LA Rams clinch second Super Bowl title in nail-biter

The Los Angeles Rams have been accused of trading away their future to build a team of superstars, but their fans are unlikely to care when the present looks this good. Six years after the team returned to California – after a 20-year sojourn in St Louis – the Rams are Super Bowl champions for the second time in their history.

Their last title-winning team was led by a turbocharged offense known as The Greatest Show On Turf. This victory was a lot grittier but just as welcome.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford arrived in Los Angeles last March after spending the entirety of his career in the football wasteland of Detroit. The Rams hoped that he was the final piece in a team of stars that would push them to their first championship since the 1999 season. He certainly looked the part early on in this game. On his first throw of the game, he connected on a short pass to Cam Akers for a first down. But the drive fizzled out and it was the Bengals’ chance to make an early impression.

It had taken Stafford 13 years to reach his first Super Bowl. His opposite number, Joe Burrow, had arrived here in just his second in the league. Like Stafford, he completed his first pass. The Bengals, showing the confidence of a team that had already beaten the No 1 seeded Tennessee Titans and fearsome Kansas City Chiefs to get to Sunday’s game, elected to go for it on fourth-down at midfield. Burrow couldn’t complete his pass though and the Rams took over with excellent field position.

That was enough of an opportunity for Stafford. He connected with Cooper Kupp for 20 yards and then found Odell Beckham Jr with a 17-yard strike for a touchdown. Beckham tore into the NFL as a rookie in 2014, famous for his spectacular athleticism and ability to