Minutes after the Rams completed their fourth-quarter comeback to win Super Bowl LVI, their second Super Bowl in franchise history and first since returning to Los Angeles in 2016, ESPN insider Adam Schefter posted a bizarre tweet, congratulating the Rams with a photo captioned, “To all those who said it couldn’t be done.” Schefter quickly deleted it but the damage was already done with many capturing screen grabs of the awkward post, which inexplicably framed the Rams as heartwarming underdogs.
Schefter’s aborted tweet was reminiscent of a similar mishap by a Kansas City news station last month, using the laughable phrase “against all odds” in describing the Chiefs’ postseason run, which ended with a loss to Cincinnati in the AFC Championship. If anything, the Chiefs underachieved, missing the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018 despite a star-laden roster of future Hall-of-Famers in Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. After reaching the conference championship each of the past four seasons, the Chiefs have safely outgrown that narrative, shedding their underdog label long ago.
Not to diminish their accomplishments—the Rams were undoubtedly the better team Sunday, overwhelming Cincinnati at the line of scrimmage—but who exactly was Schefter referring to? Led by three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, former Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and Cooper Kupp, who was crowned the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year last week, you could argue the Rams are, at least on paper, as talented as any team in recent memory.
One of the most active teams in both free agency and the trade market (recent additions include Odell Beckham and Jalen Ramsey), the Rams have built a legitimate juggernaut in Los Angeles. Despite having a matchup advantage at almost every position, the Rams—playing on their home field, no less—still needed a late touchdown drive and a fourth-down stop on the following possession to finally extinguish an exciting but flawed opponent thought of as one of the luckiest teams to ever make the Super Bowl.
Characterizing the Rams as anything other than prohibitive favorites would not be an accurate representation of how absurdly good they were all season. No one bats 1,000 on social media but based on the negative response his tweet got, Schefty probably should have left this one in drafts.
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