by Paul Teetor
This game was the real Super Bowl.
Forget about the game scheduled for February 1 in Seattle between the Patriots and the Seahawks that is going to officially decide the winner of the 2025-26 National Football League championship.
Seattle will win that game comfortably and be crowned NFL champions.
The Ram-Settle game was the real Super Bowl โ and it ruined watch parties from Manhattan Beach to Montebello.
The Rams played their best game of the season Sunday afternoon โ and still lost the conference championship to the Seattle Seahawks by the heart-breakingly close score of 31-27.
The final irony was too rich to ignore: Cooper Kupp made the biggest play of all in a game chock full of big plays.
Thatโs right: the former Rams receiver, who was let go in a cost-saving move last off-season, the guy known for his sticky fingers and great blocking. The MVP of the Rams Super Bowl win five years ago made the biggest catch of the game late in the fourth quarter. He just barely got a first down on a diving catch that the Rams wanted to challenge, but didnโt because they knew it would almost certainly be futile โ and because they needed to save their time out hopefully for yet another last second miracle by quarterback Matthew Stafford.
And after two weeks of pulling playoff games out at the end and thereby getting rid of the rancid taste of two losses in the final three weeks of the regular season, the Rams ran out of answers.
Late comeback led by Stafford against the Carolina Panthers in the wild-card round? Check.
Late comeback led by Stafford against the Chicago Bears in the Divisional Round? Check.
But a late comeback led by Stafford against the Seahawks in the NFC Championships game?
Sorry, weโre fresh out of miracles.
The Seahawks lived up to their No. 1 seeding โ achieved in large part at the Ramsโ expense thanks to a 38-37 Rams overtime loss to them a month ago โ and earned their first Super Bowl berth since 2014.
As far as New Englandโs 10-7 victory over the Denver Broncos in the American Football Conference game earlier Sunday that earned them their first post-Tom-Brady appearance in the Super Bowl, well, that ugly slog was the Junior Varsity game.
The two best teams in the NFL this year were the Rams and the Seahawks, and itโs a damn shame they had to play each other before the Super Bowl.
But what a game it was โ an instant classic that will be remembered as much for Staffordโs excellence in defeat as it will be for former USC star Sam Darnoldโs even more impressive performance in leading the Sea Hawks to victory.
In the end, it was the Rams defense and the Rams special teams that cost them this game. The defense simply couldnโt stop Darnold when it mattered most. And the special teams gifted the Seahawks a touchdown when punt returner Xavier Smith panicked, tripped over his own feet, and fumbled a punt away that was quickly turned into seven points by the Seahawks.
After the bitter loss, Matthew Stafford was asked what he would tell Smith.
โIโll tell him I love him, and I do,โ he said. โGuy wants to go out there and make every play he possibly can. And sometimes it doesnโt happen. I love the guy, trust him and wish nothing but the best for him. Obviously, it was a mistake that he doesnโt want to have happen, but we had our opportunities after that to grab hold of the game and make enough plays to win it. We just didnโt do it.โ
That quote right there is why Stafford is going to win the NFL MVP award in a few weeks. He not only is a great player โ he threw for 374 yards and three touchdowns in this game, against the leagueโs best defense — but heโs a great leader of men.
And donโt believe the fake news that Stafford isnโt coming back next year for his 18th season in the NFL.
He is coming back.
Because he has some unfinished business to take care of.
In Memory of Kobe Bean Bryant
Monday, January 26, marked six years since the death of Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant at age 40, and it still seems impossible to believe it really happened. Kobe was such an overpowering presence that, while we know intellectually heโs gone, spiritually it seems like heโs still here, just like heโs always been here since showing up at Lakers training camp in 1996 as a 17-year-old phenom who couldnโt wait to conquer the NBA.
And conquer the NBA he did, leading the Lakers to five NBA titles in his 20-year-career.
Now thereโs two โ count โem two, with a third coming โ statues of Kobe in various poses outside of the Staples Center, which was what it was called during his glory years there before a greedy financial institution bought the naming rights.
But it took him four years of stress, conflict and rivalry โ mainly with Coach Phil Jackson and his superstar teammate Shaquille OโNeal — before he was able to lead the Lakers to the first of three straight NBA titles from 2000-2002.
Then came his ultimatum to owner Jerry Buss in 2004 โ itโs either Shaq or me โ which led to Shaqโs sudden trade to Miami and the Lakers having to endure four years of playoff failure all because Kobe didnโt have enough help with Shaq gone.
The fault for the breakup lies with both stars, but in hindsight it was more on Kobe because he was intolerant of Shaqโs relaxed attitude and couldnโt bring himself to rise above his contempt for Shaq. The same traits that made him so great on the court โ his single-minded competitive drive, his maniacal Black Mamba mentality โ destroyed his partnership with Shaq that should have produced at the least two or maybe even three more NBA titles for the Lakers.
Then of course there was his criminal case, in which he was charged with raping a hotel staff member in Colorado in the summer of 2003. The criminal case was eventually dismissed when he settled a civil suit with the victim, who then said she would no longer cooperate with the prosecution.
As the years went by that dark stain on his character gradually faded away, and by the end of his life he was the nationโs preeminent girl-dad. He championed not only his daughter Gianna but girlsโ basketball in general, helping to generate the momentum that womenโs basketball has developed in the last five years.
Like all human beings, Kobe had many different aspects to his personality. He could be a selfish jerk, and he could be a generous good guy. He loved his children โ Gianna also passed away in the helicopter crash that took his life, along with seven others โ but he actually sued his parents to recover some of his high-school memorabilia.
Who sues their parents?
Not many people.
Just like not many people achieve the athletic heights he attained.
Itโs impossible to separate Kobe the man from Kobe the baller.
Rest in peace, Kobe.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
