The Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl-bound after defeating the 49ers 20-17 in the NFC Championship game on Sunday, Jan. 30, at Sofi Stadium.­ Now they will face the underdog Bengals who have had quite the Cinderella playoff story, but I think the Rams defense will get after Joe Burrow and they’ll be able to pull out the win.­­

Coming into the 2021-2022 NFL season, the Rams made major additions to their roster in the offseason by trading away their once upon a time franchise quarterback and No. 1 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Jared Goff. 

After signing Goff to a four-year, $130 million contract extension, the Rams made one Super Bowl appearance in Goff’s third year even though they did not play like the highly touted offensive team that they were that season. 

Goff would get traded the following season.

Not only did they trade away Goff, but the Rams also gave away three draft picks in the trade to the Lions ”” a third-round pick in 2021 and first-round selections in both 2022 and 2023. 

The Rams were not building for the future though, they had a “win now” mentality. 

A major piece in that trade was acquiring veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford.  Stafford had spent his entire NFL career trying to rebuild the franchise of the Detroit Lions but now he no longer had to be that guy for the city of Detroit. 

It was about time that Stafford was able to get a much-needed new home with a contender and who better than the Rams. Now they’re in the grandest stage in football, and they should handle the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Rams have major offensive superstars like Cooper Kupp (who is arguably the best receiver in the NFL this season), Robert Woods, an exciting speedster in Van Jefferson, a young running back coming off a breakout season last year with Cam Akers, and two solid tight end options in Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett (at the time of the trade). 

Not to mention four-time pro bowler Andrew Whitworth protecting you from getting sacked; What more could Matthew Stafford want in a new home? 

If the offensive team isn’t enough, then how about the elite talent they possess on the defensive side of the ball? If you have never heard of Aaron Donald then you are missing out, as he is arguably the best football player in the NFL. With a frame of 6-foot-1-inches and weighing 280 pounds, Donald is an absolute terror to opposing quarterbacks. 

He also has some great defensive linemates with veterans Leonard Floyd and A’Shawn Robinson and rising star Greg Gaines. 

The Rams also have three-time pro bowler Jalen Ramsey at cornerback causing havoc for opposing quarterbacks to try and get a ball to their star wide receivers, as Ramsey almost always guards the best receiver on the opposing team.  

With a head coach like Sean McVay, who led the Rams to at least the divisional round and the Super Bowl in two of the last three seasons, Stafford stepped into a locker room with a winning concept and a team proven to go far in the playoffs.

The 2021-2022 season went off with a hot start for the Rams as they won their first three games, one of which was against the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady 34-24. 

Another hot team the Rams played against to start the season was Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. 

The Rams did not look like how they looked in the first three games. The Rams turned it over twice while the Cardinals had a clean zero turnover game. Running backs James Conner and Chase Edmonds pounded the defense all game on the ground.

Conner ran for 50 yards with two rushing touchdowns while Edmonds ran for 120 yards in the victory. 

I was at that game and let me tell you, it was a miserably hot day in LA back in October and watching that performance made it an even worse day. 

The Rams got blown out by a final score of 37-20, but the team bounced back winning four straight games. 

Then after a tough loss to the Titans in November, the tragic news broke that star wide receiver Robert Woods suffered a torn ACL in practice and would be lost for the season right before going into an NFC West matchup with the 49ers on the road.

How would the Rams be able to replace the production and star power of Woods?

Along came Odell Beckham Jr., a star in his own right who was traded by the Browns after two lackluster years by the team. Odell was no longer happy in Cleveland and the organization traded him, and gave him a chance to go to a real contender in the NFC — just like the Lions did with Stafford.

The Rams were also able to get a future Hall of Famer and eight-time Pro Bowl selection Von Miller from the Denver Broncos who received first-team All-Pro honors three times and second-team All-Pro honors four times. He added even more elite talent to an already stout defense.

With all these additions, the Rams were ready to make another title run it seemed.

Well, the first game after acquiring their full roster didn’t go so well as the Niners beat the Rams handily 31-10 in a game where OBJ and Von Miller were both still learning the playbook.­

The Rams then went on to win five out of their next six games, with the lone loss coming against Aaron Rodgers and the NFC North Champion Green Bay Packers at Lambeau 36-28.

On Dec. 13, 2021, the Rams had their revenge game against the Cardinals in Glendale. As Stafford and the Rams won a tight one against Kyler and the Cards it is worth mentioning that the Cardinals were without Deandre Hopkins in this game.

Stafford threw for 287 yards and 3 touchdowns, connecting with Kupp, Beckham, and Van Jefferson. Kupp had 123 yards receiving in the win and Beckham who was becoming a rising star for the Rams in just a few short weeks had 77 receiving yards in the win. 

Murray on the other hand threw for 383 yards and got intercepted twice with no touchdowns to show for it. Conner had 31 yards rushing and two touchdowns, but it was not enough as the Rams won 30-23.

The Rams won the next three, setting up a date with their conference foe the Niners.

In one of the best games all year, the Rams took a strong lead into halftime leading 17-3, however the field goal the Niners got before the half gave them much-needed confidence going into the locker room.

That confidence was shown in the second half as they came out firing on all cylinders, getting right back in the game scoring 14 points in the third quarter and tying the game at 17-17.

Then in the fourth, the Niners were able to score with 26 seconds left and it was tied at the end of regulation 24-24.

In overtime, Robbie Gould made a field goal to put the Niners up 27-24 and Stafford made a bad play throwing the ball up down the sideline only for it to get picked off and seal the win for the Niners.

That game put the Rams in the Wild Card weekend and they faced off against the Arizona Cardinals again this time in SOFI.

Kyler and the Cardinals looked like they did not come ready to play and the Rams took them out of it early, winning handily 34-11.

Setting up a chance to beat possibly the greatest to ever do it Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional round. 

The Rams got off to a hot start and looked like they had control in the first half leading 20-3 going into halftime, once again giving their opponent momentum going into the locker room.

Stafford ran a touchdown in to make it 27-3 in the third quarter, then Tom Brady and the Bucs put up 10 points to make it 27-13 heading into the fourth quarter.

Having the feel of the Falcons Patriots Super Bowl comeback, Tom Brady started bringing the Bucs back hitting Mike Evans for a 55-yard touchdown and then with 42 seconds left Leonard Fournette ran in a touchdown from nine yards out. 

With a tie game, who else would Stafford look for than Cooper Kupp hitting him for a 44-yard completion, setting up Matt Gay’s 30-yard game-winning field goal with time expiring taking the Rams home from Tampa Bay to face yet again the 49ers at SOFI.

With a trip to the Super Bowl on the line the Rams and Niners played a back-and-forth game in the first half with the Niners up 10-7 going into halftime.

In the third quarter, the Niners scored a touchdown with Jimmy Garoppolo hitting Goerge Kittle for a 16 yarder making it 17-7.

The Rams would not go away getting resilient in the fourth quarter when they needed it most. Stafford hit Kupp for an 11-yard touchdown cutting the deficit to 17-14 with 13:30 left.

Gay converted a 40-yard field goal with 6:49 left in the fourth tying it up at 17.

The Niners got a chance to drive the length of the field for the win, however the Rams defense got pressure on Garoppolo and forced him to throw an interception in the hands of Travin Howard giving the Rams the chance to win the game and go to the Super Bowl.

This set up Gay’s game-winning field goal from 30 yards, sending the Rams to the Super Bowl.

Third times the charm I guess for the Rams as the Niners seemed to have their number all season long and they were finally able to get that perennial win over their NFC West rival. 

Being a major Rams fan I am obviously going to be rooting for them in the Super Bowl, but I guess we will have to wait and see until Sunday Feb. 13 at 3:30 p.m. for who takes the Lombardi home.