Every Super Bowl has its obvious storylines. The star quarterback chasing a legacy. The established coach trying to add another ring. The matchup we’ve been circling for two weeks, dissected from every possible angle.
Seattle’s path to Santa Clara offers something rarer. A chance to rewrite modern NFL history on one sideline, while completing one of the league’s most unlikely quarterback arcs on the field.
Start with Mike Macdonald, because what’s at stake for the Seahawks’ head coach goes well beyond a Lombardi Trophy. If Seattle wins Sunday, Macdonald would become the first head coach in the Super Bowl era to serve as the primary defensive play caller for a championship team. Not just a defensive-minded head coach. Not a former coordinator overseeing things from a distance. Actively calling the defense himself, snap after snap, on the sport’s biggest stage.
That distinction matters. Plenty of defensive head coaches have won Super Bowls, but almost all eventually handed play-calling duties to trusted coordinators as responsibilities piled up. Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll, Tony Dungy, Mike Tomlin — the list is long, and the pattern is consistent. Even when the defense was their calling card, delegation became a necessity. The modern NFL has nudged head coaches toward macro management. Macdonald is challenging that trend head-on.
Seahawks’ Mike Macdonald Chasing History
Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn ImagesNow in just his second season with the Seattle Seahawks, the 38-year-old has engineered the NFL’s top scoring defense, the franchise’s first since the Legion of Boom finished its four-year run from 2012 to 2015. It’s also the second time Macdonald has coordinated a scoring champion, having done the same with the Baltimore Ravens in 2023. Four seasons as an NFL play caller. Two No. 1 scoring defenses. And now, a Super Bowl appearance with the chance to redefine what a defensive head coach can look like in today’s league.
Macdonald acknowledged the historical significance this week, but he was quick to strip it of any ego.
“We want to operate with what’s going to give us the best chance to win,” he said Monday. “If it’s me calling plays, let’s do it. If it’s me not calling plays, let’s do it.”
The message was clear: this isn’t about personal milestones or philosophical stubbornness. It’s about trusting a system that has delivered elite results at every stop.
A defensive-minded head coach is guaranteed to hoist the Lombardi on Sunday, as Mike Vrabel leads the New England Patriots on the opposite sideline. But Vrabel isn’t New England’s defensive play caller. If Macdonald lifts the trophy while still holding the call sheet, it would stand as one of the most remarkable coaching feats of the modern era. It would be a moment that forces the league to reconsider long-held assumptions about leadership, delegation, and control.
Of course, Seattle didn’t get here on defense alone — which brings us to Sam Darnold.
Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesSam Darnold Chasing Redemption
Darnold’s journey to this moment barely feels real. Drafted third overall in 2018 out of USC, he was supposed to spearhead a revival for the New York Jets. Instead, he became a symbol of organizational instability, shuffled through coaching changes and offensive systems before being dealt to the Carolina Panthers. A season and a half later, he was written off again. The stop as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers felt like the final chapter, a quiet career reset rather than a resurgence.
Then came a stop in Minnesota. In 2024, Darnold helped the Vikings win 14 games while playing some of the best football of his career, only to see the season unravel in the playoffs against the Los Angeles Rams. Many assumed that was the ceiling. A nice comeback story that would fade back into quarterback purgatory. Seattle thought otherwise. The Seahawks rolled the dice, betting that the growth was real and that the tools still translated.
Darnold rewarded that belief by leading Seattle to the NFC West title, the conference’s No. 1 seed, and now the Super Bowl. From draft bust to backup to franchise quarterback on the sport’s biggest stage, he has already authored one of the most dramatic career resurrections the league has seen. A win Sunday wouldn’t just validate the gamble — it would complete a story that once seemed impossible.
Cooper Kupp Looking for Some Redemption of His Own
There is one more layer of redemption woven into Seattle’s run, too. Cooper Kupp, released by the Rams last offseason after being encouraged to retire, is back on the Super Bowl stage, this time wearing Seahawks blue.
Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn ImagesKupp spent eight seasons in Los Angeles and earned Super Bowl LVI MVP honors after torching the Cincinnati Bengals for two touchdowns. This postseason, he’s added nine catches for 96 yards and a score, including the dagger that helped eliminate his former team.
Sunday in Santa Clara isn’t just about who wins the game.
For Seattle, it’s about challenging modern coaching norms, completing a quarterback revival few believed was possible, and proving that discarded stars — whether coaches, quarterbacks, or receivers — can still shape the league’s biggest moments under the brightest lights.
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