Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold landed on the injury report at the end of last week because of an oblique issue and he was listed as questionable to face the 49ers in the divisional round, but he played without any apparent signs of difficulty in Seattle’s 41-6 win.
The Seahawks are still going to take a measured approach toward getting him ready for the NFC Championship Game against the Rams, however. Head coach Mike Macdonald said at a Wednesday press conference that Darnold “continues to get better” and that the team has a plan they think will keep him in good shape for Sunday.
Macdonald said Darnold will not be “full-go” in every practice this week and the quarterback signed on to the approach during his own press conference.
“Feeling really good, just attacking rehab these last couple days. Will be throughout the week. Just got to continue to prepare and get my body right for Sunday,” Darnold said.
Darnold’s play last weekend did little to suggest that he’ll be at risk of missing Sunday’s game. Should something change, Drew Lock would join Jarrett Stidham as unlikely starters this weekend.
The Seahawks may have some help at running back this weekend as they take on the Rams for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LX.
Seattle has opened the 21-day practice window for George Holani to return from injured reserve.
Holani has been out with a hamstring injury since Seattle’s Week 12 victory over Tennessee.
In his second season, Holani took 22 carries for 73 yards with a touchdown. He also caught a pair of passes for 15 yards and returned 16 kicks, averaging 24.2 yards per attempt.
Holani’s potential return takes on more importance after fellow Seattle running back Zach Charbonnet suffered a torn ACL during the divisional round victory over the 49ers.
Seattle’s first injury report of the week is due out later on Wednesday.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford says he and his teammates immediately turned their focus on overtime when they saw Caleb Williams’ touchdown pass at the end of the fourth quarter on Sunday night.
Stafford said on Let’s Go that Williams and Bears tight end Cole Kmet made a stunning play, but the Rams shook it off and focused on the task at hand, which was winning the game in overtime.
“When I see Caleb running back toward the 50-yard line I’m feeling pretty good about it,” Stafford said. “What an unbelievable play he made, throwing that ball up, and honestly a great job by Kmet too, leaning on Cobie Durant and then finding a way to shove off at the end to make a play. It was tough in the moment, but to be honest with you, there wasn’t a lot of panic on our sideline. It was like, ‘Alright, let’s go play football.’ We’ve got another quarter to play, basically, and found a way to come away with the win, which is what it’s all about this time of year.”
Williams’ pass was one of the most memorable plays of the NFL season, but the Rams did what it took in overtime to give themselves a chance of being the team everyone remembers from the 2025-26 season.
We’ll have to wait until Sunday to find out which two teams are playing in Super Bowl LX, but we learned the identity of the game’s referee on Tuesday.
The NFL announced that Shawn Smith will head up the officiating crew for the game. It will be Smith’s first time refereeing the Super Bowl.
Smith entered the NFL’s officiating ranks as an umpire in 2015 and became a referee in 2018. He worked the Patriots’ win over the Texans in the divisional round of the playoffs last weekend.
Umpire Roy Ellison, down judge Dana McKenzie, line judge Julian Mapp, field judge Jason Ledet, side judge Eugene Hall, back judge Greg Steed, and replay official Andrew Lambert make up the rest of the crew. Ellison and Hall have worked three previous Super Bowls, Steed has worked two others and this will be McKenzie’s second Super Bowl assignment.
With each coaching hire that the Steelers nail — and they’re three-for-three since 1969 — the pressure builds to get the next one right, too.
So here they are, 19 years after their last search. With plenty of good options from which to choose.
The problem with having a bunch of quality candidates is that, eventually, a choice needs to be made. So who will they choose?
For now, the candidates are: Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, 49ers offensive coordinator Klay Kubiak, Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, and former Cowboys and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy.
As to the franchise’s three most recent coaches, dating back to the first term of the Nixon administration, each one (Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlin) was a defensive coordinator with no previous head-coaching experience. That formula, if followed again, would point to the likes of Shula, Weaver, Evero, and Minter.
But here’s the basic reality. Since hiring Tomlin in 2007, the game has changed. It has skewed more and more toward offense, with the post-2009 emphasis on player safety making it harder to play old-school, hard-nosed, Steel Curtain defense.
When the NFL started aggressively flagging and fining players for illegal hits on defenseless receivers, there was a disconnect between the league’s application of the rules and the manner in which Tomlin was coaching them. Eventually, the league put Tomlin on the Competition Committee in part to get him to buy in to the new way of playing the game.
As of 2026, it’s impossible for the Steelers to ignore the evolution of the game. And, frankly, their offense has been sluggish at best in the years after the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. If the Steelers intend to never be in position to draft a franchise quarterback, they’ll need to find and develop one another way, either by hitting on a lower draft pick or getting more out of a veteran than he has done elsewhere. Having an offensive mastermind as the team’s head coach will help.
Then there’s the question of whether they want another coach who’ll stick around for 15 years or longer. The availability of Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy is intriguing, but he’s 62. Noll (23 seasons), Cowher (15), and Tomlin (19) were each in their 30s when hired.
At first blush, Shula feels like a perfect fit, given that his grandfather, Don, recommended Noll for the job. Only 15 days after Don Shula and Noll worked together in Super Bowl III (which their Colts lost to the Jets), Noll was hired by the Steelers.
But perfection is revealed after the fact. With a coach who isn’t fired because he performs well enough to not be. Plenty of first-time coaches fail, largely because the coordinator and head-coach skillsets are very different.
Wherever it goes, the weight of hiring three straight Super Bowl winners is palpable. And if it’s obvious from the outside, it’s inescapable on the inside.
