The Rams have overcome a controversial touchdown call to down Cincinnati 23-20 in a thrilling Super Bowl LVI in Los Angeles.
The Rams trailed by four points with less than two minutes remaining, but found the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown when Cooper Kupp made the catch on a 2nd and Goal play.
However, officials have been slammed for the “inexcusable miss” which resulted in a Bengals touchdown at the start of the third quarter.
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Trailing 13-10 at the halftime break, the Bengals hit the lead on the opening drive of the second half when Joe Burrow found Tee Higgins for a 75-yard touchdown, however replays showed the Rams were hard done by.
Higgins appeared to grab Rams’ cornerback Jalen Ramsey’s face mask during the play.
“It is an offensive face mask, which is offensive pass interference, because the ball is in the air,” said three-time Super Bowl official John Parry on ESPN.
“The call needed to come from the back judge from the inside. The side judge can’t see it from his position.”
The win gave the Rams their first NFL title since the 1999 season — and their first representing Los Angeles since 1951.
“Those guys just did a great job,” coach Sean McVay said. “They took over that game.”
They did so in their home, the $7 billion SoFi Stadium, making the Rams the second consecutive host to win the championship after Tampa Bay became the first a year ago.
“As far as building this stadium,” said Rams owner Stan Kroenke, the man who moved them back from St. Louis in 2016, “I think it turned out all right.”
The winning series, during which game MVP Kupp’s 4-yard touchdown reception was negated by offsetting penalties, ended soon after with the NFL Offensive Player of the Year easily beating Eli Apple in the right corner of the end zone for the winning score.
Kupp had four receptions for 39 yards, and a 7-yard run on fourth-and-1 from the Rams 30 on the championship drive.
“I don’t feel deserving of this,” Kupp said. “The guys standing here challenged me, they pushed me. I am just so grateful.”
Even with that brilliant, decisive march to the Lombardi Trophy, it was LA’s “fearsome fivesome” that made the difference. Led by Aaron Donald and Von Miller, they sacked Joe Burrow a Super Bowl record-tying seven times, shutting down the Cincinnati offense after a 22-second spurt to start the second half gave the Bengals the lead.
Fittingly, Burrow was under pressure on fourth-and-1 and threw incomplete, setting off a football fiesta Los Angeles has not seen since the LA Raiders won the 1983 championship.
A tearful Donald said after the crowning achievement of a certain Hall of Fame career, “I wanted it so bad. I dreamed this.”
Added McVay, at 36 the youngest Super Bowl-winning head coach: “For the offense to be able to find a way, and then Aaron to be able to finish it off, it’s poetic, man.”
The 10 quick points at the outset of the third quarter put Cincinnati ahead for the first time. Tee Higgins’ 75-yard score made it 17-13 and was followed one play later by Chidobe Awuzie’s pick. Evan McPherson tied Adam Vinatieri’s postseason record with his 14th field goal, a 38-yarder.
Then they tried to hold on as all of southwest Ohio held its breath.
But LA’s relentless pass rush, led by its two biggest stars, Donald and Miller with two apiece, allowed nothing more.
Then came the 15-play march in which Kupp also converted the fourth down with his run.
“We wanted to be in attack mode and pressure them as much as possible,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.”
Kupp even earned the MVP honor despite often being double-teamed after fellow wideout Odell Beckham Jr. — who had a touchdown catch on Los Angeles’ second drive for the game’s first score — went out with a knee injury in the second period. Kupp finished with eight receptions for 92 yards.
One fear for Rams followers was ill-advised throws by Stafford, and he had two. His deep pass moving left was picked in the end zone late in the first half by Jessie Bates III. On his second interception, rookie Ben Skowronek could only deflect it — directly to Awuzie.
– Additional reporting by Brett Graham
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