The Los Angeles Rams on Sunday needed something — anything — from their slumbering offense to overcome the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.
How about a precise 79-yard drive to the Lombardi Trophy?
It was not a classic march, aided by three successive Bengals penalties and mired by some bad throws, but when Cooper Kupp caught a 1-yard pass from Matthew Stafford with 1 minute, 25 seconds remaining, the Rams’ offense indeed had awakened just in time for a 23-20 Super Bowl victory.
Photo: Reuters
“That’s hard work, that’s hours together,” Stafford said, adding that coach Sean McVay was “calling plays for him [Kupp], kept finding ways to get him the ball. He made unbelievable plays; that’s what he does.”
What Los Angeles did on that drive finally measured up to what its defense was doing most of the night: overwhelming Cincinnati’s blockers, sacking Joe Burrow a Super Bowl record-tying seven times. The pressure, led by Aaron Donald and Von Miller, was nonstop.
“You got to be relentless,” said Donald, who added a crowning achievement to his certain Hall of Fame career. “You want something bad enough you’ve got to go get it. You know it was right in front of us ... all offseason you work, you train, you got camp, you got a long season just for this one game. You know we the last team standing.”
Standing in the US$5 billion SoFi Stadium, the Rams (16-5) earned their first NFL title since the 1999 season — and their first representing Los Angeles since 1951. They are the second consecutive host to win the championship after Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first a year ago.
The winning series, during which game Most Valuable Player Kupp’s 4-yard touchdown reception was negated by offsetting penalties, ended soon after, with the NFL Offensive Player of the Year easily beating Eli Apple in the right corner of the end zone for the winning score.
Kupp had four receptions for 39 yards, and a 7-yard run on fourth-and-1 from the Rams 30 on the championship drive.
Cincinnati (13-8) was penalized the second-fewest times (72) for the fewest yards (620) in the regular season, but flags hurt badly — including pass interference on Kupp in the end zone.
Fittingly, Burrow was under pressure on fourth-and-1 and threw incomplete, setting off a football fiesta this city has not seen since the LA Raiders won the 1983 championship.
“I wanted it so bad. I dreamed this,” a tearful Donald said after the game.
McVay, at 36 the youngest Super Bowl-winning head coach, added: “For the offense to be able to find a way, and then Aaron to be able to finish it off, it’s poetic, man.”
50 Cent made a surprise upside-down entrance at the halftime show in which Eminem dramatically took a knee.
During a rendition of Lose Yourself, Eminem took a knee and held his head in his hand in an apparent tribute to former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The NFL denied reports that it had attempted to stop Eminem from making the gesture.
Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar also performed in a rare halftime show held in daylight.
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