Los Angeles is a team full of stars and they all came together to provide a fitting Hollywood ending on their own mansion.
“In their most critical moments, that’s when they were at their best,” Rams matinee idol head coach Sean McVay said in his postgame press conference at SoFi Stadium. “If you look at the way the second half started, a lot of teams would have folded. … the defense came up with stop after stop. The resilience was on display in a big way, guys being on their best when their best was required. That’s why we’re world champs.”
These were the six most critical plays that allowed Rams to get their first Super Bowl ring under McVay on Sunday:
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1. Cooper Kupp’s first catch
The Rams started the game with a terrible possession after the opening kickoff. They moved only one yard on five plays. But they got a break in field position when the Bengals, on their first possession, failed to convert a fourth-and-1 just past midfield.
After a bad rush by running back Cam Akers (a theme of the night) and a smart 7-yard scramble by quarterback Matthew Stafford, they got to a manageable third-and-4 at the Bengals’ 44.
Kupp, like he typically does as the NFL’s best wide receiver, ran a great short route from inside out and to snag a short ball near the sideline and slip past multiple defenders to explode downfield in one of most impressive and quickest 20-yard gains after the catch one will ever see. Kupp had a Jerry Rice-like season in leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards and receiving TDs. The jukes were straight out of what Rice once did against the Bengals as MVP of Super Bowl 23.
No. 2 wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. did finish the drive three plays later with a 17-yard TD off the ensuing third-and-short, but getting Kupp on the board with his first big catch was needed to spark Stafford and rest of the passing game.
2. Odell Beckham Jr.’s second catch
Beckham might have had a massive game right along with Kupp had he not suffered what may be a significant left knee injury in the second quarter. Before he left, he made sure the TD wasn’t his most impactful play. OBJ outdid his rather easy pitch and score with a critical chunk play for his second and final reception of the game.
After Stafford missed Kupp on a deep shot ahead of third-and-11 on the first drive of the second quarter from the Rams’ own 24, Beckham streaked to get open in the soft spot between three Bengals defenders. Showing his old Giants burst, Beckham took the Rams from the brink of punting again to putting them in business at the Cincinnati 41.
Kupp had the assist for Beckham’s TD, so it was appropriate that Beckham returned the favor to Kupp, who scored three plays later. The burning of Bengals cornerback Eli Apple was well established as a theme in the game.
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3. Aaron Donald’s second sack
Donald was held in check along with the rest of the Rams’ pass rush in the first half. The defense was at a crossroads after Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins burned usual shutdown cornerback Jalen Ramsey with a 75-yard TD one-on-one outside on the first offensive play of the second half.
The Bengals looked to pour it on their first lead of the game at 17-13 after intercepting Stafford on the next play. They looked like they would find the end zone again, starting at the Rams’ 31.
Donald’s first sack early in the drive didn’t do much as quarterback Joe Burrow and the Bengals converted their initial first down by going for it on fourth down. But on a third-and-3 at the Rams’ 11, Donald delivered to disrupt Burrow’s rhythm and the Bengals’ momentum with a ferocious 9-yard sack. The Bengals had to settle for a field goal and a 20-13 lead, keeping it a one-possession game, which paid off later.
4. Von Miller’s two sacks
Miller was the Super Bowl 50 MVP with the Broncos and couldn’t let Donald have all the fun getting to Burrow, who was sacked seven times. He got on the board late in the third quarter.
Burrow was doing a good job either extending plays and getting the ball out quickly as much as possible. But the Bengals’ high-risk, high-reward offense, most consumed with Donald inside first, would eventually succumb to Miller on the edge, too.
A relentless Miller started treating Burrow like he once did Cam Newton by ripping off a 10-yard sack with the Bengals already backed up on their own 14, leading to one three and out.
On the next possession early in the fourth quarter, Miller matched Donald with another sack, this time on third-and-9 with the Bengals on their own 34. He left Burrow walking gingerly off the field, now completely rattled. The Bengals were set to have a hard time scoring again in the game.
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5. Cooper Kupp’s last catch
Kupp scored the game-winning touchdown on the Rams’ last meaningful offensive possession that started down 20-16 with 6:13 left in the fourth quarter. A 1-yard TD catch doesn’t get any bigger.
That might seem like an easy play for Stafford and Kupp. But consider Stafford was struggling to complete passes inside the 10 until Kupp was held for a penalty against the Bengals, providing the Rams a second chance after they failed on third-and-goal from the 8. Two more short shots to Kupp drew penalty flags, the second a pass interference moving the ball to the 1-yard line.
The Rams had been ineffective running the ball for most of the game. They first tried to score with an awful sneak with Stafford.
They couldn’t mess around with no Beckham. Kupp had to make the catch in the end zone to give them the lead, or no one would. The Rams thought about running again, but the Bengals gave them a pressure look to set up Kupp with the right kind of one-on-one in a tight space.
“We had a little run alert in. We got a cover zero look and we threw a little fade ball out there," Kupp said. “Eli Apple had been playing me pretty well the entire game. In cover zero, you get inside leverage, so I weaved to his left, made him move, jabbed him, gave Matthew the ability to put the ball wherever he wanted to. He made a great back shoulder throw and I was able to come down with it.”
Kupp caught 8 of his 10 targets for “only” 92 yards and two TDs. The Bengals did do a better job on him than most teams, but one of his more modest games still got him his first Super Bowl MVP.
6. Aaron Donald’s last pressure
When the Bengals faced a fourth-and-1 trying to move into game-tying field-goal position with 43 seconds left, they kept the ball in Burrow’s hands. After the game, McVay admitted he had a premonition that as long as it wasn’t a running play, Donald would blow it up and lock up victory for the Rams.
Donald made his signature quick move to the inside and got to Burrow quickly enough to spin him around into an incomplete pass that had no chance to get to running back Samaje Perine.
It wasn’t the greatest game for Stafford or for Ramsey. but between Kupp, Beckham, Donald, Miller, the Rams had more than enough Super Bowl star power to pack a winning blockbuster performance.
