It’s been 13 years coming.
The Los Angeles Rams have dominated the NFC, beating the Arizona Cardinals, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and finally their division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, to advance to the Super Bowl LVI.
While it has only been two years since the Rams were last on football’s biggest stage, this year’s team is completely different. The Rams have compiled a star-studded, high-powered, win-now roster that perfectly suites L.A.’s big market. And this time, for just the second time in NFL history, they will be playing in their home stadium.
In the last year, the team has acquired QB Matthew Stafford from the Lions, along with Odell Beckham Jr., and Von Miller.
Matthew Stafford spent 12 years as a Detroit Lion. As a die-hard Lions fan, I can tell you those were 12 long years, full of hope, rebuilds, and heartbreak. What his time didn’t have, however, was a playoff win. Entering this year, Stafford had capitalized on exactly zero of his three chances to win an NFL playoff game.
All of that changed this year, as Stafford has now won three straight playoff games, and has made it to the first Super Bowl in his career.
How, after a blockbuster trade, he has thrived with the Rams, finishing fourth in the league in QB rating, and top three in both passing yards and passing touchdowns.
He also joined superstar wide receiver Cooper Kupp. The two of them have become the best QB-WR duo in the NFL. Kupp finished north of 1900 receiving yards, the second most single-season receiving yards in the history of the league.
Mid-season additions Beckham and former Super Bowl MVP Miller have immediately produced, giving themselves one last – and for Beckham, first – chance at a title.
Beckham owns the best catch in NFL history and still boasts the stickiest hands in the league. He helps to balance out a passing attack headlined by Kupp, Van Jefferson, and TE Tyler Higbee.
In the backfield alongside Stafford is second-year TB Cam Akers, who has proved to have perhaps the most inspiring comeback in the league this year. Akers tore his Achilles tendon during training camp, and was back within five short months. That is less than half of the average time it takes to recover from similar injuries. He has rushed for at least 48 yards in each of the three games since his return.
Along with this high-powered offense is one of the best defenses in the league. Miller, who has had a sack in six of his last seven games, is joined by names like Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey, both of whom are first team all-pro this year. The Donald-Ramsey pairing has crushed opposing offenses on their way to a relatively improbable Super Bowl run.
Speaking of improbable, the Rams opponent, the Cincinnati Bengals, are as wild of a story as they come. Joe Burrow and his buffs have shown more swagger than the league has seen since Lamar Jackson’s MVP season. He has continued to find incredible, improbable ways to win.
That being said, their run stops here. Burrow is in his second year, and Ja’Marr Chase, the team’s leading receiver, is a rookie. They don’t have the experience for as big a moment as the Super Bowl. Their time is coming, but it isn’t this year.
The Rams are filled with aging stars performing well at just the right time, perhaps for the last time. Their window is closing soon and they know it, with his career on the line, Stafford will lead the Rams to a Super Bowl win.
