A fans view - The Road to Redemption and Super Bowl LVI - Part 1

Three years ago, I strode into the Stadium in Atlanta ready to slay the dragon.

So confident was I in that the Rams would win Super Bowl 53, that I brought the entire family, even the 2 year old, into the Stadium so they could say “I WAS THERE!” when the Rams ended the Patriot reign.

Nothing could convince me that the path I was on didn’t lead to the happiness that I knew awaited me just three hours away. After all, had I not just witnessed Greg Zuerlein erase the ghost of Adam Vinitieri from 18 years earlier by drilling a 57 yarder in OT to send the Rams back to Georgia?

When I wrote about that experience on this board and the adventures I had over the previous weeks leading up to SB 53, the whole thing seemed like a magic carpet ride into a world of pure ecstasy. [https://ramsrule.com/herd/read.php?19,710001,page=1].

Entering the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, I began to feel some butterflies but any doubts that THIS WAS IT were quickly put to bed when I see Ray Agnew and his family walking right towards me into the packed corridors. “Looking good Ray!” I shout as he nears. As he walks past me, he puts out his hand and gives me a bro hug.

I remember seeing Ray at SB 34 with his kids, then small like my own children now, greeting him on the field after the Rams won the title.
My wife asks, who is that?

That’s Ray Agnew, he played on the 1999 Championship team and that big piece of jewelry on his finger is the SB 34 Championship Ring.
This day is going GREAT!

I see a nervous ram fan walking alone. I look at him: “You scared bro?” He says: “I’m nervous as hell man”

In my most confident voice, I say “let me tell you something to put your mind at ease”: “You know how many times Coach McVay has lost to an AFC team since he has been with the Rams?”

He looks at me quizzically.

“ZERO!” “It has never happened!”

“We got this . . . “

“Really, is that true? He says.

“It’s true, man, look it up!”

“Thanks, I needed something like that”

Fist bump and on my way to my seats.

Can’t beat destiny . . .

Over the next three hours - watching Goff missing – until it was too late - a wide open Cooks in the endzone standing alone by 23 yards which would have put the Rams up 7-3 late in the 3rd, then watching Brandon Cooks drop a would be tying score in the 4th Quarter and , finally, watching the wrong RB from Georgia – Sony Michel - put the Patriots ahead for good, the dream vanished seemingly as quickly as it appeared.

My crying 8 year-old woke his 2 year old sister who was then enjoying the most expensive nap in the history of the Super Bowl. Looking for any silver lining, I tell my kids – at least you can tell your own kids you saw the GOAT win his last SB Title….

DOH!

Walking out of a Super Bowl loss is akin to the Omaha Beach Scene from Saving Private Ryan – I felt like the dude with his arm blown off walking around confused looking for his missing appendage. The colors are off, your hearing is somehow muffled, the whole world is @#$%& up.

We lost to the Patriots AGAIN! The @#$%& PATRIOTS!!

Trying to change the template and to understand what real suffering is, I take my family the next day to a civil war battlefield on the outskirts of Atlanta where Union General William Tecumseh Sherman faced off against Confederate General John Bell Hood.

John Bell Hood was a soldier of unquestioned bravery but one with significant flaws. When asked about Gen. Hood, Robert E. Lee famously said “Too much lion, not enough fox.” It was his inflexibility and one-dimensional view of fighting which ultimately led to his resounding defeat to a superior General in Sherman.

I thought of McVay facing off against Belicheck the day before.

Refusing to change things up despite the Pats snuffing out everything they were trying until late into the game when the margin for error had all but disappeared.

So much for getting my mind off the game.

“Too much lion, not enough fox”.

McVay was 33 when he lost the Super Bowl to Belicheck and I know he felt the pain the way I did if not much worse. The soul wrenching pain of what could have been.

Some never recover from such defeats – ask Mike Martz.

Being an optimist and, with the passage of time, I began to re-examine what McVay had accomplished at 33 years old. Facing off against arguably the greatest coach-QB combo in the history of the NFL, he had his team knotted at 3 going into the 4th Quarter.

He held the GOAT to 3 points going into the 4th Quarter of the SB and held him without a TD for the entire game. If Goff sees Cooks breaking open or if Cooks catches the best Goff pass of the night, perhaps it ends differently.



But you can’t change history. You can only hope to learn from it.

Seeing coach McVay giving interviews following the big loss, it was clear – he felt the pain.

Anybody that has followed this team like I have felt the PAIN too.

So close. So @#$%& close.

How to erase this pain?

It was the great Persian Poet Rumi who wisely said: “The cure to the pain is the pain”

The cure to the pain, IS THE PAIN.

Over the next couple of years, though winning, it was clear that McVay was searching for the answer to the pain that he felt. In late 2020, with a division title against Seattle on the line, he watched Jared Goff, nearing Seattle’s redzone, float a ball apparently to no one. The interception and subsequent loss, appeared to be the last straw.

From that moment on, it appeared that McVay knew what he had to do.

The cure to the pain, is the pain.

McVay’s search for answers lead him to jettisoning his young QB who had just signed a 4 year 134,000,000 contract in favor of a forgotten gunslinger.

John Matthew Stafford.

Stafford, who had reached 50,000 passing yards faster than any QB in NFL history was an anomaly. A number one overall draft pick who was known for the “big arm” and “toughness” but never truly mentioned with the elite QBs of this era. Nicknamed by some as “Pad Statford” - someone who puts up numbers in meaningless garbage time moments - he certainly had something to prove.

Following a tremendous start, Stafford hit the skids midseason – hitting a slump which included 4 pick sixes - a number which Goff hit only after 5 years.
People began questioning the move, the cost, and the ability of Matthew to take the Rams where they wanted to go.

Despite the team turning it around late in the season, a bitter loss to the 49ers in week 18, particularly after leading 17 to 0 in a game where the Rams could have ended the season of their most hated rival and simultaneously clinched the #2 seed, ratcheted up the pain meter to near catastrophic levels.

As I pondered the gut-punch which was the week 18 49ers loss, a peculiar thought came over me: What if this fiery crucible marked not our tombstone, but rather the trailhead of the road to redemption?

Could such a road truly exist?

A road so fraught with peril, that to traverse it would require dispatching the defending champions, the GOAT and your most hated rival all in a 7 day span?

A road whose completion would erase not only a mountain of hurt but put us in Super Bowl 56 and on the precipice of becoming World Champions in our own stadium?

The cure to the pain is the pain.

As I wrote following the Wildcard game, the strange confluence of events of week 18 could ultimately turn out to be the single luckiest turn of events in Rams history. [https://ramsrule.com/herd/read.php?19,929007,929007#msg-929007]

Because I committed to coaching my 8 year old’s Saturday morning youth basketball game, I pondered how I could keep my commitment to the team and still make it from the California Oregon Border to Tampa by the next day. As luck would have it, a quick search of flights showed a flight out of Humboldt County, 80 miles north, departing from Buc guard Alex Kappa’s alma mater at 8:00 PM, going to SF and then arriving in Tampa the next morning at 9:00 AM, a full 6 hours before kickoff.

Hmmm.

“Who wants to make this run to Tampa to see the Rams put the Goat out to pasture?”

My two boys: “WE DO!”

My wife and 5 year old daughter? “uh, we will watch on TV”.

When we arrive at the Eureka-Arcata airport ironically located in neither Eureka nor Arcata but rather McKinleyville, California -- I see a TSA agent who used to be a regular in my hometown back in day. He saw me board many a flight to STL from Norcal and was just telling the other agents about “this guy from Crescent City who would fly to Ram games in STL and swearing that ‘I guarantee you, this guy is going to be in Tampa tomorrow.’”
Just as they were calling @#$%& on him, me and my two boys come into the terminal fully decked in Rams gear.

Boarding the plane and just before my cell service goes out, I notice that the 49ers were giving the #1 Seed Packers – who to that point were 8-0 in Lambeau, all they could handle.

I show my boys the score . . . the Mickey Pfleger miracle is unfolding before our eyes.

We land in SF just in time to see Robbie Gould kick the game winning FG against Green Bay.

Green Bay is out.

Because the #3 seed is already out, if the Rams win tomorrow, knocking out the #2 seed Tampa, they get Home Field through the Super Bowl.

Holy @#$%&, this is happening.

A common theme throughout my life’s travels to ram games is the bedrock principal that the harder it is to get to the games, the better the Rams play. I figure a red eye from the upper left hand corner of Cali to Tampa has to be a guarantee of success.

Problematically, however, the road to the airport and the plane to SF are empty. Dang, that was an easy drive and we are spread out all over the tiny plane.
When we board the flight to Tampa, me and my boys each have rows of 3 seats - which we are going to turn into a redneck first class section the moment the plane takes off.

I don’t think I’ve been on a smoother flight anywhere.

Just as I begin to worry that this is too smooth, the Pilot comes on “Folks, uh, were going to have disembark . . . were having a problem with the window heating system up here in the cockpit, uh, not only is it not working, we are actually getting electrical current arcing across the windshield. Were going to see if they have any spare aircrafts around”

Well, at least now I’m sure we are going to win . . . but what is the chance they have a spare plane sitting around?

After a near 3 hour delay, a “spare plane” is located, we are off to Tampa. The plane is still empty but at grossly delayed.

Tampa airport has a shuttle which takes you to the rental car center. As we are waiting to board, I see these two giant humans, a man and a woman, wearing sweatshirts that have 79 on the back in Ram colors. Though I am a total introvert when it comes to talking with strangers, interestingly, I have no problem engaging with people associated with the Rams.

“Are you Rob’s parents?”

“I’m mom and he’s dad” the woman said smiling.

Immediately trying to flex that I’m either a serious fan or stalker, I ask: “Did you guys just fly in from Maryland?”

After they pause for a second, giving me an opportunity to tell them I lived in Frederick, MD for a few months back when he was drafted, they respond that they had. Their guard lowered, we talked football for the entire short ride from the Airport to the rental car center. I told them I respected Rob’s game – a steady Eddie, reliable, solid. His dad said that was always his game. I asked them about 2019 and whether Rob was playing injured. His dad confirmed what many us believed, that Rob was playing injured and apparently fairly severely. He referenced the injury in the Steelers game which lingered all year. He talked about how he always told his son that he needed to tell the trainers when he is hurt but he never wanted to let his teammates down and never wanted to miss a play so he kept injuries to himself going back to when he was a kid.

We talked about the 49ers game in week 18 and if they knew how the players viewed it. When they told me that Rob and the team were viewing the loss as a possible blessing in disguise and certainly a great motivator, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck go up.

They said they will be travelling back for the 49er game next week as if it was a done deal. They both talked about how, to a man, the players wanted another shot at the 49ers. . .

Arriving at the stadium, I’m kind of taken aback by the cheesiness of the whole Raymond James Stadium experience. I mean a cartoon pirate ship, a DJ out front in a fake crows nest, with wenches and buccaneers walking around making hand gestures and swinging fake swords. Just a strange assembly of really bizarre looking people.

It was like a bad E trip in a pirate themed rave from the 90s.

When the stadium finally opened, we quickly move down to the field. I love to get up close with the players to watch warm ups. While I try and decipher mood, field conditions etc, I see my kids getting their jersey’s signed by Eric Dickerson. If there is a cooler HOF ex player with the fans, I have yet to meet him. The guy always takes the time to engage with the fans.

I note on the game time forum that there was a pretty strong breeze that kept flaring up. I was taken aback by the number of Rams fans in attendance. Not overwhelming or anything but a pretty good contingent for a Road game not in AZ or SF. The other thing I noticed was that the Ram fans were surprisingly confident.

Fairly reasonable ticket prices, particularly for a divisional game had me around the 20 yard line about 15 yards from the field. Just before kick-off, I see each offensive lineman embrace Coach Carbs then each offensive lineman to a man, hugged each other. It was a cool moment. Maybe it’s a routine, but I have not noticed it before.

The players truly seem to care about each other – a hallmark of past championship teams.

Just before kickoff as the team huddles together, I am reminded why I became a Rams fan.

Those uniforms.

Those beautiful Rams uniforms - blue and gold – the helmet and gold horns popping in the Florida sun which finally reveals itself moments before kickoff.
For just a second, I was 5 years old again. I felt the tears welling up a bit as I glance at my boys getting the same vibe from those beautiful uniforms.

As a huge miliary plane does a fly over, I am brought back to the moment.

The Rams are taking on the GOAT.

The guy that messed up both SB36 and SB53 for all of us was now again standing in the way of our dreams.

From the opening snap, it appears that Coach Morris has the Rams defense in top form. It doesn’t take long for the confidence we fans have that day to start amping up. I mean nothing could go wrong. Brady looked like his time was up. He was getting harassed and hit on nearly every drop back – while Stafford was slinging the ball all over the field.

The Rams only punted one time the entire first half and played efficient football throughout the half.

A fake bucs fan in front of me keeps getting excited when the Rams score. I asked him what his deal was? He said he is a “huge bucs fan” but put “a ton of money” on the “over” of the 23.5 point half time line.

I told him that, by definition, you can’t be a “huge bucs fan” and simultaneously cheer for the opposing team to put points on the board. Its just not possible.

When Nick Scott intercepts the GOAT late in the first half, it looks like we (and the fake fan) are well on our way to a 27-3 first half lead or, at worst, we will kick a FG before the half going up 26-3 and covering that 23.5 over.

Unbeknownst to us at the time, when Akers coughs up the ball on the ½ yard line, not only does the fake buc fan look like he just lost his entire college tuition because the line is frozen at 23, but it is the first act in what was one of the most bizarre football games I have ever attended.

Like any seasoned fan, leaving at least 3 and possibly 7 points on the field against the Goat is sitting like that last bite of food you knew you should not have eaten but did anyway. You feel it there and hope it doesn’t get worse . . .

Fortunately, when the 2nd half starts, its clear that the Rams are picking up where they left off and continue to dominate the Bucs so much so that when they go up 27-3 with less than 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, much of the stadium starts to leave.

Ram fans who were sitting in the rafters are now streaming in all around us. I like the way this is feeling. I mean, I know a blowout when I see one. After all, I was at the 42-7 drubbing of the hawks when we sent the 12th man home at the half and the Wild Card game the week before when we pounded the cards wire to wire.

I get a text from the Court Reporter in my hometown, a 49er fan that has been tormenting me for the last 3 years. “It looks like Ram-49er rematch . . . except for the Brady Factor”.

When the bucs put up 3 points in a 27-3 game, making it 27-6 the remaining crowd is clearly frustrated even though it was a sound coaching call given that you needed 4 scores unless you planned to get 3 2-point conversions in a row.

As I start to type “@#$%& THE BRADY FACTOR” back to the Court Reporter, I see Stafford hit Coop for a routine catch and then, the ball squirts out towards the sideline and stops.

Bucs recover. The entire “drive” takes 17 seconds off the clock.

The Brady Factor.

I glance up at the scoreboard, 3 TD lead with just about a quarter to play? The way this Defense is playing?

@#$%& the Brady Factor.

Its not long before the Rams defense has the bucs at 4th and 9, right near my seats. I tell my boys, we are about to put the GOAT out to pasture.

Brady to Miller, 16 yards and a TAMPA BAY, first down!!!!!

All the @#$%& pirate flags which they handed out during the pre-game start to pop up around the stadium.

Bucs 13, Rams 27.

Court Reporter incoming text: “Brady Factor”

An Akers run takes us out of the 3rd Quarter and I remain confident that this is just a flash in the pan.

When the 4th Quarter begins, Stafford misses two passes in a row and the Rams have to punt. A glance at the clock shows the entire drive took only 31 seconds off the clock.

The Brady Factor …

When Brady drops back to pass inside TBs own 25 and I see Von Miller strip the goat and the Rams get the ball, a sensation of relief hits me, a tension which had been building that I had not realized was released.

We got this! At worst, we run 3 times, take 2 minutes off the clock and have Gay knock through a big FG which will give us a 3 score lead late.

Wait, why is Stafford in the shotgun running an empty set? As I glance over at my kids to complain, the ball gets snapped when Stafford is not expecting it and it is heading towards the Rams endzone at a high rate of speed.

Holy @#$%&, the Bucs got it and you see the monitors showing people running back into the stadium. The bucs got the ball, time outs and its only a two possession game. The whole drive took, gulp, 8 seconds off the clock.

A dejected rams defense which had been celebrating moments earlier heads back onto the field.

The Rams offense, in its last 3 possessions, took less than 1 minute off the clock . . . total.

The Brady Factor.

I think back to the great Rams comeback versus the hawks in 2005. A game I attended where the Rams were down 27-10 with less than 5 ½ minutes to play. They came back and won in OT 33-27 and that Rams team didn’t have Tom Brady.

Can the Defense hold? At this point, every buc fan and every buc player understood we were fully within the zone of the “BRADY FACTOR”.

Remarkably, the Rams defense HOLDS again! I think back to my frustration with Coach Morris early on. When he was hired, I looked at the Defense of teams he was associated with and I didn’t feel confident and yet, here they were, time and gain stifling the GOAT despite every effort by the Rams “O” to give the game way. As he said weeks later, it was time to STAND THE @#$%& UP!

Against a team that had hired and then Fired Coach Morris as their Head Coach, Coach was keeping the Rams in the game. Perhaps he was on his own road to redemption.

When the Rams get the ball again and set up for another FG, I am now sure that the GOAT is going down! Gay lines up and kicks a perfect shot which is heading straight towards the uprights and then, the ball drops straight out of the air like a pigeon that had just been shot in the head.

What the hell is going on!

The Brady Factor.

The defense holds AGAIN! Turnover on downs with Weddle dodging a PI by a split second when he blasts a receiver moments after the ball hits the turf on a 4th down pass.

Come on Coach, milk this clock, finish this thing!

Nope, 3 plays, 3 yards and they need to punt but TB burns their time outs.

Following a punt, TB12 shows why he has been the most feared player in the NFL for so long. When the Rams D shows that Ramsey is basically on an island with Mike Evans, Brady launches a perfect pass which is hauled in by Evans and the bucs bring the game within 7 and still 3 plus minutes on the clock.

My wife texts from home: “OMG, what is going on!”.

I refuse to believe that this is going to end this way. Just run the ball three times, punt and the bucs can take their chances with a little over a minute to play against a defense that has played great despite the Offense attempting to give the game away.

Then, it happens.

Akers takes the hand off and immediately FUMBLES IT BACK TO TAMPA.

Now every seat - which moments ago were empty – is now occupied and the crowd was in a full frenzy. That sick feeling one gets when you travel great distances to a game you might lose starts to creep in.

Come on D, hold these guys. Hold them 1 more time!

Getting TB to 4th and goal at the 1, I fully expect AD to make the play. Brady turns and gives the ball to Fournette – but Troy Reeder is in the backfield he can make the stop . . . . NO! Reeder bounces right off Fournette as he scampers in for the score.

Touchdown TB! Game tied 27-27!

The Brady Factor.

I try and tune everything out. I’ve been watching football too long.

How does one recover from a momentum shift so monumental that it refilled a half empty stadium in a matter of minutes?

I see Brady getting pats from his teammates. I see Suh rocking back and forth on the sidelines, champing at the bit to come in and shut this thing down. He had been jawing at Stafford and the Rams all day. It seemed personal.

I look up, less than a minute to play. 1 time out. Are we playing for overtime, in this environment?

Looking through my binoculars I see Coach McVay, he is remarkably animated. Pacing like a guy who has no intention of shutting it down. I see Stafford, clapping, imploring his teammates to be ready.

When the Rams take the field, I feel a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe we could get something done. We are on the 25, we need probably 50 yards given the strange breeze and the earlier miss.

The ball is snapped and Stafford tries to run where he is immediately engulfed by the Bucs and I hear a guy scream FUMBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Right in my ear.

After nearly passing out, I see the Rams still have the ball, but now only 35 seconds to play and they are on their own 24.

Just when all hope of not going to overtime seems lost, I see Kupp make a move so smooth that it nearly breaks the ankles of the DB leaving him wide open for a 20 yard game which ends with him stopping the clock by getting out of bounds.

There is 28 seconds to play. Crowd reaches its pinnacle.

At the snap of the ball, you see Tampa is sending the house. Stafford is staring down his former teammate Suh who basically abused the Rams OL and is now bearing down directly on him. Stafford launches a pass deep and then you see it . . . a blur of blue and gold . . . streaking behind everyone.



Time slows as the ball is perfectly cradled by Kupp who 3 years earlier was deprived of his SB run with a torn ACL.

In a route appropriately named “For the love of the Game”, the crowd is silenced except for US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matthew Stafford, who was considered the lessor of the 2 QBs in the game was running down to spike the ball. I looked at the clock, there was 14 seconds and running.

No time outs.

Just be cool. Set it up, no false starts, no ten second run offs.

Stafford emphatically spikes the ball.

Before Tampa fans could recover, Matthew Gay, a Kicker who was demoted by Tampa to their practice squad allowing the Rams to claim him was on his own road to redemption.

Lining up and concealing a severe groin strain, he puts the dagger in his former teammates.

As quickly as Tampa got into the game, their season was over.

The GOAT was done . . . literally.

The guy who broke my heart in SB36 and was raising another Lombardi in my face in SB53, was done.

As my wife and daughter facetime us from home, a TB fan who had been drinking too much is flipping me and my boys off screaming @#$%& YOU, @#$%& YOU right in our face.

So happy were we that it was actually amusing. I flip the screen so this guy is flipping off my wife and daughter. My 5 year old daughter asks on the phone, why is that guy doing that daddy?

“Because he is a loser baby. That’s what losers do”

I tell my daughter that when I was a child, I loved to play a game called capture the flag. She asked me how it was played. I told her that you try and invade the enemy’s field and grab their flag and return it home.

“Were you good at it daddy?”

I hold up 2 bucs pirate flags: “Daddy’s the Best!”

I’ll bring them to you tomorrow ok?

“Thank you daddy!”



Before we leave the stadium, I think of Ramgator sitting somewhere in these stands watching with us. The fan who wears his heart on his sleeve and who witnessed the Rams come back in the early 90s from a 24-3 halftime deficit would soon learn that Brady played his last game and he can say “I was there . . .”

As we begin the walk out, a guy wearing a Tampa “Official Photographer” shirt comes and ask if he can take our picture. Why is an Official Tampa Photographer wanting to take our picture – even stranger - it looks like he is holding a polaroid.

He snaps a picture:

He lifts up his Buccaneers “Official Photographer” top, the tattered shirt underneath clearly reveals an old rams helmet on it.

He hands us the picture and says “homefield advantage through the super bowl! Let’s get this done”



2 weeks after posting that the Rams loss to the 49ers may be the first act in a most improbable journey, here we were.

The 49ers were coming to LA to play the Rams with Super Bowl 56 on the line.

The first game I attended in person was the Rams versus the 49ers in 1983 in Candlestick. By that time, despite being only 13, I had built up a real hate for the 49ers. Before 1981, they were an afterthought, a guaranteed win and no threat to the Rams. After 1981, the 49ers became a force.

Sometime during that 1981 season, a mysterious chip was discovered in our families 13” Zenith Color TV. It appeared to my father, a physician and former Green Beret, that it was struck with some sort of projectile.

Indeed it was, a Daisy Pump Action Red Ryder BB gun, shot by yours truly when the Rams lost 33-31 on a cold November day when the loss was so bitter I did my best Elvis impression and shot Joe Montana’s face when it appeared post game on the screen.

From that time the 49ers defaulted to this fans “must beat team” each year. Over time I attended some epic and some not so epic Rams / 49ers games. On the plus side, the 1985 MNF classic, the 1988 Kevin Greene game and, on the the heart break side, the 1989 MNF John Taylor game the MNF shut out when AD slammed his helmet in frustration and the last game played by the St. Louis Rams.

The 49ers engendered so much hate over the last few decades – Kenny Norton punching the Goal Posts, CONVICTED RAPIST DANA Stubblefield saying Same Old Sorry Ass Rams while chomping a hot dog on the sidelines…. Losing 17 games in a row. . . just a ton of pain associated with that team.

Yet, despite this, until not too long ago, the Rams still held the head-to-head edge.

But that was then.

Now Shanny, his stupid face and his flat billed 49er hat, George Kittle and his jump shot poses, Deebo laying in our endzone with his face in his hands fluttering his feet back and forth – it was all too much. They have owned us recently and they were bringing 35/40,000 fans with them on what they were ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN would be their return to the SB and ultimate coronation.

Living in Norcal, I sympathize with fans like Napoli and Ferragamo, Sacram and others. Those losses to the 49ers are only compounded by living in the area and now, with a trip to the SB on the line, the notion of losing to them AGAIN was basically unbearable.

I simply refused to allow myself to consider a 2 week hype week which arose out of the 49ers beating the Rams in the NFC Championship game.

Travelling down from Crescent City, we fly to Oakland and then on SWA to LAX. Going through the airport, we immediately are hit with a red tide of 49ers jerseys everywhere.

I’ll tell you, to a person, every one of those folks (and unfortunately a few on this Board) would have passed a polygraph that the 49ers were going to win and they were going to the Super Bowl.

So many people talking trash to me and the family in the Oakland Airport.

The guy sitting in front of us on the plane kept turning around and was yapping about “6 in a row”, “Levi South!”, it’s a “49ers home game”, and that they were “thinking about staying in LA” so they can take in the festivities before the “49ers Super Bowl”.

I asked the dude if he ever flipped a coin and tried to get it to do the same thing 7 times in a row. After he thought about it for a second, he realized the implication. I told him that when this was over and “he received his 24% APR credit card bill with this ill-advised trip which he likely couldn’t truly afford”, I said “you are going to think of my face LAUGHING AT YOU as you spend the next 48 months paying it off.”

“Each AND EVERY MONTH. My FACE, laughing at YOU!”

I said “you know, this trip only makes sense if the 49ers win if they don’t . . . .man on man”.

The pause and his inability to respond was a look I have seen many times cross-examining people in Court. It’s when the punch hits home so thoroughly that, despite wanting so badly to respond, they are overwhelmed by the truth of the comment. Dude was leveraged. He needed the win.

Having gone to three prior Conference Championships and, fortunately, being 3-0 in those games, I implore anyone who thinks of maybe going to one game to attend that one. The stakes are so high and the Super Bowl fake-fan set is not yet on the scene, the entire stadium is filled with hard cores who all know what is on the line. The energy is off the hook. There is simply nothing that compares to the energy of the Conference Championship.

Heading to the stadium, I had hoped that there would be enough hardcores in LA to give us a real home field advantage. All hopes were quickly dashed as we moved closer to the stadium – the numbers of folks wearing RED were HUGE.

As I considered this, one consolation kept recurring – can you imagine this many REAL 49ers fans watching their team LOSE at the NFC Championship game – I mean the walk out for me would be one of the greatest walk outs of ALL TIME.

Though the blue jerseys started showing up in force just before game time, I would estimate that at least 45% of the crowd were 9ers. Enough to force more silent counts and embarrassment.

A quick check in by Rampage2k, who I could see throughout the game sitting in row 1 a few sections down, added to my already quiet confidence that what we were about to witness was just another step on the Rams Redemption Tour.

Watching the warmups, the Rams, to a player, had their game face on. From Donald to Stafford and everyone in between, I could see the faces of players who had been pushed around too long, had been embarrassed too much, humiliated too often and had suffered too much pain at the hands of their most bitter rival.

This pain was about to end.

The cure for the pain is the pain.

From the opening gun, it was clear that the Rams team that had lost 6 in a row to the 49ers was NOWHERE IN SITE.

From the gate, the 49ers could absolutely NOT run the ball – at all. This for a team whose WHOLE IDENTITY is running the ball this was likely to spell trouble for the team in Red.

Following a couple of failed possessions, the Rams took over on their own 3-yard line, getting the thousands of 49ers fans in attendance to ramp up the noise!

What followed was an absolutely brilliant 97-yard drive which consumed over 9 ½ minutes which was capped off by an absolute dime from Stafford to Kupp which, from my vantage point looked like a flash of blue in front of a nearly full endzone of 49ers fans.

Taste that @#$%&!

While the 49ers somehow ended up with a 10-7 lead at half, the numbers and my eyes told me a different story.

The first half showed me that the Rams were the more physical team, highlighted by Nick Scott absolutely obliterating Deebo in a failed pass over the middle.

As I looked at the half time stats on the Oculus, it showed that the Rams had 14 first downs to 49ers 6, 20 minutes time of possession to 49ers 10, 42 offensive plays to 20.

A dropped TD pass to Skworonek was the only reason we were trailing in this game.

To my eyes, the Rams were Rocky Balboa delivering body blows to Ivan Drago. Sooner or later, Drago is going down.

The 3rd Quarter starts and again, the 49ers can’t run the ball. The Rams are daring Jimmy G to beat them. Ramsey drops a would be INT around the 49ers 25 which could have ended this charade early but it was not to be.

After trading several possessions the 49ers, riding Jimmy G’s short passing game, is deep in Rams territory.

In what was viewed by the fans in red as the death blow and their ticket to the big dance, Jimmy hits a wide open Kittle to put the 49ers up by 10 late into the 3rd Quarter. Compounding this unfolding fiasco is the fact that McVay has burned up some time outs including an ill-advised challenge.

If we were going to come back, it was going to be down by 10, against the 3rd ranked defense, with essentially no time outs and from a silent count because the 49ers fans were riding that 10 point lead into full euphoria.

We enter the 4th Quarter down by 10.

I rack my brain to see if I can remember the Rams coming back from double digits in the 2nd Half during the McVay era. I start to panic then I realize that just 3 years earlier, I was in New Orleans when the Rams did just that. In a championship game no less.

Fortunately, I don’t realize that that was the only time the Rams have come back from 10 in the 2nd Half in the McVay era.

Even better, I Don’t realize the vomit-inducing stat that NO TEAM in the history of the Super Bowl Era has ever come back from double digits in the 4th Quarter of a Championship game . . . . EVER!

Entering the 4th Quarter, McVay was going to have to buck one the nastiest trends in the history of the league.

As they started the fateful drive to counter the 10 point 49er lead, McVay, with his TE1 out with an MCL Sprain, called a FLEA FLICKER, TE Screen?

W.T.F!?

Never seen that before.

Kendall Blanton takes the short dump off and charges up the field. I get a text message from the 49er fan Court Reporter from back home saying that per ESPN the 49ers have an 86% chance of winning the game.

I text him back, no team has ever beaten the Rams in a Championship game I have attended.

McVay continues to have the 49ers on their heels as he mixes up the play calling. When he schemes Kupp open for his 2nd TD, you get the feeling that McVay has learned his lesson . . . you need to be the lion, but you also need to be the fox.

Rams 14-49ers 17.

The monitors show that Donald has the defense huddled up on the sidelines. I quickly grabbed by binoculars just in time to see the defense in a tight huddle with AD imploring them to play.

I kept thinking back to the scene in Remember the Titans – where the former head coach/ now defense coordinator implores the defense to respond to what was happening in the game by telling them to NOT GIVE UP A SINGLE YARD! NOT A SINGLE YARD!!!!

A’Shawn Robinson, a player whose health and salary cap number a year ago, had many, myself included, wondering what his purpose was on the team was fully locked in. In what will turn out as a season of redemption, A’Shawn’s name is quickly moving up the list.

Looking at him from afar, I’ve never seen a player more locked in. Whatever AD is selling, Robinson is buying 100%.

I feel all the hairs on my arms go up.

The Defense has had enough.

They immediately shut down the 49ers including a 3rd and 1 stop by both A’Shawn and Weddle’s Beard, another player that I was all too happy to say goodbye to 2 years ago, who is playing OUT OF HIS @#$%& MIND!

After McVay burns another time out on a challenge, the Rams get the ball back.

McVay immediately calls a play action pass which is lofted deep. You see Jefferson breaking open and the ball going nowhere near him!

Jaquaski Tart is standing there like an outfielder - waiting on a routine fly ball – AND THEN DROPS AN EASY INTERCEPTION!

To every knowledgeable fan in the stadium – we know – those types of plays ALWAYS Come back to haunt you.

Before the 9ers can recover, Stafford hits OBJ for a 29 yard gain and the dirty piece of @#$%& Jimmy Ward goes low and spears OBJ with his helmet, the 2nd time in the game he intentionally tried to hurt OBJ after publicly promising earlier in the week that he was going to do just that.

Flags flying everywhere. 15 yards, unnecessary roughness to go with a 29 yard pass completion. Total gain, 44 yards.

Following a beautiful screen to Kupp on 3rd and 10 and a quick hitter to OBJ, the drive stalls but Stafford has the Rams in position to kick a 40 yard FG which Gay immediately hits to tie the game at 17.

10 unanswered points to tie the game has stirred the spirit of every Ram fan, young and old in SOFI to rally around the defense which is calling for noise.

I will always remember 6:49 on the clock at SOFI Stadium in the NFC Championship game as the moment the Rams Fans TOOK OVER SOFI STADIUM!!!!

WHOOOOOSE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAMS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOOOSE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAMS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOSE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! RAMS HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife looks at me and notices that I’ve kind of welled up feeling the turn of events.

LETS GOOOOOOO!!!!

First play, AD burns his guy and nearly gets a strip sack on Jimmy G. 49ers have abandoned the run and the crowd knows it. This guy is going to have to beat us with his ARM under hostile circumstances!

CROWD GETS EVEN LOUDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Delay of Game SF!!!!

Only 4 seconds have elapsed and its 2 and 15!

DON’T GIVE UP A @#$%& YARD!

Jimmy G gets flushed by Von Miller and rolls right. He doesn’t see Ramsey lurking as he throws the ball. Ramsey is breaking on it, this is it -- we are going to the SB on this pick six.

The ball bounces right off of Ramsey’s chest – his 2nd dropped INT - but the Defense is still buzzing.

On the next play, the whole D line Jail breaks and Jimmy G skips a ball laterally to his receiver who can’t handle it.

NO YARDS GIVEN UP, only :23 seconds off the clock and the Rams have the ball on the March to an exorcism of demons which have ripped at our soul for the past 3 years and much longer for many of us.

Stafford has the team on the move but after 2 plays its still 3rd and 1 on our side of the field. No longer needing a silent count because the 49er fans are still searching for their lost 10 point lead, Stafford, who a week earlier talked about the joy of “snatching souls” spins the ball to . . . . KENDALL BLANTON for a big 1st Down.

Another forgotten man or better, a man never remembered for anything other than yearly being on the final cuts, Kendall Blanton has made his presence felt. An UDFA out of Missouri, Kendall Blanton was stringing 2 impressive games back to back at the most critical times.

A glance at the clock shows we are under 4 minutes. The ball is at the 37 yard line following a pass to OBJ.

I’ts 3rd and 3.

I begin to do calculations, if we do nothing on this play, Gay can set up for a 54 yard field goal, but if he misses, it’s the 49ers ball on the Rams 44 and they only need 20 yards to kick their own . . . .before I can finish the thought the ball is snapped . . . .

Stafford doesn’t even pretend to not be looking for Kupp to break open, protected from an A-gap rusher by Sony Michel a second before he fires an absolute dart which Kupp snatches out of the air and is off to the races.

25 beautiful yards later, Kupp, the man of few words and absolutely no showmanship, channeled the hearts of a half of a million ram fans from around the world and let out a PRIMAL SCREAM which signified the release of years of frustration and the knowledge that it is now the RAMS who control the road to Super Bowl 56.

After losing some yards on a sack, McVay calls a WR screen which sets up the Rams on the SF 12 for Gay to give the Rams the lead.

When the ball splits the uprights from 30 yards out, there is only 1:49 on the Clock and the 49ers have burned 2 of their time outs.

Remembering week 18 where the Rams gave up a TD in even less time, I see AD again imploring the entire Defense to understand that they are literally four plays away from the Super Bowl.

WHOSE HOUSE!!!!!! RAMS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In just 4 minutes, any notion of Levi South has evaporated.

This is a LOS ANGELES RAMS HOME GAME and the Super Bowl is on the line!

On the first play, Von Miller immediately pressures JG and big Greg Gaines bats the ball in the air. For a split second it appears he might be able to haul in the INT but it drops harmlessly to the ground.

1:42 and its second and 10, I try and think if the 49ers have gained a single yard since AD huddled up the team, I can’t recall any.

Jimmy G on 2nd down wants nothing to do with the Rams front and throws a pass for -3 yards and the clock is running. Its 3rd and 13 and the time dips under 1:25 to play.

Time slows as the crowd noise continues to rise . . .

The ball is snapped and you see the Rams are bringing an extra LB. The pocket immediately starts to collapse simultaneously with the crowd noise reaching an absolute crescendo, AD breaks down the pocket and has Jimmy G running for his life.

When AD finally gets him in his grip and starts throwing Garrapolo like a rag doll, Jimmy G has no where to go and flicks an absolute prayer to his RB….

The prayer is immediately answered: DENIED!!!!!

TRAVIN HOWARD grabs the INT and is brought to the ground by Greg Gaines as SOFI STADIUM BLOWS. THE. @#$%&. UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Years of frustration, suffering, misery, embarrassment, humiliation evaporates in a blink of an eye.

Out of all of those experiences, losses and frustration, was built the heart of a champion – a team so resilient that no amount of adversity can stop it.

The cure to the pain is the pain.

Looking up at the oculus, the red tide is receding at an incredible rate of speed.

To the few fans wearing red still left in my section, I implored them to GET THE @#$%& OUT sprinkled intermittently with SUPER BOWL CHANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 years ago in New Orleans, I felt the same elation but there was no confetti, no celebration, no anything other than a beautiful walk to Bourbon Street – because it was a road game. Here, however, we were at Home, not LEVI SOUTH ANY LONGER and confetti, trophy ceremonies, SUPERBOWL BOUND SIGNS were flashing around the stadium.

The Rams were headed BACK to the Super Bowl and they did it by shattering the hearts of the 49ers and their fans.

Could there be a more joyous road to the Super Bowl?

I think NOT!

The walk back to the car and the flight back through Oakland now seemed like trips to the Super Bowl in themselves.

What was left in my voice was gone by the time I reached my car. Intentionally moving from one blob of red to another, I started chants of “6 in a ROW!”, I told them to “Represent in the Big Game Next Week – you know -- the Pro Bowl”. “I hope Deebo recovered from the Nick Scott hit” so he can play.

“And remember, you can always take solace in the fact that you won six in a row!”

There was no fight left in any of them, just my voice painfully ringing in their ears.

It’s the type of hurt that can only come when you start with NO DOUBT about a certain truth but then are proven absolutely wrong. It’s the type of soul-destroying loss which will give pause to these folks in the future about coming to Levi South!

The next day in the airport, the sports Gods are smiling on me as we take advantage of “Family Boarding” and we board the plane to Oakland.
“HOW BOUT THEM 9ers!!!!” I sound off as we board the plane.

All that can be heard are a few murmurs, shifting in the seats, and a distant giggle.

As we move to the back, I see a familiar face – we make eye contact.

The 49er fan that had been running his mount the whole flight to the game is on the plane and he makes the critical mistake of leaving the row in front of him open!

As I slide in, taking the middle seat so a quick turn over my shoulder puts my eyeballs right in his face, I say nothing except about every 30 seconds or so, I turn around and look through the gap between the seats so he can see me looking back at him – me smiling, him pretending to try and sleep.



I can hear his thoughts – my voice – “your going to remember my face”

6 in a row? I’d give 50 in a row not to lose to the 49ers in the game which decides who goes to the Super Bowl.

If there was any doubt that this was the redemption tour – it was over.

The Rams were going to Super Bowl 56.