After a first-quarter sack set up second-and-20, Sam Darnold, who got up limping a bit after the sack, ripped a pass to the left sideline to Cooper Kupp for a 20-yard gain.

Four plays later, with the Seahawks in the red zone looking to add to an early lead, Darnold rolled to his left, planted his feet and fired a dart to Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the back of the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown.

And if there was any doubt about Darnold's ability to play through an oblique injury prior to that drive, he put those fears to rest early as he and the Seahawks rolled to an emphatic 41-6 win over the 49ers that sent the Seahawks to the NFC championship game.

"There were quite a few throws he made that were like, 'Man, he's letting it rip,'" said Kupp, who finished with a team-high 60 yards on five catches. "… He was consistent, he was the same Sam that he's always been, leading the huddle, being a steady leading force for us. And he made some unbelievable throws—the one rolling out to the left that he threw to Jax in the end zone, those are unbelievable throws that he was making today."

It was an interesting few days for Darnold and the Seahawks after Darnold, who was healthy throughout the regular season, injured his oblique early in Thursday's practice. That led to Darnold missing the rest of that day's work, with backup Drew Lock taking over, and a questionable designation on the injury report. Darnold and Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald both made it clear that he planned to play, then as Kupp explained, players got further confirmation watching Darnold in Friday's walkthrough.

"I figured he was going to find a way to get out there," Kupp said. "You don't know without him throwing or anything, but he was out there at the walkthrough on (Friday), he was told not to throw, and he was out there pump-faking, and everyone's like, 'Dude, just stop. Please don't do anything stupid.' So I figured with him pump-faking as much as he was, he had to be feeling OK."

Darnold said he "felt great" throughout the game and was not limited in what he could do, but his pregame routine was different.

He did not go through his usual early warmup on the field with his fellow quarterbacks, causing more fan and media speculation on the severity of his injury, but he explained that he wanted to stay in the locker room, throwing some passes in there, before coming out with the team for the full pregame warmup after the team was in uniform.

"Obviously I didn't go out for the non-padded warm-up," he said. "I think that kind of stirred some questions, which was funny. I got to throw in here, and did the same thing, did my routine in here. Once I put the pads on and got that padded warm-up, I wanted to be rolling. I didn't want to waste any time getting warm on the field and coming in, having 40 minutes to get warm again and then go back out. I just wanted to get warm once and then go back out there in the pads. So that was why I did it that way."

For Darnold, the win was his first in the postseason in two playoff starts, which means he'll also be playing in his first conference title game next weekend, which the Seahawks will host on Sunday.

"It's huge," he said. "I don't take it for granted whatsoever. It's just a special group. I think that's the biggest thing, and that's why it means so much. Just the way those guys are in the locker room, ever since I got here. They were tight before I got here, obviously, but just the way that they took me in as one of their own. And that's what's so special about this league in general. You make so many great relationships throughout this whole process. And that locker room and these coaches, you know, just the way that we play together. That's the reason why I play this game, and they've made it really easy for me to come in here ever since I did in April to be able to help lead this team and drive the ball down the field, score touchdowns, all those things."

While Darnold came up with some big throws, including the aforementioned throws to Kupp and Smith-Njigba in the first quarter, as well as a 16-yarder to Jake Bobo on third-and-10 to extend another drive that ended with a touchdown, he did not have to throw the ball a ton thanks to a dominant defensive effort and another big rushing performance. But when Darnold did throw, he was efficient, completing 12 of 17 attempts for 124 yards and a touchdown, giving him a 110.9 passer rating, and for the second game in a row, the Seahawks did not commit a turnover.

"Tremendous, tremendous," Macdonald said of Darnold's performance. "Couple of plays early that I think to get in the swing of things. But I say 'manage' the game as a very high-powered compliment. Just throwing it on time, taking care of the ball, making the plays when we need to. I think there's going to be some explosives out there that maybe we could get to. But, shoot, I thought there's a lot of operation stuff that he did that really helped us as well."

And even if there was some initial concern outside of the organization on Thursday when Darnold popped up on the injury report, then again on Saturday when Darnold wasn't out for pregame warmups, his teammates had no doubt not only that they'd have their quarterback, but that he would come through with a winning performance.

"Oh yeah, we weren't tripping about that," said linebacker Ernest Jones IV. "… Baller, man. I've been telling y'all, Sam's a baller. He's going to keep showing up for us, and we trust Sam. Regardless of what anybody says, we know Sam and we trust him."