Sam Darnold lifted the Lombardi Trophy for himself. For his teammates. For a career many had already written off.
But whether anyone says it out loud or not, his Super Bowl LX victory did something else too. It gave Pete Carroll peace.
Seattle’s 29–13 win over the New England Patriots wasn’t just another championship. It was a carefully placed answer to a question that had lingered for more than a decade — especially for the former Seahawks head coach watching from afar.
Carroll is no longer on Seattle’s sideline. He hasn’t been for two years. But his fingerprints were all over this title, even if his name wasn’t.
The irony is gentle, not bitter.
Carroll once had to make the hardest decision of his Seahawks career — stepping aside so the organization could find a fresh voice. The same man who famously cut emotional ties with Russell Wilson when it was time to move on understood what it meant to sacrifice comfort for progress. That trade, once controversial, quietly became one of the foundations of this championship.
The Wilson deal delivered four players who became core contributors to Seattle’s Super Bowl run. That wasn’t luck. It was foresight. And it was Carroll.
So was Devon Witherspoon.
The No. 5 overall pick in the 2023 draft was one of the final major decisions of the Carroll–John Schneider era. At the time, it wasn’t obvious. Seattle had other needs. They chose the best player anyway. Witherspoon became a cornerstone of a defense that dominated Super Bowl LX.
Carroll coached Leonard Williams. He coached Uchenna Nwosu. He helped bring them to Seattle. Mike Macdonald elevated them — but the roots were already there.
And then there’s the Patriots.
If Pete Carroll has two losses that still echo, they are unmistakable. The 2006 Rose Bowl at USC. And Super Bowl XLIX.
That night in February 2015 has been replayed endlessly. One yard. One call. One decision that froze a franchise in time. Losing to New England changed how Carroll was discussed, remembered, and questioned.
Super Bowl LX didn’t erase that night.
It did something better.
It replaced it.
Seattle beating the Patriots — not just winning a Super Bowl, but winning this Super Bowl — allowed the city, the organization, and Carroll himself to finally stop revisiting the same moment. Losing to New England again would’ve reopened everything. Winning shut the door.
That’s where Sam Darnold comes in.
A USC quarterback. A former Trojan. A player whose career arc mirrored doubt, resilience, and reinvention. Watching Darnold win at the Patriots’ expense carries a quiet poetry that doesn’t need to be announced.
Trojans helping Trojans.
Darnold didn’t play for Carroll in the NFL. But the lineage is there. The shared DNA. The idea that football careers don’t have to end where critics decide they should.
You know Carroll watched the game. You know he smiled when the defense swarmed. You know he felt the relief when the final seconds ticked away.
Not because it was his championship.
But because it finally wasn’t about what he lost.
Sam Darnold didn’t just revive his own story on Super Bowl night. He helped settle someone else’s.
And for a coach who has carried that Patriots loss longer than he ever let on, that might’ve been enough to finally sleep peacefully.
Leave a Reply