After years of exile, Matthew Stafford leads Rams to promised land of Super Bowl championship

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There was no Tom Brady, no Aaron Rodgers. No Patrick Mahomes and, sad to say for the loyal mafia in Buffalo, no Josh Allen. Just one guy who suffered through the ignominy of 12 mostly unsuccessful campaigns before he was traded by Detroit, and another two years out of college who has revived the fortunes of a franchise that hasn’t had a wing or a prayer for too long.

In the Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Bengals’ Joe Burrow perhaps there was not as much panache as in Super Bowls past, but certainly there was no lack of substance. For the most part, the quarterbacks in game No. 56 put on a show. Make the defences of both teams the second stars.

In the end, it was Stafford who would exorcise the demons that haunt those who don a Lions uniform. He engineered a 79-yard, 15-play scoring drive in the fourth quarter that ended on a one-yard pass to Cooper Kupp to give Los Angeles a 23-20 victory and its first Super Bowl title in 22 years.

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Stafford completed 26 of 40 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns. He also had two interceptions. Kupp finished with eight catches for 92 yards and was chosen the game’s MVP.

Cincinnati’s Burrow ended with 22 of 30 for 263 yards and one touchdown.

The matchup between the quarterbacks, their teams and their contrasting cities made for a good narrative.

The Rams last won an NFL championship in 2000 when they were based in St. Louis and Kurt Warner lined up behind centre. The Bengals have earned the nickname Bungles by never once capturing football’s top prize in 54 years. Only two players on their roster were alive in 1989 when they reached the Super Bowl the previous time.

That was so long ago that one of the broadcasters was the late John Madden. For good measure, Sunday could be the last of 11 called by Al Michaels.

The game was staged in Los Angeles with a star-studded cast performing the halftime show and a long list of celebrity sightings – Jay-Z, Matt Damon, LeBron James, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck among them. This was Hollywood and Spago Beverly Hills taking on Cincinnati – a pleasant place but one most famous for chili over rice, WKRP and Les Nessman.

More than 70,000 spectators jammed SoFi Stadium. The face value for a ticket was US$2,500 but demand was such that on average people paid three times more. Fans were required to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test and to wear face masks while not drinking or eating but the Super Bowl has never been known to be a cathedral of conformity.

Stafford threw touchdown passes of 17 yards to Odell Beckham Jr. and 11 yards to Kupp in the first half. Beckham Jr., who sported pink hair, leaped to grab his in the end zone in the first quarter and had a 35-yard reception in the second before he left with an apparent injury to his left knee.

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Burrow, who wore gold chains like Snoop Dogg after the Bengals won the American Football Conference championship, found Jamarr Chase 46 yards down the right sideline late in the first quarter to set up a 29-yard field goal by Evan McPherson. Cincinnati’s other points came on a razzle-dazzle six-yard pass from running back Joe Mixon to Tee Higgins.

After 30 minutes, it was 13-10. The Rams botched their second extra-point attempt when the holder fumbled the snap.

It was estimated that gamblers ponied up nearly US$8-billion on the game’s outcome and silly side bets such as the length of The Star-Spangled Banner (1 minute 50 seconds), the colour of Snoop Dogg’s shoes (white) and the hue of the Gatorade poured over the winning coach’s head (blue).

Los Angeles was installed as a 4.5-point favourite and was (sort of) predicted to win on Sunday by United States President Joe Biden, immediately infuriating everyone east of California. Only months ago few anticipated that either team would be here. Cincinnati was a 120-to-1 shot to reach the Super Bowl during the preseason while L.A.’s odds were 15 to 1.

The Rams lost to the Patriots in 2018 so at least had some recent experience with the big game. Cincinnati’s three victories in this postseason were its first three in three decades.

NBC’s broadcast was expected to draw around 90 million viewers with advertisers paying as much as US$7-million for a 30-second commercial. As always, Canadians did not get to view most of them, although they did get to see an amusing spot for the Toronto-based crypto-currency company Bitbuy that starred Kyle Lowry.

As always, it was slick production – fighter jets screaming through the sky beforehand, Billie-Jean King executing the coin toss, Dwayne (The Rock) Johnson revving up the crowd, hip-hop artists Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar taking the stage while the teams took a breather midway through.

The Rams, who won the National Football Conference, came in with a 15-5 record while the Bengals were 13-7. Cincinnati had to win six of its last seven to reach Super Bowl LVI. That is how the NFL sees itself – Roman numerals and gladiators in a teeming coliseum just to gin things up beyond fever pitch.

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Stafford threw for nearly 5,000 yards and 41 touchdowns during the regular season while Burrow came back from a knee injury to throw for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns.

The first player chosen in the 2006 draft, Stafford played collegiately for the University of Georgia; Burrow is from Ohio, transferred from Ohio State to Louisiana State, won the Heisman Trophy in 2019 and led the Tigers to the NCAA 2020 championship. He was chosen first by Cincinnati later that summer.

On the first play of the second half, Burrow found Tee Higgins down the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. Higgins appeared to have grabbed the face mask of Rams corner back Jalen Ramsey on the play but the infraction went undetected and Cincinnati took a 17-13 lead. After the ensuing kickoff, Stafford had a throw dropped by Ben Skowranek that ended up intercepted by William Jackson III. The pick set up a 38-yard field goal by McPherson.

On the next drive, Matthews completed four passes and Matt Gay converted a 41-yard field goal to cut Los Angeles’s deficit to 20-16.

On the final drive, he found Kupp a half-dozen times and Cincinnati was flagged twice inside its own 10-yard-line in the final minute. Kupp’s touchdown was scored with 85 seconds remaining.

“You talk about a resilient team,” Sean McVay, the Rams’ coach, told NBC afterward. At 36, he is the youngest in history to win a Super Bowl. “On that final drive, Matthew and Cooper just took over the game.”

It was hard to work up much animus if one didn’t have a rooting interest. Who couldn’t cheer for a guy who stuck it out in Detroit all those years? Who would cheer against a team that is one of only a dozen to have never won the Super Bowl?

The previous time the Rams won they were owned by Georgia Frontiere, a seven-times-married businesswoman and former entertainer. She was the NFL’s only active female owner. The last time the Bengals reached the Super Bowl the club was owned by Paul Brown, a legendary former Cleveland coach who also served as the Bengals general manager. The current team is owned by Brown’s son, Mike. The Rams are owned by billionaire businessman Stan Kroenke, who also owns two Arsenal soccer clubs in England and is married to the daughter of Walmart’s co-founder, James (Bud) Walton.

Unless you hate deals of the week or Cleveland, there was not even an owner in a luxury suite to hate. Where is Jerry Jones when you need him?

Afterward, amid confetti, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell presented the Super Bowl trophy to Kroenke.

“It was another ending fit for Hollywood,” Goodell said.