Los Angeles Rams facing year of Super Bowl or dire disappointment
Few teams made a bigger change this offseason than the Los Angeles Rams. Yet it’s Super Bowl or bust in the City of Angels.
The Los Angeles Rams got a new quarterback in March. Now they have even higher goals.
After losing to the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional round, the Rams made a stunning trade to acquire quarterback Matthew Stafford from the Detroit Lions. In return, Los Angeles traded away quarterback Jared Goff and a pair of first-round picks. Essentially, this says Goff wasn’t good enough to win a Super Bowl but Stafford can be the difference.
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Stafford, 32, has famously never won a playoff game or division crown. However, he’s also been surrounded by lousy casts most of his career. In Los Angles, he helms an offense with a solid stable of running backs. As well as that, he has receivers Cooper Kupp and Robert Woods. The defense, although without former coordinator Brandon Staley, is one of the league’s best.
On Friday, hulking left tackle Andrew Whitworth went on Good Morning Football and laid out his vision for what success looks like for the 2021 Rams, per NFL.com:
“For us, that’s just the truth. We’ve figured out how to win playoff games, we’ve made some runs in the postseason. And this time for us and this opportunity we feel like this team, nothing short of going to that Super Bowl and winning it is good enough. And that’s really the expectation level for us, even though we know that’s a slippery slope. But that’s where we want to be. And if that’s what you want, then you got to be able to speak about it and let people know that that’s the only thing you see is the goal, and the only thing you see as accomplishing this season is just going and winning a Super Bowl.”
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Ultimately, the Rams have the fourth-best odds to win Super Bowl LVI at +1300, behind only the Kansas City Chiefs (+500), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (+650) and Buffalo Bills (+1100).
In short, Los Angeles is expected to win the NFC West after finishing a game behind the Seattle Seahawks in 2020. After taking care of the league’s toughest foursome, the Rams are seen as the primary threat in the NFC to Tampa Bay, perhaps dethroning Tom Brady and Co.
Foe Stafford and his new team, the pressure is on like none other. We’ll see if they rise to the challenge.
