The Best Post-Season Ever

The four-game divisional round three weeks ago ("The Best Weekend of Football Ever") was followed by two closely contested Conference championship games: Rams 20, 49ers 17; Bengals 27, Chiefs 24.

The Super Bowl is often a letdown, but not this one:

The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in the 56th Super Bowl.

Los Angeles led 13-3 before falling behind 20-13. They survived a pair of interceptions thrown by Matthew Stafford, an injury to Odell Beckham Jr. and long stretches when the offense struggled to move the ball.

Yet with the game on the line, the Rams turned it around. That’s because they went for it.

Down 20-16 with five minutes left on their own 30-yard-line, the Rams faced fourth-and-1. In lieu of punting, Stafford handed the ball off to Cooper Kupp, the NFL’s most productive receiver this season, who ran seven yards for the first down. It was the pivotal play on a drive that ended with a barrage of penalties—before Stafford hit Kupp for a one-yard score.

The Bengals got the ball back with 1:25 to go, and when Joe Burrow is the opposing quarterback anything is possible. He began the drive with back-to-back completions that totaled 26 yards. But after Burrow helplessly threw the ball into nowhere as he was getting dragged down on fourth down, the Rams players stormed onto the field. The Lombardi Trophy was about to be theirs.

Not only were they all close, the final and winning score was made in the last few minutes, sometimes seconds, of each game.

The ancient Romans stupefied the masses with bread and circuses, but they were pikers compared to the NFL.

The half-time show wasn't bad either