(Editor’s note: Everyone please welcome back Michael Thompson to the Field Gulls staff! He was with us all of last season and is returning for at least the rest of this season)
For the second straight game against the Arizona Cardinals, Sam Darnold will be on the sidelines injured, while backup Drew Lock will be tasked with helping the Seahawks get an important divisional win. After Monday night’s debacle, a mauling at the hands (paws?) of the new NFC favorites in Chicago, it seems to be fair to question
so much about a team that is less than nine months removed from winning the Super Bowl.
Is Brian Fleury the right guy to be running this offense? Why can’t the Seahawks run the football? Why can’t anyone get open other than Jaxon Smith-Njigba? How was the defense able to be so easily pushed around by Ben Johnson’s Bears? Should the Seahawks make more trades, or are they too far behind Chicago and San Francisco? There’s a million questions that need and will be answered over the coming days and weeks, but there’s two that I think could potentially answer all of these questions.
Was Sam Darnold just soft benched? And does Drew Lock ever give the job back?
After a somewhat of a roller coaster 2025 season in Seattle that saw Darnold lead the league in turnovers, but also orchestrate one of the best offenses in football, Sam had his fairytale ending. A crazy fourth quarter comeback to walk-off the Los Angeles Rams in week 16 helped propel the Seahawks to the division title and top seed. From there you know the story, as Sam played the best football of his life against the 49ers and outdueled MVP Matt Stafford en route to a Super Bowl Championship.
Those are special memories that we will cherish and cherish Sam forever for. We also have to acknowledge that 2026 Sam is not the same quarterback we saw last year. Suffering some type of serious glute injury on the fifth play of the season, there have been moments of brilliance and immense talent from Darnold, but it has been clouded by more turnovers, a complete regression in pocket awareness, and an overall lack of that gunslinger swagger that made Sam so beloved in Minnesota and Seattle. I don’t know if it is the injuries, the personnel changes, or not having Klint Kubiak around to be his guide, but this version of Sam is hesitant, and he doesn’t believe in himself. I hate to say it, but his level of play looks closer to Jets Sam Darnold than anything he’s put on tap the past two seasons.
He’s clearly not healthy, but I can’t help but wonder if his confidence, in both his offensive line and Brian Fluery, is shot. Whenever this type of situation happens with a QB, John Schneider and Mike Macdonald can do one of two things. They can fire Fluery and try to recreate an environment as close to last year as possible for Sam, or they can have Sam take a seat on the bench.
Benching Sam would have sent shockwaves through the NFL, and would bring all sorts of negative attention and drama to a team that needs to figure itself out as quickly as possible. But if Sam is not 100%, could they try to find themselves more stable footing on offense, while Sam could get right? I think we’re seeing a soft benching.
With the Seahawks likely favored over the Cardinals at home and essentially a home game next week at Las Vegas before the bye, this could give Darnold three weeks to get right, physically and mentally, while the Seahawks believe they can stay alive as their playoff hopes feel like they’re fading fast.
Enter Drew Lock’s opportunity
Drew Lock was put in one of the toughest positions in week one. You’re the backup to the defending Super Bowl winning QB, and in the first two minutes, he’s hurt and you’re going in, against a pissed off New England Patriots team and the entire football world watching.
His first half was ugly, but once he and the team settled in, we saw a version of Lock that we had not seen before. After nearly giving the game away on a duck to Christian Gonzalez, Drew Lock was an efficient game manager, going 16/22 for 187 yards and the massive 4th down touchdown find to JSN. He also had a huge 14-yard scramble on his final drive of the game that should have ended the game if not for penalties.
His pocket awareness and mobility allowed plays to develop a bit more for a rookie offensive coordinator, and the championship defense held firm to be a contender in New England. Against the Cardinals on the road, Lock once again looked comfortable and played his best game ever as a Seahawk.
In the desert, Drew went 19/26 for 235 yards and three touchdowns (all to JSN). It was honestly an Apex Alex Smith performance from Lock, as he achieved his two most basic functions: don’t turn the ball over and feed JSN. In what ended up a 31-7 win that was very similar to what the Bears just did to Seattle, Lock could have done even more damage if not for turnovers and drops.
Fair or not, the Seahawks had some of their best running in the small sample size with Lock running the show. Pair an average running game with a QB that was 15/15 under center and 13/13 in play action during his 7+ quarters of play, and you have a team that is going to find a way to take care of the ball and squeeze the life out of their opponents.
Seattle is currently 15th in scoring at 23.1 ppg and 7th in scoring defense at 19.9 ppg. When you look back to last year, the offense is nearly a touchdown worse (28.4) while the defense is giving up almost an extra field goal a game (17.2). They’re not as dominant this year, and the turnovers carry more weight than last year. This team can get back into the hunt and hope to make the playoffs, but they cannot be fourth in the league at 14 turnovers and a -1 turnover differential. Sam could not fix this problem, while Drew never showed it was a problem in his small sample size.
With Drew at the helm, the Seahawks were 2-0, and people were talking about the Seahawks as the prohibitive favorite to repeat. Lock had proven the floor was high because our backup could be a very good QB in this current environment, but Sam’s ceiling made the decision to go back easy.
Now, the game has changed. As Sam (however you want to divide up the blame pie) and this offense have shit the bed, Drew will be asked once again to come in and help keep the season alive. If Lock plays well, just competent top 13-15 guy level of football, the Seahawks are going to go 2-0.
If the Seahawks get to 4-0 with giving the Rock to Lock, we will have the most fascinating bye week in team history. With a potentially season-defining road contest at San Francisco after the bye, will the team really take the ball out of Drew’s hands, if he’s undefeated? I have no doubt the team loves Sam, but there’s no world in which the locker room will allow a switch once again, especially if the team is undefeated with Lock under center.
It’s a big if, IF the Seahawks went into Levi’s Stadium again, and came out victorious with Drew Lock, then the job will be his until the Seahawks are eliminated or are playing on Super Bowl Sunday.
And this team still has that potential in them. This is still a championship defense. JSN absolutely has the ability to carry a team on a deep playoff run. They just need a quarterback that can channel the ghosts of Jeff Hostetler, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, and Nick Foles.
It feels crazy that we have gotten to this point with Sam and Drew, but with the ball in Lock’s hands, I think there’s a real chance he doesn’t give it back, and we have seen the last snaps of Sam Darnold at quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.
