Thursday Night Football was a battle between perhaps the two best teams in the NFL this year. Matthew Stafford and the LA Rams held a 30-14 lead over the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth quarter. That's when Sam Darnold stunned the world. Unfortunately, Darnold's dominant season serves as a brutal reminder of what the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on to land Aaron Rodgers.
During the 2025 offseason, I banged the table for the Steelers to sign Darnold as a bridge quarterback. The NFL veteran and former journeyman was coming off an excellent year with the Minnesota Vikings, which included 35 touchdown passes and 4,319 passing yards.
Instead, the Seahawks inked Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract... and this already looks like one of the best deals in the league.
Darnold's team fought back on TNF to upset the Rams 38-37. This victory was not only capped off with a must-have touchdown in overtime, but with a clutch two-point conversion from Darnold that followed.
Now, Steelers fans are forced to sit back and watch a player who could have been their franchise quarterback continue to dominate.
The Pittsburgh Steelers made a mistake passing on QB Sam Darnold for Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers has played his best football of the season in recent weeks, and the Steelers have gotten all they could have expected from their 42-year-old signal-caller. Still, we know that Rodgers is a 1-2 year stopgap, at best, before Pittsburgh is forced to look for a long-term solution. Darnold could have been that guy.
The Darnold-led Seahawks have now put up 30 or more points in eight games this season en route to a 12-3 record in a crowded NFC. While the impressive coaching and talent around him helped contribute to getting Seattle where they are, Darnold has been excellent.
With two games left, Darnold could be looking at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. His 59 touchdown passes since the start of the 2024 season are just shy of the best two-year TD total that Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger ever had (62). And Darnold needs only three touchdowns over the next two years to tie Big Ben for this feat.
Perhaps the most convincing reason the Steelers should have signed Darnold instead of Rodgers in free agency is that he simply finds ways to win. As a starting quarterback since 2022, Darnold has a spectacular record of 30-9, despite playing with four different teams during this stretch.
Darnold will probably always be near the top of the league in interceptions (which might be why Mike Tomlin avoided him in the first place), but he comes up with more than enough big plays and touchdown drives to make up for his shortcomings. And his interceptions haven't prevented him from being a top-five candidate to win the MVP award entering the final two games of the season.
The best part is that Darnold is just 28 years old, and he could have been the franchise quarterback the Pittsburgh Steelers have been so desperately searching for.
Steelers fans can be thankful that Aaron Rodgers has been competent enough to give this team a shot at a playoff berth, but there's no question Pittsburgh made a mistake ignoring Sam Darnold during the 2025 offseason.