The Seattle Seahawks made a Super Bowl statement tonight. Before the game, Quarterback Sam Darnold’s status was up in the air because of an oblique injury, and he hadn’t thrown a single pass in training. He suited up regardless and led the team to a 41-6 win over the 49ers. Head coach Mike Macdonald opened up on Darnold’s health after the win.

“He could’ve come out here and felt terrible, and we would’ve had to pivot, but from what he was saying and from what the medical team was saying, it seemed like he was going to be able to give it a go,” Macdonald said.

Give it a go, he did. Darnold exited in the fourth quarter with the game long decided, Seattle already up 41–6. He wasn’t asked to do too much, and that was the point. He finished 12 of 17 for 124 yards, tossed a touchdown, and didn’t put the ball in danger once.

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Sam Darnold hasn’t chased numbers all season. He’s piled up 4,048 yards and 25 touchdowns, but his value has shown up in the quieter moments. When the Seahawks need him to be smart and efficient, he’s been exactly that. Go back to the 30–24 win over the Tennessee Titans, when the defense struggled, and Darnold calmly threw two touchdowns without a giveaway.

He’s also pushed the ball downfield more than he gets credit for. During the regular season, Darnold ranked third in the league in explosive pass rate, trailing only Drake Maye and Jordan Love. Before kickoff, former safety Ryan Clark suggested Darnold’s injury could become a “built-in excuse” if things went sideways.

Nothing about this night went sideways. If Seattle is going to make a real run, this is the version of Darnold they’ll need. Clean and efficient. The Seahawks have the league’s best defense, allowing just 17.2 points per game, but Darnold has been a real part of why this season has gone where it has.

The injury, though, isn’t something they can ignore. Timing-wise, it’s far from ideal with the playoffs just getting started. Darnold hasn’t dealt with a significant injury since September 2022, so this is new territory at an inconvenient moment.

And he’s not pretending it’s gone. After the win, Darnold admitted the oblique will probably be something he manages for the rest of the postseason. It wouldn’t be surprising to see his name on the injury report again this week. As long as he’s lining up under center, though, Seattle can live with that.

But his injury is not the only one Seattle should worry about.

Macdonald lists out injury concerns for Seattle

You could make the case that just about everything went Seattle’s way on this night. From a football standpoint, it mostly did. The Seattle Seahawks put 41 points on the board, the defense smothered the San Francisco 49ers, forced three turnovers, and held them to 236 total yards. It was beautiful, but it wasn’t perfect. More injuries happened.

The first scare came with running back Zach Charbonnet. On a third-and-2, Charbonnet took the handoff and came up a yard short, his knee getting twisted in the process. The spot didn’t matter thanks to a defensive penalty that moved the chains, but Charbonnet was slow getting up. He limped to the injury tent and then headed to the locker room.

He was officially listed as questionable to return. After the game, head coach Mike Macdonald said he was “optimistic” about Charbonnet, though his status will need to be monitored. Charbonnet did come back out to the sideline to watch, but he never reentered the game.

According to Adam Schefter, Macdonald said imaging will be done on Charbonnet’s knee, but the belief is that it’s structurally intact. There was a general sense that the news could’ve been much worse.

It wasn’t the only scare. Left tackle Charles Cross exited in the third quarter with a foot issue and didn’t return. Macdonald later said the injury wasn’t serious and that Cross was held out “out of caution.” That matters, especially with Seattle already without his backup, Josh Jones. Still, reading between the lines, it didn’t sound like something that would linger.

If Macdonald’s words hold up through the week, neither injury should keep Charbonnet or Cross out of next week’s game. Assuming there are no setbacks, Seahawks fans should expect both to be in uniform. The same goes for quarterback Sam Darnold. They might not all be at full strength, but it certainly feels like they’ll be out there when it counts.