Sam Darnold — Week 8: 17 of 34 Against Chicago

Sam Darnold completed half his passes against the Bears: 17 of 34 for 188 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, sacked three times, plus 2 scrambles for 20 yards in a 34-17 loss at home. Over 39 dropbacks he was worth -7.4 expected points added (EPA), what a play was worth given down, distance and field position, -0.19 per dropback. Seattle converted 1 of 11 third downs.

His best throw came down 13-3 with 37 seconds left in the half. Third and 10 at the Chicago 43, he went deep left to Jaxon Smith-Njigba for the touchdown: +5.4 EPA and 14.8 points of win probability, the estimate of each side's chance to win, the largest swing of the game. Down 20-9 early in the fourth, on the drive after DeMarcus Lawrence's fumble recovery, he hit Cooper Kupp short left for a 7-yard touchdown on second and 6, then found Tory Horton for the two-point conversion and 20-17.

The interception came down 27-17 with 6:01 left. Third and 7 at his own 25, he threw short over the middle for AJ Barner, and defensive tackle James Lynch intercepted at the 22 and returned it to the 6, -5.4 EPA. Chicago scored on the fourth play of its drive. Earlier in the quarter, a deep throw for Kupp was intercepted in the end zone and wiped out by a Chicago holding penalty. His last drive reached the Chicago 7 and ended on fourth and 4, incomplete for Kupp.

It was well below his season. Through Week 7 he was at -0.01 per dropback, -1.6 EPA on 196 dropbacks, with a completion percentage over expected (CPOE), how often he completed passes against what their difficulty predicted, of +0.5; here it was -16.9. He has now thrown an interception in six straight games, nine this season.

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_Data via nflverse._