Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks' "Dark Side" defence came up with a critical fourth-down stop, and Seattle advanced to the Super Bowl, beating the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an electrifying NFC championship game on Sunday.
Led by second-year coach Mike Macdonald and Darnold — an eight-year veteran playing for his fifth team — the Seahawks (16-3) reached the fourth Super Bowl in franchise history and first in 11 years. Seattle lost that most recent appearance to New England, its opponent in two weeks at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.
With Los Angeles (14-6) facing fourth-and-4 at the Seattle 6, coach Sean McVay elected to go for it and Matthew Stafford's pass was broken up in the end zone by Devon Witherspoon. The Rams didn't get the ball back until there were 25 seconds left, and Puka Nacua was tackled inbounds near midfield on the final play.
Stafford threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns, but the Rams were undone by critical errors, including a muffed punt by Xavier Smith in the third quarter. On the next play, Darnold connected with Jake Bobo for a 17-yard touchdown and a 24-13 lead.
Darnold, who flopped in his playoff debut last season with the Minnesota Vikings, played through an oblique injury and completed 25 of 36 passes for 346 yards with no turnovers. Jaxon Smith-Njigba had 153 yards receiving — the second-most in a playoff game in franchise history — and a touchdown on 10 catches.
"It's amazing," Darnold said. "To be able to do it with these guys in this locker room, though, with this coaching staff, that's why it means the world to me."
The Seahawks led 31-20 late in the third quarter on Darnold's 13-yard TD pass to Cooper Kupp, but the Rams got back into the game when Seahawks cornerback Riq Woolen was flagged for taunting after breaking up a pass to Nacua on third-and-12, giving Los Angeles a first down.
On the next play, Stafford threw at Woolen again, and Nacua beat him in the corner of the end zone for a 34-yard touchdown.
The Rams forced a punt on Seattle's next possession and went on a 14-play, 84-yard drive that came up empty thanks to Witherspoon's pass breakup.
Seattle stayed aggressive on its final possession, with Darnold throwing for three first downs to run out most of the clock.
Davante Adams and Kyren Williams had receiving TDs for the Rams, and Kenneth Walker III rushed for a score for the Seahawks.
The Seahawks seek their second Super Bowl title after winning it all in the 2013 season with coach Pete Carroll and the "Legion of Boom" defence.
Pats freeze out BroncosDrake Maye handled the sloppy, snowy conditions better than the home team and he scored New England's only touchdown on a six-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their 12th Super Bowl with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship.
Maye threw for just 86 yards, but ran for 65 and iced the win with a 7-yard keeper on third-and-5 in the waning minutes to send the Patriots (17-3) to the Super Bowl in Mike Vrabel's first year as coach.
New England Patriots players celebrate following an interception during the team's 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)"I'm just proud of this team," Maye said. "Don't have many words. Just thankful for this team. Love each and every one of them. It took everybody."
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, starting in place of an injured Bo Nix with 2:11 remaining, for New England's second takeaway. The first set up the Patriots with a short field and led to Maye's touchdown scamper that tied it at 7 heading into halftime.
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—PatriotsWith Nix looking on from a suite following ankle surgery Tuesday in Alabama, Stidham made his first start in more than two years. His first completion since the 2023 regular-season finale was a 52-yard dart to Marvin Mims Jr. to the New England 7 that set up Courtland Sutton's 6-yard touchdown catch.
That was Stidham's highlight as he turned the ball over twice and finished 17 of 31 for 133 yards with the TD.
"I was super excited for the opportunity and just hate that we fell short," Stidham said.
New England, which went 4-13 last year under Jerod Mayo, became the third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship with 10 points or less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 in the 1991 AFC title game, and the Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay 9-0 in the 1979 NFC championship game.
Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a playmaking linebacker for the Patriots, could become the first person in NFL history to also win as a head coach for the same franchise.
"I won't win it. It'll be the players that'll win the game," Vrabel said. "I promise you, it won't be me that'll win it, and I promise you that I'll do everything I can, and our staff, to have them ready for the game."
The Broncos (15-4) finished one step shy of fulfilling Sean Payton's preseason prediction of a trip to Super Bowl 60, and he pointed the finger right at himself.
He said he regretted his call on fourth-and-1 from the New England 14 in the second quarter when a chip-shot field goal before the snow came in would have given Denver a double-digit lead. Stidham's throw to running back R.J. Harvey was incomplete and the Broncos' early momentum vanished.
"There's always regrets," Payton said. "Yeah, I mean, look, I felt like here we are, fourth-and-1. We felt close enough ... So, yeah, there'll always be second thoughts."
The Broncos were left clinging to a 7-0 lead that was short-lived. Elijah Ponder recovered Stidham's backward pass at the Denver 12, setting up the tying touchdown two plays later.
"I thought I threw it forward and obviously the replay said differently.," Stidham said. "Probably should have just eaten the sack and let [Jeremy] Crawshaw punt the ball and flip the field."
Both kickers missed two field goals in the frigid conditions with Denver's Wil Lutz and New England's Andy Borregales wide on long tries just before the snow came in at halftime.
Pats set playoff wins recordThe Patriots' victory was their 40th in the playoffs, breaking a tie with the San Francisco 49ers for the most in NFL history.
It was sunny at kickoff with a temperature of 26 degrees, but by halftime the snowflakes began falling and grounds crews had to use snowblowers to mark the hashmarks and yard lines by the fourth quarter, when it was 16 degrees.
"What an atmosphere out here," Maye said. "Battle of the elements. Love this team. How about the defence? I love each and every one of them."
The Patriots have allowed 26 points across three playoff games. The only team to allow fewer points over three playoff games before a Super Bowl appearance was the 2000 Ravens, who allowed just 16 points.
After gaining just 72 yards in the first half, the Patriots opened the second half in swirling snow with a 16-play, 64-yard drive that ate up 9 1/2 minutes and ended with a 23-yard field goal by Borregales that proved the difference.
Stidham, who was drafted by the Patriots in 2019, made his first start since the 2023 regular-season finale. The Broncos were the only team in the league that didn't give their backup QB any snaps or handoffs the last two seasons.
Nix, who had 11 game-winning drives in his first two NFL seasons, got hurt on Denver's final drive in overtime against Buffalo last week. But he didn't come out of the game and the extent of his injury — a broken right ankle — wasn't known until he went for X-rays after the 33-30 win.
The Patriots have averaged 18 points per game in the playoffs, the fewest by any team to make the Super Bowl since the 1979 Rams, who averaged 15.
"I'll take an ugly win before I take a pretty loss," Diggs said. "Nobody's satisfied. Happy, but not complacent. We're blessed to be where we are, but we know there's more out there for us."