DENVER -- Another interception-littered evening prompted Sam Darnold to speak up.
Darnold, who has led with his actions far more frequently than with words a year and change into his Seattle Seahawks tenure, felt he had let his team down once again because of his penchant for picks. He threw another pair on Thursday night, the second in overtime, setting up a game-winning, 53-yard field goal by Denver Broncos kicker Wil Lutz to seal Seattle's 17-14 loss.
After tossing his seventh interception of the season (tying the NFL lead), Darnold broke down the Seahawks' huddle in the visiting locker room at Empower Field at Mile High, telling his teammates he knows he must be better.
"I think it's BS for me to keep turning the ball over," Darnold said. "It's not fair to our defense. It's not fair to our special teams group. Not fair, really, to the entire team."
The Seahawks marched to their second Super Bowl title in franchise history last season in spite of Darnold's giveaways. In 2025, he led the league with 20 turnovers -- 14 interceptions and six lost fumbles -- in the regular season, then flipped the switch in the playoffs with three turnover-free games.
On Thursday, Darnold nearly foiled Seattle's comeback bid with his first interception, then wiped it out altogether with his second.
Trailing 14-11 with 1:31 remaining in regulation, Darnold underthrew a pass intended for Tory Horton alongside the left sideline that Kris Abrams-Draine stepped in front of for his second career interception.
Seattle's vaunted defense, which limited a floundering Broncos offense to just 168 total yards, forced a three-and-out. That allowed the Seahawks to drive back down the field and tie it on a 34-yard field goal by Jason Myers, who shanked a 47-yarder in the third quarter for his first miss of the season.
Darnold hucked another errant throw six plays into overtime, one which sealed Seattle's fate. He took a shot down the left sideline again, this time for Rashid Shaheed. The pass was well underthrown and easily corralled by Denver's Ja'Quan McMillian. Lutz won the game for the Broncos four plays later.
"We have to take care of the ball," coach Mike Macdonald said. "Sam knows that. He told the team that. We got to take care of the ball."
Six games into Seattle's championship defense and with a 3-3 record in hand, it has become clear the Seahawks also know they cannot overcome Darnold's mistakes as easily as they did a season ago. The rest of Seattle's offense hasn't exactly thrived under first-year offensive coordinator and play-caller Brian Fleury, either.
Shaheed had one of his most impactful games in the passing game with five receptions for 66 yards, yet also fumbled twice. He recovered one on a kickoff return to start overtime, but after a penalty, the Seahawks began at their own 13-yard line. He lost one in the second quarter to stymie a rare, promising first-half drive by Seattle's offense.
Shaheed's blunder marked Seattle's fifth lost fumble in as many games. The Seahawks have 12 total turnovers through six games, trailing only the hapless, winless Los Angeles Chargers (0-5) for most in the NFL. No other team has allowed more points off turnovers (47).
Aside from a few solid rushes by Seattle's trio of reserve running backs, its offense was one-dimensional once again. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, the NFL's leading receiver, paced the Seahawks with 12 receptions for 134 yards to account for nearly half of Darnold's passing.
Veteran wideout Cooper Kupp had his most productive game of the season with five receptions for 50 yards, yet emerged upset with his team's performance.
"We are not doing a good enough job offensively to allow (Darnold) to play, really," Kupp said. "We're not doing a good enough job allowing him to get into a flow, turning small plays into big plays. We're not doing a good enough job with the run game. We're not doing a good enough job of protecting him. There's a lot of things that need to improve."
Darnold, who said he feels good physically after missing time earlier in the season with a glute injury he sustained in the season opener against the New England Patriots, was sacked five times for the second time in five days. He said he can get the ball out quicker. On Tuesday, he said he'd like to be more decisive.
"It wasn't a performance that was good enough to win the game -- by our team. But your quarterback leads the team," Macdonald said. "I'd bet you Sam would be the first one to tell you that."
Darnold did. He said his repeated turnovers are "not acceptable." He held himself accountable.
His teammates came to his defense but lamented another missed opportunity. The Seahawks have three wins by a combined 34 points this season, yet three losses by a collective eight points.
"I feel like we're doing well -- we're showing what type of team we are at times," defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. "But we're not doing enough to close out these games that we should be."
As a result, Seattle's playoff aspirations have become less promising. Per The Athletic's NFL Simulator, the Seahawks' chance to win the NFC West has dropped from 32 percent before the season to 11 percent. The San Francisco 49ers are at 74 percent, and the Los Angeles Rams are at 15.
The Seahawks' odds to make the playoffs have dropped from 78 percent to 60 percent. They have a 6 percent chance to repeat as champions after opening the season at 10 percent.
"Three losses is not going to take us out of a run for the championship," Williams said. "But it's definitely time to really hone in and focus on what's stopping us from winning these games."
It won't take hours of film study to determine what went wrong in Denver. Like the 33-31 loss to the Washington Commanders and the 32-29 defeat to the 49ers on Sunday, ball security -- by Darnold and others -- has plagued Seattle.
Before the Seahawks won 10 consecutive games to close out last season, Darnold threw four interceptions in a 21-19 defeat to the Rams. Linebacker Ernest Jones IV passionately came to Darnold's defense at the time, with a distinctly different style and tone than the somber Kupp provided Thursday night.
"A lot's going to get put on Sam for the result at the end of the day," Kupp said. "But we're all out there with him. And we all have a responsibility in this."
Macdonald said the Seahawks need to do a better job protecting Darnold, whom the Broncos hit 17 times. Darnold noted Seattle's run game has ebbed and flowed so far. Kupp's stance is that Seattle's issues are all-encompassing.
Ultimately, what would benefit Seattle most is if Darnold never needs another message to the team like the one he gave on Thursday.
"I feel like we all trust him," Williams said. "And I feel like he trusts in himself. And I feel like he'll get out of it."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
