1999 Rams 16th of 57

[JimY53]

We ranked every Super Bowl champion, 1-57: How Brady's Pats, the '85 Bears and last year's Chiefs stack up

Get ready for Super Bowl LVIII with a ranking of every previous champion. Where do the 1985 Bears rank? How about the 17-0 Dolphins?

www.espn.com

there is a paywall for all 57 but here is a snippet

In less than two weeks, either the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers will win Super Bowl LVIII. There have been 57 Super Bowls since the NFL champion first took on the AFL champion after the 1966 season, which means we have 57 teams in this exclusive club. One more is coming soon.

Some of these teams were dominant from start to finish. Other teams slipped into the playoffs after a mediocre regular season and then went on a shocking postseason run to a title. We've done our best to rank all 57 Super Bowl champions here from worst to best, looking at both the regular season and the playoffs to find the most powerful teams in NFL history.

To rank these teams, I used my proprietary DVOA ratings (explained further here) which look at efficiency on a play-by-play basis adjusted for situation and opponent. For teams prior to the start of DVOA in 1981, I estimated DVOA ratings based on Pro Football Reference's Simple Rating System plus the average margin of victory during the postseason. There's also an adjustment for the first four Super Bowl champions to reflect that the NFL was stronger than the AFL before the merger.

16. 1999 St. Louis Rams (16-3, 35.9%)

The 1999 Rams came from out of nowhere, as did their quarterback, Kurt Warner. They dominated the league on both offense and defense -- but they did that against a very, very easy schedule. Based on average DVOA of opponents, the only team since 1981 that played an easier schedule was the 1991 Bills. Between opponent adjustments and adjustments for playing indoors, the "Greatest Show on Turf" ranked only fifth in offensive DVOA. The defense, boosted by those same adjustments for playing indoors, ranked third.

The Rams had a 49-17 lead over the Vikings in the divisional round before the Vikings scored three late meaningless touchdowns. However, the other two games were close: an 11-6 NFC Championship Game in which the Buccaneers shut down Warner and the Rams offense, and then the 23-16 victory in Super Bowl XXXIV when the Titans finished 1 yard short.

 

[Merlin]

Midway through that game in Tampa I was thinking we were done. That was a terrifying game the way that great defense grounded our attack.

Funny how all these outcomes really just come down to a player making a handful of plays. And it's often guys like Proehl who are not the ones you expect to come through for you in those moments. Can't even put into words the relief I felt when we won that game.

 

[Rams8821]

34. 2021 Los Angeles Rams (16-5, 28.9%)​

The Rams were third in DVOA during the regular season. The Matthew Stafford-led offense was surprisingly lower (eighth) than the defense (third) or special teams (fourth). In the playoffs, the Rams started with a dominating 34-11 win over the Cardinals, but their final three wins were all by three points apiece: the divisional round game against the Buccaneers, the NFC championship where they hosted the 49ers and Super Bowl LVI against the Bengals (23-20).

 

[Steve808]

34. 2021 Los Angeles Rams (16-5, 28.9%)​

The Rams were third in DVOA during the regular season. The Matthew Stafford-led offense was surprisingly lower (eighth) than the defense (third) or special teams (fourth). In the playoffs, the Rams started with a dominating 34-11 win over the Cardinals, but their final three wins were all by three points apiece: the divisional round game against the Buccaneers, the NFC championship where they hosted the 49ers and Super Bowl LVI against the Bengals (23-20).

The Rams likely would have destroyed the Bengals if not for the facemask that Tee Higgins got away with against Ramsey.

 

[Jacobarch]

The Rams likely would have destroyed the Bengals if not for the facemask that Tee Higgins got away with against Ramsey.

And don't forget Odell Beckham

 

[Jacobarch]

Boo. Pay to read?

 

[Rams8821]

The Rams likely would have destroyed the Bengals if not for the facemask that Tee Higgins got away with against Ramsey.

or if OBJ didnt get hurt....

 

[Mojo Ram]

And don't forget Odell Beckham

Yeah this is the potential blowout caveat. I suspect the Bengals would have tried hard to slow the Kupp/Beckham stuff in the second half, and our ground game/short game would have opened up as a result.

Beckham going down was a tremendous break for the Bengals and they still couldn’t overcome Stafford to Kupp and AD wrecking their OL.

 

[AZRams]

The Rams likely would have destroyed the Bengals if not for the facemask that Tee Higgins got away with against Ramsey.

Would have been a comfortable margin if OBJ doesn't go out with that knee.

 

[ArkyRamsFan]

And don't forget Odell Beckham

And Tyler Higbee and Johnny Mundt and Kendall Blanton. Heck, we were down to our 4th string TE, Brycen Hopkins.
And he made some huge plays down the stretch in the 4th quarter.

~ArkyRamsFan~

 

[RamsSince1969]

Hopkins on that block for the 4th down conversion for Kupp was legendary!

 

[ArkyRamsFan]

Hopkins on that block for the 4th down conversion for Kupp was legendary!
View attachment 64278

Yeah, I'm not sure that Hopkins gets enough credit for that block. Some fail to realize that it was a very good DE named Sam Hubbard that he stoned to allow Kupp to get the first down.
I was hoping Brycen would use his Super Bowl performance to spring board into a larger role with the Rams, but, alas, it didn't happen

~ArkyRamsFan~