Super Bowl 2022: Rams take late lead on Cooper Kupp touchdown, stop Bengals to seal title

INGLEWOOD, Calif.

— Super Bowl LVI produced a Hollywood ending.

In a battle between stars and stripes, the glitzy Rams were able to slip past the tiger-hearted Bengals, 23-20, with a gutsy 79-yard touchdown drive and a defensive stop in the final minutes.

With some of the biggest names in show biz looking on at SoFi Stadium, some of the biggest names in the NFL led the Rams to victory and helped turn Tinseltown into the NFL’s title town for the first time ever.

The Rams took the lead with 1:25 remaining on a 1-yard touchdown connection between the league’s most dangerous duo, Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp, but still needed a defensive stop. With strong-legged rookie kicker Evan McPherson on the sideline for the Bengals — he said he was ready to try a tying kick from 65 yards if needed — the Rams knew they had to keep Cincinnati on its own side of midfield.

Joe Burrow hit Ja’Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd on back-to-back passes to reach the Rams’ 49 before an incompletion on second-and-1 and a stuffed run on third down set up the deciding play.

Burrow dropped back and was wrapped up by Aaron Donald. The defensive lineman had two sacks in the game, and while the last play was not ruled as such — Burrow managed to fling the ball in desperation before hitting the ground — it undoubtedly was the sweetest play of Donald’s storied career and the most important in Rams history since Mike Jones’ tackle of Kevin Dyson to clinch Super Bowl XXXIV when the Rams played in St. Louis.

"I tried to get the ball out and he kind of ducked me from doing that," Donald said. "When he threw it up, my heart kind of jumped because the running back was right there and I thought he was gonna catch it."

Instead it fell to the turf with 39 seconds remaining, a precursor to the blue and gold confetti that soon would follow.

"We talk about being your best when your best is required," said Sean McVay, 36, who became the youngest head coach to win a Super Bowl. "For the offense to find a way and Aaron Donald able to finish it off, it’s poetic, man."

It was a game that had more plot twists and dramatic moments than any slush pile screenplay in town.

Injuries (Odell Beckham Jr. hurt his knee in the second quarter and did not return; Eric Weddle suffered a pectoral tear and did return), marriage proposals (Rams safety Taylor Rapp wasn’t the only member of his family to get a ring at the conclusion of the game), births (Van Jefferson’s very pregnant wife had to be rushed from the stadium by ambulance midway through the game; the wide receiver went straight from the field to join her in the delivery room) and lots of speculation about the futures of McVay, Donald and tackle Andrew Whitworth (all of whom had at least hinted at the possibility of this being their final game) were only part of its attraction.

The most important narrative, though, was the one that began six years ago when the Rams moved to Los Angeles from St. Louis, built SoFi Stadium, traded for Stafford and kept stacking their roster in a Lombardi-or-bust season.

"Just so happy to be world champs, man," said Stafford, who toiled for 12 years with the Lions without a playoff win before being traded to Los Angeles.

The Bengals nearly engineered an M. Night Shyamalan twist of an ending to a season in which the Rams had made every move possible to not only get to but win the first Super Bowl in the country’s entertainment capital in three decades.

Trailing 13-10 at halftime, Cincinnati got a quick-strike touchdown on the first play of the third quarter. Burrow flung a deep pass down the left sideline for Tee Higgins, who appeared to yank cornerback Jalen Ramsey to the ground by his facemask before the ball arrived.Higgins caught the ball at the 35 and strolled into the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown as the Bengals went ahead 17-13.

No flag was thrown, and referee Ron Tolbert said in a pool report that the crew did not see "any contact that rose to the level of pass interference" or any "grab and twist" of Ramsey’s facemask.

On the next offensive play, Stafford’s pass was tipped in the air and intercepted by Chidobe Awuzie. The Bengals converted that takeaway into a field goal and a 20-13 lead. A Rams field goal cut it to 20-16.

The Rams got the ball with a little more than six minutes left for their go-ahead drive. After struggling to run the ball all game and with Kupp locked down by double teams after the departure of Beckham, they employed a number of short passes to move down the field. Two penalties — holding against linebacker Logan Wilson and interference against former Giant Eli Apple — set up the Rams at the 1 for the pass to Kupp, the game’s MVP with two TD catches.

Said Weddle at the end of it all: "This is a fairy tale."

The latest in a city built on them.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.