old and grew up in San Clemente, Calif., as part of a sportsmad family.
That his grandfather, Dick Hammer, played basketball at USC â where Darnold played quarterback â and was a member of the USA volleyball team at the 1964 Olympics before becoming an actor, appearing in the 1970s TV show âEmergencyâ and in print ads as the Marlboro Man.
That his father, Mike, was an offensive lineman at the University of Redlands before settling into a career as a middle-school physical education teacher; his mother, Chris, a volleyball player at Long Beach City College; and his older sister, Franki, a volleyball player at Rhode Island.
âEverybody was into athletics,â Sam Darnold says. âIt was almost like you had
to play sports growing up.â
Not that he ever complained.
Darnold became such an avid sports fan that he admits a little sheepishly he had a TV in his room growing up and would leave it on ESPN pretty much continuously.
âI would watch âSportsCenterâ at night every single night, that rerun hour that was on there,â he said, citing Kenny Mayne, Neil Everett and Stan Verrett as his favorites. âThat was the routine for me as a kid.â
That led to him majoring in communications at USC.
âI kind of dreamed about doing (sportscasting) someday if the whole sports thing, the whole athlete thing, didnât work out,â he said.
There are also clues he gave during a recent interview, one of many he conducted during training camp as the media searched to find out as much as they could about the new face of the Seahawks franchise.
That not long ago, he read the book âTribeâ by Sebastian Junger and appreciated its theme that, as he says, âhumans are
supposed to be in tribes. Thatâs how our species evolved, and he kind of talks about how people are kind of on their phones all the time now and how thatâs just not good for you.â
That his favorite movie is âShawshank Redemption.â
âHas been now for probably 15 years,â he says. âIt just canât leave that one spot. There is just something about it.â
That when it comes to music: âMy Spotify is all over the place. ⌠Iâm a mixed bag.â But if forced to name a favorite, he cites the alt-rock group Kings of Leon. Darnold says heâs not sure theyâve ever recorded a bad song.
Then thereâs what his new teammates say.
âWell, based on what Iâve seen, he seems pretty even-keel all the time,â right tackle Abraham Lucas said. âWe havenât had any game action yet, but I have faith in him. I donât think heâs the type of person to lose his cool or anything like that, so Iâm confident in that.â
That description fits the vibe of one of Darnoldâs other childhood pastimes
OPPOSITE: Emerging from the tunnel before a December 2025 home game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sam Darnold had found a rhythm in his first season as Seattleâs starting quarterback.
JENNIFER BUCHANAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
ABOVE: AJ Barner does a little high-kicking after scoring on the one-yard rush, making the score 38-7 in the final minutes of the third quarter. Washington couldnât do enough in the final quarter to change the outcome of the game. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
ABOVE RIGHT: Seattle tight end Elijah Arroyo pushed his way into the end zone on a 26-yard scoring pass from Sam Darnold in the second quarter. The touchdown came shortly after a Washington fumble on the ensuing kickoff. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
RIGHT: No number of Commanders seemed capable of defending Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who caught eight passes for 129 yards against Washington. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
After Seattle handily dispatched the Commanders, Leonard Williams let out a roar for the traveling 12s who packed Northwest Stadium. Williams and the Seahawks defense held Washington to just 14 points while the offense posted a season-defining 38-point outburst fueled by Sam Darnoldâs four-touchdown performance.
DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Seahawks made right call choosing John Schneider over Pete Carroll
BY MATT CALKINS ⢠DEC. 23, 2025
This column would be coming regardless of the swing DK Metcalf took at a Lions fan Sunday. The former Seahawks receiverâs altercation â which led to a suspension â is not the linchpin in this argument.
But that incident with a blue-wigged spectator in Detroit does highlight whatâs become undeniably true: Every week that passes, the Seahawksâ front office looks better.
Better might be understating the reality, actually. Brilliant might be the appropriate word. Because every move Seattle has made over the past few years â many of which came after letting go of coach Pete Carroll â has inched this team closer to a Super Bowl.
If there was ever a question of who should have stayed and had final say on roster decisions â Carroll or general manager John Schneider â the answer is clearly the latter.
A shot at a championship felt like a punchline at the beginning of the season and is now a firm possibility. Playersâ execution has figured prominently into this truth. But the brassâ execution just as much.
It can all be explained in three categories.
1. Who the Seahawks got rid of
For starters, thereâs Metcalf. The former second-round draft pick â who has a history of on-field outbursts â signed a five-year, $150 million extension with the Steelers this offseason. There was no way Seattle was going to give him that kind of dough, and given how he is averaging just 56.7 yards per game â his lowest total since his rookie year â the Seahawksâ reluctance seems justified. And this was before the now infamous incident that got him suspended (without pay) for the rest of the regular season. More significant, his departure allowed Jaxon Smith-Njigba â the leading receiver in the league this season â to become the Seahawksâ primary target.
Next, there was Geno Smith, who also wanted a contract resembling All-Pro money. After the Seahawks traded him instead, the Raiders gave Smith a twoyear, $75 million extension. This season, though, heâs a quarterback outside the top 25 in the NFL in passer rating or QBR playing for a team thatâs 2-13.
Coaching that team? One Pete Carroll,
who couldnât get the defense right in Seattle over his past three years and was fired after the 2023 season. His replacement?
Defensive guru Mike Macdonald, who is overseeing a team ranked second in the league in points allowed per game (18.6).
2. Which veterans they acquired
The obvious one here is quarterback Sam Darnold, who was signed last offseason at a cheaper rate than what Smith wanted. But Darnold has performed at a Pro Bowl level, ranking seventh in passer rating (100.6) and fifth in yards (3,703) for a 12-3 team thatâs two wins from a first-round postseason bye. But Darnold seemed like an obvious target after the Smith trade.
The real stroke of genius came midway through this season, when Schneider traded for speedy receiver/returner Rashid Shaheed. His contributions? A 100-yard kick return for a touchdown in Atlanta that snapped a 6-6 tie and prompted a Seahawks rout. A 58-yard punt return for a TD against the Rams last Thursday that helped bring Seattle to within one score in the fourth quarter. And a 31-yard run on a reverse that helped the Seahawks tie the score on their next possession.
OPPOSITE: Since taking over as general manager in 2010, John Schneider had built the Seahawks into one of the NFLâs most consistent franchises. Schneiderâs roster construction for the 2025 season included key acquisitions like wide receiver Rashid Shaheed.
KEVIN CLARK / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Playoffs
OPPOSITE: Fans and players celebrate at Lumen Field as safety Julian Love recovered a fumble during the first quarter of Seattleâs 41-6 divisional playoff victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 17, 2026. JENNIFER BUCHANAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
OPPOSITE: Late in the third quarter, Derick Hallâs strip-sack knocked the ball loose from Drake Maye, and Byron Murphy II pounced on the fumble at the Patriotsâ 37-yard line.
KEVIN CLARK / THE SEATTLE TIMES
LEFT: Hauling in a 16-yard scoring strike from Sam Darnold in the third quarter, AJ Barner gave the Seahawks a 19-0 lead and their first touchdown of the game. The score came just five plays after Hallâs strip-sack gave Seattle possession deep in New England territory.
DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
ABOVE: In the third quarter, Jason Myers drilled his fourth field goal to extend the Seahawksâ lead. Myersâ consistency proved essential throughout the game; his five successful attempts accounted for 15 of Seattleâs 29 points. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
ABOVE RIGHT: Devon Witherspoon blitzed off the edge and hammered Drake Mayeâs throwing arm, jarring the ball loose on a play that set up Uchenna Nwosuâs game-sealing pick-six. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
OPPOSITE: Uchenna Nwosu celebrated after returning an interception 45 yards for a touchdown that put the Seahawks ahead 29-7 and effectively ended the game. It was the first touchdown of Nwosuâs NFL career. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
RIGHT: Working in tandem, Julian Love and Coby Bryant broke up a pass intended for Mack Hollins, the kind of collaborative coverage that defined Seattleâs secondary all night. Love added a critical interception later in the fourth quarter that led to Myersâ record-setting fifth field goal JENNIFER BUCHANAN / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Super Bowl parade kicks off with raucous ceremony at Lumen Field
BY BOB CONDOTTA ⢠FEB. 11, 2026
Tboast.
he Seahawksâ Super Bowl celebration at Lumen Field on Wednesday morning began with a toast and included a
The roughly 35-minute program of speeches at Lumen Field kicked off the parade through Seattle honoring the teamâs 29-13 win in the Super Bowl on Sunday over the New England Patriots and included some R-rated moments that wonât be quickly forgotten.
Seahawks play-by-play man Steve Raible â whose roots with the team span all 50 years the franchise has existed dating to his days as a player on the first team in 1976 â served as the emcee.
Raible kicked things off noting that the Seahawks won the Lombardi Trophy âin the stadium and on the field and out of the locker roomâ of one of their bitterest rivals â the San Francisco 49ers.
âKarma, as they say, is [short pause for effect] a very funny thing,â Raible said.
Seahawks general manager John Schneider really got the party going with a four-minute talk in which he held up a red solo cup and said he was âgoing to treat this like a wedding and give a little toast,â as he sent shout-outs to fans, staffers,
players and others.
Schneiderâs talk included a poignant moment when he referred to the team as having angels watching over them this season because of the loss of his father, William, in October as well as similar losses by players such as linebacker Ernest Jones IV, quarterback Drew Lock, left tackle Charles Cross and receiver Jake Bobo.
âWeâve lost only one game since my father passed with those angels (watching over the team),â Schneider said. âWe know that (former owner) Paul Allen (who died in 2018) has watched over us.â
Schneider shouted out running back Kenneth Walker III, the Super Bowl MVP who can be an unrestricted free agent next month, joking that, âHe tried negotiating with me five minutes ago. It was really weird!â
Coach Mike Macdonald, who carried the Lombardi Trophy into the stadium to great applause from some of the estimated 50,000 at Lumen Field, followed. After Raible noted that Macdonald should have been the NFLâs Coach of the Year, Macdonald â still holding the Lombardi Trophy â said, âI think Iâll take this trophy instead.â
Macdonald referenced that it was barely more than 24 months ago that he was
hired as the teamâs coach to replace Pete Carroll following the 2023 season.
âWe set on this course two years ago, (team chair) Jody (Allen) and I sitting in a hotel meeting room in Baltimore,â Macdonald said. âThis is the vision that we had for the Seahawks. We talk about 12 as One, look at all the 12s in this stadium right here. See how powerful this is with this football team? Iâve got goose bumps just thinking about it. But this is why we do what we do to bring people together.â
The playersâ speeches began with quarterback Sam Darnold.
Darnold promised to keep it âshort and sweet.â But following Raibleâs introduction noting how Darnold had quieted the doubters, Darnold said: âA lot of people didnât believe in me, but it didnât matter because you believed in me.â
Darnold then went on to essentially thank the Seahawks for signing him last March when the Minnesota Vikings let him become a free agent.
âI appreciate the belief you all had in me for signing me this past year,â Darnold said.
Tight end AJ Barner repeated that the team âdid not careâ in 2025, reprising the famous quote of Macdonald following the NFC title game win over the Los Angeles
OPPOSITE: Gripping the Lombardi Trophy during the Feb. 11 victory celebration at Lumen Field, coach Mike Macdonald made sure everyone within reach got a touch. Macdonald had carried the trophy into the stadium to roaring applause from an estimated 50,000 fans. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
OPPOSITE: Sam Darnold raised the Lombardi Trophy during the victory celebration at Lumen Field. After thanking the crowd, Darnold acknowledged the doubters who had written him off since he left the New York Jets. âA lot of people didnât believe in me, but it didnât matter because you believed in me,â he told the fans.
DEAN
RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES
LEFT: Fireworks erupted over Lumen Field as the Super Bowl victory celebration reached its crescendo. DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES