One of my favorite narratives of this year’s Super Bowl is that if there’s one team that can choke a Super Bowl then it’s the Sean McVay/Mathew Stafford 2021 Rams. A simple search on Google will give you all the details*, but unless you haven’t paid attention to the NFL at all this year, you’d know about how the Rams went all in pre-season with Jalen Ramsey and Mathew Stafford and went all-inner during the season with Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.
Now, if any fantasy sports player had this team on their roster they’d be more than happy, but the arguable best part about competitive sports is the intangible qualities that can’t be measured and is difficult, to say the least, to predict with data and statistics. It’s the part of the game that fans appreciate the most after they’ve been drawn into the sport and it’s the essence of what makes American football one of the most enjoyable sports if not the most enjoyable. It’s also why this year’s Super Bowl has such a compelling narrative that would make any sports writer foam at the mouth.
On paper, the 2021–22 Rams are a lock for the Super Bowl win. It’s what they were built for and what the organizational staff planned for. Sports books favor the Rams by 4.5 points and almost 2–1 odds at -195 (you have to bet 200 to win 100). If you weren’t following the sport at all, you’d probably think that the Rams are going to win and you’re probably wondering which celebrities are going to be at the Super Bowl parade in Los Angeles, but if you followed Mathew Stafford and Sean McVay’s career at all, you know there’s a chance for a legendary choke that would leave Cincinnati fans elated beyond their wildest dreams and continue a legacy of choking for Stafford and McVay.
Now, it’s my pleasure, to take you into a time machine back to Rams Patriots Super Bowl in 2019. The McVay/Goff Rams are tied with the Belichick/Brady Patriots at 3 points for 3 quarters in a low scoring game. Sean McVay was the youngest coach to reach the Super Bowl and this was his chance to prove that all the hype that had been building around him throughout the season was more than just hype and the reason why he got to the Super Bowl was more than just luck.
The entire game had been a defensive battle that played to Belichick’s strengths since McVay is a former offensive coordinator, but also speaks to McVay’s inability to breakthrough Belichick’s defense. It was the first time in Super Bowl history that neither team scored a touchdown after three quarters, but the Patriots had just forced the Rams to punt and Tom Brady had the ball for the first full possession of the fourth quarter. In true Brady fashion, he wills the longest drive of the game which resulted in a touchdown that left Goff with the ball and little over five minutes on the clock. Goff does his best to match Brady, but gets intercepted at the Patriot’s 27 yard line with 4 minutes left in the game.
At this point McVay needed to be at his very best in managing the play calling and game clock, but anybody who watched the game remembers that he completely dissolved under the pressure and afterwards threw Goff under the bus by blaming the loss on his quarterback, which leads us to the next part of the story: Mathew Stafford.
Without going into too much statistical and historical detail, Mathew Stafford is known for having a strong arm and making questionable decisions both with and without pressure. Cut to 2022 after McVay has hyped Stafford as the quarterback they should’ve had all along and one of the most important games for a franchise that just put everything they had into the current season and you have the recipe for an unforgettable disaster. Not to mention the defensive line that the Bengals have put together coming off a game where they sacked Patrick Mahomes twice in one game.
If you weren’t interested in the Bengals before the Super Bowl, you’re definitely amongst the majority. If you don’t like west coast sports teams having all the best players on a single team, then you and I think alike. If you’re looking for a reason to be interested in this year’s Super Bowl, I hope I just gave one to you and that you enjoy the culminating game of my favorite sport as much as I will.
*The Rams have built an all-in, star studded team for the 2021–2022 season whose only function is to win the Super Bowl this year. They traded their first-round and fourth-round picks and their first-round 2022 picks to Jacksonville for Jalen Ramsey. They traded their third-round pick, a 2022 and 2023 first-round pick, and Jared Goff to Detroit for Mathew Stafford. And this was just pre-season. During the season the Rams acquired eight-time Pro Bowl outside linebacker Von Miller from the Broncos for second and third round picks in the 2022 draft and to top it all off they acquired Pro Bowl wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after he was released by the Browns.
