INGLEWOOD, Calif. — After so many years of disappointment, it all came down to this for Matthew Stafford:
His team was down by four points in the Super Bowl.
It was 79 yards away from the end zone.
And there were only 6 minutes, 13 seconds left in the game.
But Stafford pulled it off – barely. Fifteen plays later, the Los Angeles Rams quarterback delivered the winning touchdown pass that capped a Super Bowl drive for the ages, lifting the Rams over the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.
“You put the ball in your best players’ hands when it matters the most, and that’s what we did with Matthew,” Rams coach Sean McVay said afterward. “And he delivered in a big way.”
The drive redefined Stafford as a champion in the clutch one year after the Rams traded three draft picks and their previous starting quarterback to obtain him from the Detroit Lions. Before he moved west, Stafford had never won a playoff game in 12 seasons in Detroit despite engineering 31…
..