The Los Angeles Rams are not going to the Super Bowl … they’re already there!
By beating the 49ers 20-17 in the NFC Championship at SoFi Stadium, the Rams complete a 3-0 trip through the NFC postseason and will play “road” to the “home” Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium in two weeks.
There are many people to thank but the work isn’t over. The Rams must beat one more team for the victories to feel all the sweeter after 20 games and a 15-5 record to get to this point. These are the winners and the people/teams not in fortunate situations (“losers” only in the form of words we use for articles like this) from the LA Rams’ 2022 postseason run.
Super Wild Card Weekend
Tuesday, January 18th Rams 34-11 Cardinals
NFL Divisional Round
Sunday, January 23rd Rams 30-27 Buccaneers
NFL Conference Championships
NFC Championship 49ers 17-20 Rams
Under the bright lights and lofty expectations of Hollywood, the LA Rams will look to win Sunday’s Super Bowl and with it the hearts of Los Angeles sports fans, who are still warming to the franchise after it returned to LA six years ago. The Rams departed in 1995 after 49 years and spent 21 seasons in St. Louis before returning to begin the arduous process of rebuilding a fanbase in LA’s crowded sports marketplace.
Their return has been no stroll down the red carpet. In their first season back, they managed just four wins as quarterback and number one draft pick Jared Goff struggled. Two seasons later they made Super Bowl 53 but their offense failed to fire as they fell 13-3 in a dispiriting loss to the Patriots. This season, the team shifted firmly into “win now” mode, replacing Goff with the more experienced Matthew Stafford. All-Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and Super Bowl MVP linebacker Von Miller were also added to a roster that includes three time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and breakout receiver Cooper Kupp. The team got another boost this season when they were finally able to play in front of fans in the new, $5.5 billion SoFi Stadium, the site of Sunday’s game. For just the second time in NFL history, a team gets to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium. Two years, ago, this had never happened before, but then the Buccaneers got to play at home last year. The Rams will be hoping this year’s game goes the exact same way and that’s because Tampa Bay dominated in a 31-9 win over the Chiefs. Anyway, here’s everything else you need to know about the Rams heading into today’s game.
Rams injury report: The Rams got some good news and some bad news heading into today’s game. The bad news is that tight end Tyler Higbee won’t be playing. Higbee sprained his MCL in the NFC title game and was hoping to play, but that won’t be happening. The good news for the Rams is that Darrell Henderson has been activated, which means he could see some action today. The Rams running back hasn’t played since suffering a knee injury against the Vikings in Week 16.
X-factors that could help the Rams win: With the Bengals likely going all-in to stop Cooper Kupp, that could open the door for Odell Beckham to have a huge game. OBJ is one of multiple X-factors that Jared Dubin has pinpointed for the Rams today.
One surprise player who could be a key to a Rams win: Seven months ago, the thought of Cam Akers playing at all during the 2021 season seemed laughable and that’s because he had just torn his Achilles. However, the Rams running back has since made a miraculous comeback and he could be a key player in Super Bowl LVI.
This is the Rams’ fifth trip to the Super Bowl and in their previous four trips, they’ve gone 1-3. The most notable part of that record is that the Rams have never won a Super Bowl during their time in Los Angeles. The team is 0-2 in games played while they were based in L.A. and 1-1 in Super Bowls played while they were based in St. Louis. Rams owner Stan Kroenke would probably love nothing more than to win the Rams’ first Super Bowl in L.A. in his $5 billion L.A. stadium.