By JANIE McCAULEY

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — How fitting that Sam Darnold delivered the capstone of his topsy-turvy NFL career in the very same place where he recently revived it.

On the sideline of Levi’s Stadium two seasons ago, Darnold patiently paid his dues behind Brock Purdy as San Francisco’s backup quarterback and soaked up every ounce of knowledge he could from the coaches.

Back in the Bay Area on Sunday and beneath the bright lights, Darnold became a Super Bowl champion in his first year under center for the Seattle Seahawks — his fifth team in eight seasons.

Seattle captured the franchise’s second Lombardi Trophy with a dominant 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots. Darnold even dressed in the same locker room Sunday where he once roamed with the 49ers, then took the field and completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown.

The 28-year-old Darnold now has an NFL title to his name, and that should be plenty to prove he belongs among the NFL’s elite quarterbacks after a much-criticized beginning to his professional career.

He hung tough for the Seahawks this season through the ups and downs, time and again. Just as he had done so many times before while facing the doubters who largely considered him a bust.

That forgettable, four-interception game in a 21-19 Week 11 road loss to the Rams in mid-November seems so long ago now. Darnold’s teammates stuck by him, and he used that day as fuel to be better: beating the Rams the next two meetings, rallying his team to a 38-37 overtime victory Dec. 18 before a 31-27 triumph in the NFC championship game last month.

Darnold credited that time with San Francisco playing in coach Kyle Shanahan’s offense while learning from Purdy as crucial to reviving his career, then he produced a breakout year with Minnesota last season before heading off to the Pacific Northwest.

Darnold started one game in 2023 for the 49ers and appeared in 10, throwing 46 total passes with 28 completions and a pair of touchdowns. He cherished the guidance he received from quarterbacks coach Brian Griese, an 11-year NFL veteran himself.

It has been quite a journey for Darnold to find his footing in the pros after being drafted third overall by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2018 draft out of USC.

He had a 13-25 record and a 78.6 passer rating over his initial three seasons for the Jets — the second worst in the league among 43 quarterbacks with at least 15 starts from 2018-20.

Across the country in Seattle, Darnold has thrived — still with some of those same San Francisco ties. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak was the Niners’ passing game coordinator in 2023.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Related Articles

Seahawks dominate Patriots to win Super Bowl

Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl

Bad Bunny Delivers Joyful Super Bowl Halftime Show

Review: Bad Bunny brought Puerto Rico’s history and culture to a revolutionary Super Bowl show

What happens if Super Bowl LX goes into overtime? Here’s how the NFL’s rules work.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Seattle Seahawks win the second Super Bowl title in franchise history, beating the New England Patriots 29-13.

 

Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican music star, led a celebratory performance of Latino heritage at the Super Bowl halftime show, the first time in the 60-year history of the NFL’s championship game that the flagship entertainment has been done largely in Spanish.

His 13-minute performance, which included hits including “Nuevayol” and “Baile Inolvidable,” included guest spots by Lady Gaga — who sang a salsa-style “Die With a Smile,” her hit with Bruno Mars, in English — and Ricky Martin. It also featured a set of a New York-style street scene, complete with a bodega bearing a “We accept EBT” lighted sign, referring to electronic benefits cards.

It has been a whirlwind year for Bad Bunny, with an acclaimed album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” that explores Puerto Rican identity and mixes sounds old and new. Last week, it took album of the year at the Grammy Awards, another milestone for Latin music.

His appearance at the Super Bowl had become a political flash point amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, and the NFL’s announcement of him as its halftime star last fall drew waves of condemnation on the right, including from President Donald Trump.

After Bad Bunny said “ICE out” at the Grammy Awards last week, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, there had been speculation that he could make another political statement. There was nothing that explicit or provocative, but after saying “God bless America,” Bad Bunny read a list of countries throughout North and South America — Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, United States — suggesting that Bad Bunny was offering a meaning of “America” that is wider than the U.S.

Here’s what to know:

— Global superstar: Born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, Bad Bunny has become one of the music world’s biggest stars with booming reggaeton hits that also draw on the nostalgic sounds of salsa and traditional Puerto Rican rhythms. He has been Spotify’s top-streaming artist for four of the past six years.

— A political force: Since early in his career, Bad Bunny has used his platform to draw attention to problems in Puerto Rico including overdevelopment, misconduct by politicians and the government’s poor response to Hurricane Maria. He has also criticized the Trump administration’s immigration policies, saying at the Grammys last week, “ICE out,” referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

—

Trump responds: Trump mocked the halftime show in a social media post, calling it “absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!” He added, “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying.”

— Counterprogramming: Turning Point USA, the conservative organization founded by Charlie Kirk, put on its own streaming event Sunday, the All-American Halftime Show — with “no ‘woke’ garbage” — as counterprogramming. It featured Kid Rock and country singers Brantley Gilbert and Lee Brice.

— ICE presence: Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, said last fall that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would “be all over” the Super Bowl. Last week, the NFL’s security chief said that although agents from a number of federal agencies would be present, there would be no “immigration enforcement operations” at the game Sunday.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Related Articles

Seahawks dominate Patriots to win Super Bowl

QB Sam Darnold wins Super Bowl championship right where he revived his career with San Francisco

Seattle Seahawks win the Super Bowl

Review: Bad Bunny brought Puerto Rico’s history and culture to a revolutionary Super Bowl show

What happens if Super Bowl LX goes into overtime? Here’s how the NFL’s rules work.

By August Brown, Los Angeles Times

One of the most coveted pieces of Super Bowl merch this year won’t be sold in stores, and the NFL probably doesn’t want to see it in the stands.

It’s a rally towel with a cute, punting bunny graphic from acclaimed L.A. illustrator Lalo Alcaraz on one side, honoring this year’s halftime show performer Bad Bunny. But there’s an unambiguous message on the other side — “ICE OUT.”

Before the game, activists clandestinely distributed 15,000 of them to fans entering Levi’s Stadium for the Super Bowl, seeding grassroots support toward a performer who spoke up for Latinos and immigrants at the Grammy Awards last week.

Though the NFL prefers the game — and its halftime show — not become a referendum on the ICE raids that have brutalized American cities over the last year, the group behind the effort hopes the signs are inescapable in the crowd.

“I’m a big ‘Joy is resistance’ person,” said Shasti Conrad, a leader of the group Contra-ICE and a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. “Today is a celebration of American sports, and there are opportunities to really be heard here. It’s about drawing attention to show that there is massive support to challenge Trump and the Department of Homeland Security. Any opportunity to push back is important.”

Such pushback was enough to keep President Trump from attending the game in person — “I’m anti-them,” Trump said earlier, about performers Bad Bunny and Green Day. “I think it’s a terrible choice. All it does is sow hatred. Terrible.”

While a competing halftime show from Kid Rock for Turning Point USA attempted to rally the MAGA faithful, a pre-game set from Green Day needled ICE agents: “Wherever you are: quit that s— job you have,” Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong said. “Come on this side of the line.”

The NFL keeps tight reins on messaging from its halftime show performers, but this year’s selection of Bad Bunny (a choice announced late last year) carries unusual salience for the battle over raids by federal agents on immigrant communities, which have led to the deaths of two protesters and many more detainees in custody.

On his way to winning the Grammy for album last week, the Puerto Rican megastar was emphatic: “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans,” he said, castigating ICE. “The hate gets more powerful with more hate. The only thing that’s more powerful than hate is love. … So please we need to be different. If we fight, we have to do it with love. We don’t hate them. We love our people. We love our family and there’s a way to do it with love.”

This new bit of culture-jamming protest will continue that sentiment with art from Alcaraz, a famed SoCal cartoonist who worked on the animated series “Bordertown.” Bad Bunny fans will recognize the Puerto Rican pava straw hat in the graphic, along with some unsubtle anti-ICE imagery.

“Art has always been a way to confront hate wherever it appears. When injustice becomes part of everyday life, artists have a responsibility to make it visible,” Alcaraz said in a statement to The Los Angeles Times. “In a public space and cultural moment the whole country is watching, images, color, and movement become a way to express love and push back against hate in plain sight.”

Conrad says Bad Bunny’s been loud about how vital immigrants are to the country, that Latinos should be celebrated, that Puerto Rico is a part of our country that should be celebrated. “I think he’ll use this platform to make sure it’s clear he’s on the right side of history.”

Early in the day Sunday, around 50 activists with Contra-Ice set up along heavily-trafficked areas to pass the towels out to incoming Patriots and Seahawks fans in Santa Clara. It’s “not the same as the people putting their bodies on the line in Minneapolis,” Conrad said, but it’s likely to be extremely visible during the broadcast. “I hope it gives cover to people so they feel like they can participate in ways big and small.”

Several athletes like figure skater Alysa Liu and skier Jessie Diggins have expressed similar sentiments during the Winter Olympics, and the Grammys were rife with artists speaking out against ICE overreach onstage. While Bad Bunny’s performance is likely to be more subtle and celebratory, having the world’s biggest Latin artist play at the most quintessentially American cultural event is a statement in itself.

“With so many cameras and eyes on the stadium, it’s going be hard to miss,” Conrad said. “The vast majority of Americans see ICE’s actions as a massive overreach. They’re terrorizing communities, and even some Trump voters have buyer’s remorse seeing images of a 5-year-old kidnapped and detained. That doesn’t feel American, and folks are saying ‘enough.’ “

©2026 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.