{"id":257868,"date":"2026-01-26T05:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/257868\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T05:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T05:17:15","slug":"seahawks-set-up-patriots-super-bowl-clash-after-beating-rams-in-barnburner-nfl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/257868\/","title":{"rendered":"Seahawks set up Patriots Super Bowl clash after beating Rams in barnburner | NFL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks\u2019 \u201cDark Side\u201d defense 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<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d Darnold said. \u201cTo be able to do it with these guys in this locker room, though, with this coaching staff, that\u2019s why it means the world to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Led by second-year coach Mike Macdonald and Darnold \u2013 an eight-year veteran playing for his fifth team \u2013 the Seahawks reached their fourth Super Bowl in franchise history, and their first in 11 years. Seattle lost that most recent appearance to New England, their opponent in two weeks<\/a> at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.<\/p>\n

With Los Angeles facing fourth-and-four at the Seattle six, coach Sean McVay elected to go for it and Matthew Stafford\u2019s pass was broken up in the end zone by Devon Witherspoon. The Rams didn\u2019t get the ball back until there were 25 seconds left on the clock, and Puka Nacua was tackled inbounds near midfield on the final play.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Darnold, who struggled 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 and a touchdown on 10 catches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told my team, I\u2019m going to do whatever it takes. Whatever y\u2019all ask of me, I\u2019m gonna get it done, whatever that might be,\u201d said Smith-Njigba, the NFL\u2019s leading receiver in the regular season. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what you saw today. You just saw grit, determination, you saw passion out there and you saw a group, a collective, going out there and getting the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Seahawks led 31-20 late in the third quarter on Darnold\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

The Rams forced a punt on Seattle\u2019s next possession and went on a 14-play, 84-yard drive that came up empty thanks to Witherspoon\u2019s pass breakup.<\/p>\n

Seattle stayed aggressive on three final possession, with Darnold throwing for three first downs to run out most of the clock.<\/p>\n

Davante Adams and Kyren Williams had receiving TDs for the Rams, and Kenneth Walker III rushed for a score for the Seahawks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Darnold threw for three touchdowns, the Seahawks\u2019 \u201cDark Side\u201d defense came up with a critical fourth-down stop,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-257868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}