Super stage is set for a Hollywood ending of Rams return to Los Angeles

The fierce fowl from Arizona were scattered. The “GOAT” was put out to pasture. The San Franciscan hordes were turned away.

The stage is now set for the Los Angeles Rams’ Hollywood ending.

Even if it may be a little too perfect.

“If it was a Hollywood script,” Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said, “it would get tossed out because no one would believe it.”

Six years after returning from the Midwest and three years after falling just short in their last Super run in Atlanta, the Rams will complete SoFi Stadium’s first season open to fans on Sunday by hosting the first Super Bowl in greater Los Angeles in nearly three decades.

With a win over Cincinnati, the Rams, who won Super Bowl 34 during their time in St. Louis, would lift the Lombardi Trophy for Los Angeles for the first time.

“I don't know that you could have ever envisioned this exactly the way it’s played out,” Demoff said. “You could dream about it.”

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It must be the idealistic scenario come to fruition of the Rams brass’ planning meetings from 2016, when the franchise was packed into a fleet of westbound tractor trailers and arrived in Ventura County for offseason training at River Ridge Fields in Oxnard, months before the first shovelful of dirt was moved at the stadium site in Inglewood.

“It’s what you hope,” Demoff said. “It’s what you work for. … I think it goes back to the very first day. (Owner Stan Kroenke's) orders to all of us were not to undershoot Los Angeles, to not to leave any stone unturned.”

Restarting tradition

The NFL didn’t just return with the Rams.

The Super Bowl, born in Los Angeles as the “AFL-NFL World Championship Game” more than a half century ago, rode shotgun.

Sunday will be the eighth Super Bowl in Los Angeles County, the first since Dallas routed Buffalo at the Rose Bowl in 1993.

The Coliseum was where a bleary-eyed Max McGee snagged the first touchdown in Super Bowl history with one hand in 1967 and where the Dolphins finished their perfect season in 1973.

The Rose Bowl was where John Madden was carried off the field by Ted Hendricks and his Raiders teammates in 1977 and where Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl title in 1987.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell hinted this week that the return to the big game’s birthplace is only the beginning.

“It’s sort of great that we’re sitting here with the backdrop of the stadium and the media center,” Goodell said on Wednesday in his annual Super Bowl Week news conference. “I think this is going to be a regular Super Bowl stop.”

The Rams, of course, are working to be a regular part of that returning tradition.

A unique opportunity

The Super Bowl run has been timely for a number of reasons.

Not only is the city hosting the game, as well as the myriad of events and celebrations that come with it, but the rest of the Southern California professional sports scene has seemingly yielded the spotlight.

“This is a unique opportunity on the biggest stage in the world,” Demoff said.

The Dodgers have literally locked out their players and spring training will likely be delayed.

Both NBA teams have losing records. Despite being led by the biggest name in American sports, LeBron James, the Lakers have spent their season, thus far, frustrating fans.

Admittedly, the Kings and Ducks are both significantly improved, but there hasn’t been a postseason hockey game in Southern California in four years.

Demoff recalled his childhood growing up in Los Angeles in the 1980s, which were dominated by the Fernandomania Dodgers, Showtime Lakers and the glitzy Gretzky Kings.

“When you look at Los Angeles, the teams that have been synonymous with winning have had star power,” Demoff said. “And maybe that’s unique to this market. But, certainly, that was a blueprint that has been provided for generations of Angelenos to understand how to win.”

From hiring head coach Sean McVay to financially committing to defensive superstar Aaron Donald to trading a massive amount of draft capital to add pivotal pieces like quarterback Matthew Stafford and cornerback Jalen Ramsey, the Rams have built a championship contender by aggressively pursuing star power.

“I do truly believe that if you’re trying to be one of 32 (teams), the math does say we probably need to think a little bit differently, maybe do some things a little bit differently than the other 31 competitors,” Rams general manager Les Snead said.

‘A lot of adrenaline’

Snead has been especially aggressive when it comes to the quarterback position. Three months after the Rams arrived in Los Angeles, he traded six draft picks — including two first-rounders — for the right to draft Jared Goff No. 1 overall in the 2016 NFL Draft. The Rams’ move from No. 15 was the longest leap a team has made to the first pick.

Even after Goff took them to the playoffs three times, including a run to the Super Bowl in 2019, the Rams again paid dearly to upgrade the position again this year.

They packaged two first-rounders and a third-rounder with Goff in a trade for 33-year-old Matthew Stafford, who threw for 4,886 yards and 41 touchdowns in the Rams’ 12-5 regular season.

Stafford had never won a playoff game in his 12 years in Detroit, but he thrived in the NFC playoffs this season, averaging 301 yards and two TD passes in postseason wins over the Cardinals, the Tom Brady-led Buccaneers and the rival 49ers.

“That night, when we made the deal, there was a lot of adrenaline, there a lot of excitement … and it’s still going to this day,” Snead said.

But Snead wasn’t done adding stars to the roster. He acquired two of the biggest stars in football in November, receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and pass rusher Von Miller, a former Super Bowl MVP.

Beckham explained his decision to join the Rams after being released by Cleveland.

“There’s just something about this place that calls,” Beckham said. “It just felt right in my heart.”

Snead compared his acquiring of Beckham and Miller to the Patriots adding of receiver Randy Moss in 2007.

“I do think we could look at the Patriots, who’ve had a heck of a run … they are contenders,” Snead said. “It’s that thing we’re chasing this week.”

‘Hearts and minds’

This week is being billed as an opportunity to solidify the Rams in the hearts of local fans.

“When you get a chance to play in a Super Bowl, that always helps win hearts and minds,” Demoff said. “When you get a chance to host a Super Bowl, what obviously helps elevate your brand.”

But the Rams understand that they are still re-growing their roots in Southern California.

The Rams have won 55 games in the five seasons since McVay was unveiled as head coach in Thousand Oaks.

They’ve won three NFC West titles, reached the postseason four times and reached the Super Bowl twice.

But short-term success doesn’t immediately replace the generations of fans the team lost by spending 21 years in Missouri.

That was visible when Northern California rival San Francisco visited SoFi Stadium this season. The Super Bowl venue looked more like the Rose Bowl, as the Rams’ blue clashed in the stands with thousands of fans wearing 49ers’ red.

Rams legend Eric Dickerson poured gas on the fire this week when said, as of "right now... Los Angeles is a Raider town."

Which is why the team is targeting a younger generation.

“The most important thing we can do to build this franchise after being gone for 20 years is to capture the next generation of fans,” Demoff said. “It’s not about flipping someone who’s a Pittsburgh Steelers fan who grew up in Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles. ... That's great if it happens, but that may not be realistic.

“What it’s about is their kids who are 8, 9, 10 years old growing up wearing Cooper Kupp jerseys, wearing Aaron Donald jerseys and becoming lifelong Rams fans. And that’s what these two weeks truly are about. That’s what this season has been about.”

Looking in the mirror

Sunday is an especially big moment for McVay, who has quickly proven to be one of the NFL’s best coaches since the Rams made him the youngest head coach in the NFL’s modern era in 2017.

McVay was quick to shoulder the responsibility in the wake of the Rams’ 13-3 Super Bowl loss to New England in Atlanta in 2019.

“I think what you do to get over it is you look at yourself in the mirror, you take accountability, and then you keep it moving,” McVay said. “As a competitor, you have to be able to handle those tough moments. And I’ll never run away from the fact that I didn’t do a good enough job for our team.”

In the aftermath, McVay admitted to “overpreparing” for the game and being “outcoached” by New England’s Bill Belichick. He’s spent the last three years working for a second chance.

“You say, ‘OK, if you had it differently, what are the things that you learn as far as the decision making, the adjustability, the ability to be totally in the moment during the game, and be able to make those adjustments quicker than what we were able to do and how you approach the two weeks of preparation?’ ” McVay said. “Whether it was a game like that, or whether it was a game from a couple weeks ago, you’re always trying to learn, you’re always trying to evolve.”

Some of the greatest coaches in NFL history bounced back from losing their first Super Bowls to win the big one.

McVay can join the likes of Hank Stram, Don Shula, Tom Landry and Dick Vermeil by using the lessons of 2019 in victory Sunday.

“I think you want to be able to learn from previous experiences, but not allow it to inhibit your ability to be able to move forward,” McVay said. “You take some of those learning lessons, you apply them and let’s go cut it loose and play to the best of our ability.”

Conejo Valley bubble

Ventura County has a major role to play in ensuring 2022 is different from 2019.

While circumstances dictated a typical Super Bowl experience in Atlanta, the Rams have chosen to continue using Thousand Oaks as a base throughout the two weeks leading up to the game.

The Rams held their Opening Night fan rally at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village on Monday and their in-person media day Friday at Cal Lutheran University’s William Rolland Stadium.

If it wasn’t for windy weather Thursday, which prompted a practice at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, the Rams wouldn’t have had to leave their Conejo Valley bubble at all ahead of Saturday night’s stay in the team hotel in Los Angeles.

That has enabled the team to keep the Super Bowl festivities at an arm’s reach and focus on the task at hand.

McVay even minimized the team’s typically time-consuming Super Bowl media obligations this week.

“(Virtual is) definitely more convenient, more time efficient, as it relates to kind of finalizing our game plan and all those things,” McVay said. “As soon we finish this up, I'll walk down the hall, go back into my office and get right back at it.”

Joe Curley covers high school, collegiate and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. Follow him @vcsjoecurley on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Super stage is set for Hollywood ending of Rams return to Los Angeles