Seahawks' bye week forces Mike Macdonald to confront an obvious Sam Darnold truth

Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks | Steph Chambers/GettyImagesUntil last season, seemingly nearly all NFL pundits had lost faith in the belief that Sam Darnold would ever be a very good quarterback. Yet, in 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings, the quarterback changed the narrative. He was very good, good enough to get a nice new contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

He could have shown himself to be a one-year wonder, but instead, he appears to be proving that his original team, the Carolina Panthers, simply had no idea what they were doing. Sam Darnold is a very good quarterback...to a degree.

One issue with Darnold that hasn't gone away is late-game mistakes. In Week 1, on a drive that could…