Of the quarterbacks left in the NFC side of the NFL playoffs, which would you rather the San Francisco 49ers face?
The Los Angeles Rams' Matthew Stafford? Probably not. That guy's broken fans' hearts plenty of times, and no matter how many bullets put in him, he seems to keep coming back for more. I still have nightmares seeing defensive linemen Arik Armstead and Nick Bosa hanging off his arm in the NFL playoffs back in January of 2022, as Stafford made the game-winning throws that broke an improbable team's heart.
I'd sooner not go through that again, and while I respect the hell out of his game, I will be delighted for the 49ers when Stafford retires.
Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears? Up to about a month ago, I'd have said he was a great option. But he seems to be getting hotter as the season continues and arguably just put in one of the best performances of his nascent career to down the Green Bay Packers over Wild Card weekend.
Oh, and he shredded the Niners pass defense just a few short weeks ago. So yeah, we'll pass on him, too.
Sam Darnold? Well, lucky for us fans, he's the guy.
49ers hope to see 'playoff Sam Darnold' in divisional round vs. Seahawks
Facing the Seattle Seahawks is no easy task. They own one of the best defensive units in the NFL (holding San Francisco to three points in Week 18), and they've enough explosive talent on offense to worry anyone, let alone the Niners' injury-depleted defense.
Fortunately, they do have Darnold, and here's the thing: No one can deny the QB has arguably resurrected his career with his regular-season form, ironically after a stint under Kyle Shanahan in 2023. He was excellent in 2024 for the Minnesota Vikings, throwing a staggering 35 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, finally looking like the talent that led him to be the No. 3 overall draft pick in 2018.
Unfortunately, that didn't move on into the playoffs where a horrendous performance (including nine sacks and a lost fumble against the Los Angeles Rams) led to a 27-9 Vikings loss that saw Darnold ran out of Minnesota in the offseason before becoming Seattle's starting quarterback for 2025.
Darnold has again impressed this regular season in the Pacific Northwest, throwing a 25-to-14 touchdown-to-interception year, and leading his team to the No. 1 seed. No one can quibble with the results, regardless of what anyone might think of his overall skills. That said, the signal-caller has still shown a propensity for throwing interceptable passes and has also fumbled a stunning 11 times.
He's also yet to nail the narrative around "playoff Darnold" following last season, and his first chance to do so will come against San Francisco.
Are you seeing a path to victory yet?
The 49ers were unlucky not to come away with some turnovers as it was in the regular-season-ending game, and it's reasonable to expect they may get even more chances this week. That's been the pattern of Darnold in the playoffs.
The one place the Niners don't have many injury concerns is defensive back, i.e the positions that mostly make the turnover-level plays. Indeed, the one injury they do have, safety Ji'Ayir Brown, was replaced by Marques Sigle, who could be considered by many people (myself included) to be an improvement in playmaking terms.
We shall see. But it looks like it could be a good matchup for the 49ers, and let's be honest, there's far less to fear from Darnold than most quarterbacks.