It is no secret that the quarterback position is one of the most important in all of sports.
Football is the ultimate team game, requiring 11 players to do individual jobs on each play for success. And yet, the job of one player is always the most important on a given down. For a select few downs within a game, that player is the kicker.
For the vast majority, however, it is the QB.
The Super Bowls in the 21st century have done an excellent job illustrating this point. If you go back to 1992, it is even more emphasized.
All eight Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks from ’92-’99 are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Troy Aikman X3, Steve Young, Brett Favre, John Elway X2, & Kurt Warner).
2000 and 2002 were mostly outlier years, as Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson got it done with generational defenses. Aside from that, Tom Brady, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees would make up the next decade of QBs to win the big game. All of those players are either likely to get enshrined into Canton or, at the very least, will appear on the ballot.
This year’s quarterbacks appear to be outliers. Or, at least, they are as of today. Both of them also got to this point in incredibly unique fashion. Let’s examine their stories.
SOARING IN SEATTLE
Sam Darnold was selected with the 3rd overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. He was highly touted at USC in college, and was expected to help turn the Jets’ woes around.
Things did not go well. Darnold struggled alongside the franchise that did not do much to help him. At one point, it got so bad that Darnold admitted he was “seeing ghosts” in a game against the New England Patriots (more on that irony later).
After three years in New York, Darnold was let go and signed with the Carolina Panthers. He started in a total of 17 games over two seasons, but the Panthers moved on after those two years as well.
Darnold then took a slice of humble pie, signing with the 49ers as a backup. He learned from Kyle Shanahan and made the Super Bowl as the 49ers’ second-stringer that year.
His odyssey then brought him to Minnesota, where he signed with the Vikings and was expected to compete with rookie JJ McCarthy for the starting job. Rumors swirled that McCarthy might win that position, but an injury in the preseason knocked him out, and gave way for Darnold to start. Sam went onto put together a career year, finishing top-10 in MVP voting and leading the Vikings to a 14-3 record and playoff appearance.
Despite the success, Minnesota opted to go with McCarthy, sending Darnold back to free agency.
Enter Seattle.
The Seahawks gave Darnold a contract, and he won the starting job. Then, he delivered a second straight 4,000-yard passing season and another 14-3 record. This time, he delivered in the playoffs, leading Seattle to a Super Bowl appearance.
The path is different. Rarely will you find a journeyman quarterback like Darnold in the sport’s biggest game. Even more unlikely, perhaps, is the fact that Darnold has been an integral part of the Seahawks getting to this point. This is not a player being carried by an all-time defense (although the Seattle defense has been great). This is a player helping to elevate his side of the football and is as big a reason as any that the Seahawks have one game left in their season.
NEW FACES IN NEW ENGLAND
Not to be forgotten, Drake Maye’s path with the Patriots is rather unique as well. Sure, it starts the way you would imagine. Maye was a top five pick tasked with being the new face of the franchise.
However, a coaching change in the offseason should have slowed progress. Typically, a second-year quarterback dealing with a first-year head coach, new offensive coordinator, and new pass catchers is supposed to have their progress slowed.
That is far from what happened for Maye.
He excelled in Josh McDaniels’ system. So much so that he remains a top two candidate for the MVP. Additionally, he has elevated a Patriots offense that does not have many household names and has nothing but youth on the left side of the offensive line.
Despite the circumstances, New England went 14-3 and now returns to the Super Bowl for the first time since a guy named Tom Brady was there spinning the football.
THE VERDICT
It will take multiple years before the historical context of this Super Bowl matchup is fully understood. It is easy to see the scenario where Maye becomes one of the game’s elite players and a Super Bowl win for him will hardly look like a fluke.
For Darnold, that path is tougher to see, but not out of the question. He still has plenty of football left in front of him and a Seattle roster that is young enough to imagine many more runs in them.
Regardless, 2026 will be a year remembered for two fascinating paths to the big game, and one crowning story will be the remembered one when the final whistle takes place on Sunday night in Santa Clara.
Dawson Eiserloh is the host of “The LohDown with D-Loh” which is broadcast weekdays (1-3 PM) on ESPN 103.7 Lafayette and 104.1 Lake Charles — Southwest Louisiana’s Sports Station