Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald help write Hollywood ending for Rams

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Cooper Kupp tried to find the right words, explaining to a room full of reporters a divine message he received after losing the championship after the 2018 season. He then shared how God had told him how one day he’d win Super Bowl MVP.

Around here, they’ve marketed their stadium and sold the dream of the NFL being back in Los Angeles with the slogan: “Whose House? Rams House! ” Then they filled it with the best team money could buy. But on Sunday night the sizzle came from Donald, the 2014 draft pick who has been with the franchise since it still had a Midwestern address. And the glitz provided by Kupp, who had no Football Bowl Subdivision scholarship offers after his senior season in high school but turned in one of the greatest years ever by an NFL wide receiver.

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The defensive captain and offensive hero propelled the Los Angeles Rams to a comeback win over the young and fun but overmatched Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20.

When Matthew Stafford looked just bleh as a starting quarterback, he still could play catch with his favorite target, Kupp, the real leading man in the Rams’ offensive attack.

“I tried to put it in a good spot, he made a great catch,” Stafford said, breaking down Kupp’s go-ahead touchdown reception in the simplest terms possible.

And when staring down Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, who earlier showed his mettle by returning to the game after writhing in pain and holding his right knee, the Rams’ defense would have no part in growing his legend.

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Donald, the veteran defensive tackle, forced him to rush an incomplete pass on fourth and one with less than a minute to play in the final quarter. The stop sealed the win and cued the LA celebration.

There was NBA superstar LeBron James up on the humongous, circular scoreboard, soaking it up as though he had won something. Then, later, there was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell introducing Rams owner Stan Kroenke, saying the Rams had provided an “ending fit for Hollywood.”

“As far as building this stadium, I think it turned out all right,” Kroenke said.

This being the city that it is, Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” blared over the stadium speakers but still couldn’t drown out the squeals from a coastal fan base that loves a winner. And even more than that, they love it when their winners do it in style. The Rams completing their happy ending inside their home, in front of their fans, was just the perfect ending to the nation’s unofficial holiday of football.

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The Super Bowl is the day that defines the culture. And being in Southern California, it only magnified our collective weirdness.

It’s the day when neighbors walked Arbor Vitae Street, holding homemade signs while competing in parking wars. Citizens of Inglewood turned into capitalists, selling their driveways or the limited space in front of their homes to Super Bowl patrons desperate enough to pay upward of $ 450 in cash. That’s what happens when a team plops a state-of-the-art, $ 5.5 billion stadium beside bungalows.

It’s the day when this league – with a straight face – can play up how much it celebrates inclusivity and respects women.

A Black woman who sings country music performed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And a Black woman who sings R&B performed “America the Beautiful.” Then, in a tribute to the 50th anniversary of Title IX, girls in their football uniforms stood on the field as tennis legend Billie Jean King flipped the honorary coin onto the giant shield. This commitment to women was almost enough to make one forget the NFL still has a Daniel Snyder-sized headache to handle.

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And the Super Bowl is the day of expression. It may be subtle like Eminem, one of the halftime performers, taking a knee at the end of his set. The defiant gesture only a few years ago led to Colin Kaepernick being blackballed, but on Sunday, it drew no noticeable reaction from the crowd. Or the freedom of expression can be over the top, like Kanye West taking in a football game with a black stocking covering his face and wearing a thick hoodie, even though the game-time temperature had reached a steamy 82 degrees.

Ultimately, the day belonged to game’s best receiver. But for a while, the Bengals shed their little-guy status and appeared to be the Super Bowl favorites.

Preseason predictions had this team winning about five games this year. They were underdogs dressed in tiger stripes, just another rollover in the AFC. They were supposed to be… well, the Bengals again. The losers we all know and dismiss.

It only took a two-win season in 2019 to secure the rights to the No. 1 pick and then draft the culture-shifting quarterback. And for that quarterback to have his promising rookie season derailed when the Washington defense caved in his left leg. Then, for the NFL’s smallest scouting and personnel department to continue making the right moves in the draft and free agency and build a sneakily good team around that quarterback.

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The Bengals will say, now, they knew they had the team to win. However, it took time to convince the rest of us.

“[Each] and every game we played this year, we were the underdogs, ”Bengals receiver Tyler Boyd said earlier in the week. “Nobody counted us in.”

Everybody, however, counted in the loaded Rams. But while a few of the newer stars added to the roster made significant plays – Odell Beckham Jr. caught the game’s first touchdown before a left knee injury forced him out of the game-the day belonged to a veteran Ram and the once-overlooked wideout.

Donald had two of the seven sacks on Burrow. Only Donald’s kids, who got to play in the fallen confetti after the celebration, spent more time on the turf than Burrow.

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Kupp finished his Super Bowl MVP performance with eight catches and two touchdowns. He said he had already seen this outcome.

“I don’t know what it was, there’s just this vision that God revealed to me that we were going to win,” Kupp said, “and somehow I was going to walk off the field MVP of the game.”

The Bengals defense could’ve used a higher power to stop Kupp. It certainly wasn’t doing the job on its own. The unit was responsible for three penalties during the Rams’ game-winning drive. All three – holding, personal foul and interference – were committed against Kupp. When the last infraction moved the Rams to the 1-yard line, Bengals cornerback Eli Apple lined up against Kupp and never had a chance.

The pass from Stafford and the catch from Kupp sealed the comeback win in their own stadium. The Rams may say something like this can only happen in LA, and they could be right.

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