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News, Blog and GuidesThe Los Angeles Rams are going back to the Super Bowl, but this time in their own back yard. The last time the Rams made it to Super Bowl Sunday was 2019.
As.comUpdate: Feb 8th, 2022 01:00 EST
Christian PetersenAFP
The Los Angeles Rams are a win away from hoisting the Lombardi Trophy, and they couldn’t have picked a better year to return to the Super Bowl stage. They will have a chance to win their second NFL title in franchise history under the comfort of their own roof when they play the Cincinnati Bengals at Sofi Stadium this Sunday.
Rams "All In" for Super Bowl LVI
The Rams have had success getting passed the NFC Championship in the last couple of decades, but they have come up short in their last three Super Bowls.
This year, the Los Angeles front office assembled a super team, with just one thing in mind: Not just making Super Bowl Sunday, but winning it all in the city they call home.
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Before Matthew Stafford was brought in last offseason, before Odell Beckham Jr. and Vonn Miller were traded for in the middle of the season, the Rams made their first title game in 1979 season.
Rams have already played a Super Bowl in LA
After a 9-7 regular season that year, the Rams snuck into the playoffs and then stunned the Dallas Cowboys as heavy underdogs. They then went on to blank the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 in the NFC Championship to earn a trip to their first Super Bowl.
“Trip” might be an exaggeration. The Rams didn’t have to leave Los Angeles to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV. The game against the defending champion Steelers would be played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, which didn’t serve as the Rams home stadium at the time, but was a stones throw away form the LA Coliseum.
Despite being big underdogs heading into Super Bowl Sunday, the Rams lead by ten at half, and were up 19-17 going into the final quarter. Terry Bradshaw and the Steelers scored two unanswered touchdowns in the last fifteen minutes to become the first team to ever repeat as Super Bowl Champions.
Warner brings Rams to glory
It would be 20 years before the Rams would get back to the Super Bowl. By that time, the franchise had moved to St. Louis and invested all of their trust in a former grocery store worker named Kurt Warner.
Warner, Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce turned the Rams into what would later be know as the “Greatest Show on Turf.” Warner would sweep through the NFC after going 13-3 in the regular season. They beat the Vikings in a shootout, and then outlasted the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship to make the first Super Bowl of the new millennium.
The Rams first and only Super Bowl win would be one of the most memorable finishes in the history or the league. The St. Louis defense almost let a 16-0 lead over the Tennessee Titans go to waste. After the Titans tied it up, Warner hit Bruce for a 73 yard touchdown right after the two minute warning to take a touchdown advantage.
Steve McNair marched the Titans down the field and had a a chance to tie the game up with six seconds left. On the last play of the game McNair hit Kevin Dyson, who was stopped at the one yard line with a spectacular tackle for Mike Jones.
A defensive stop won the first Super Bowl ever for the Rams and a team whose offense was called the “Greatest Show on Turf” was bailed out by their a game saving tackle.
Kevin Dyson and Mike Jones will always be linked together by the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV.They break down one of the most memorable moments in Super Bowl history. pic.twitter.com/XDX1h3SYKz
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) February 3, 2019
Brady and Pats get best of Rams
The Rams were arguably a better team two years later, when they went 14-2 in the 2001 regular season with the same core to build around. Kurt Warner won his second MVP award that season, and St. Louis had the top seed in the NFC.
They crushed Brett Favre and Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round of the playoffs and then squeaked by the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship.
They would face New England for a chance to win their second Super Bowl in three years, but would go up against another up and coming dynasty.
The Rams potent offense was held to just three points through the first three quarters. Despite totaling 427 yards, almost 200 more than the Pats that night, the Rams struggled to score after committing three turnovers that led to 17 points for the Tom Brady’s boys.
Two Rams Touchdowns in the final quarter tied the game up with 90 seconds to go in the game, but that was just enough time for Brady to drive the Pats down the field and set up a game-winning 48-yard Adam Vinatieri field goal time expired.
Back in LA and back to the Super Bowl
Two years after moving the franchise back to Los Angeles the Rams were in the Super Bowl yet again. Jared Goff led Sean McVay’s Rams to a 13-3 regular season record, clinching a first round bye in the playoffs going into the 2018 playoffs.
Running back Todd Gurley came back from a leg injury in time for the Rams 30-22 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Their next game would be seeped in controversy after LA defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman looked to have committed a pass interference call late in the fourth quarter that wasn’t called.
The game went overtime and Steve Zuerlein moved the the Rams on to the Super Bowl with a 57 yard field goal to set up a Super Bowl rematch with the New England Patriots.
It would turnout to be the lowest scoring Super Bowl in league history. It was 3-3 going into the fourth quarter, but the Patriots finally turned on the offense scoring 10 unanswered points to wrap up their sixth Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
