Team History: Well-traveled Rams won Super Bowl title by one yard over Titans

Team History: Well-traveled Rams won Super Bowl title by one yard over Titans

In terms of movement, one team has been more active than all the others. The Rams have traveled more miles from one home city to the next, totaling 5,994 in three relocations. 

The franchise began in 1936 as part of the second incarnation of the American Football League. The club was started by Harvard-educated lawyer and Cleveland businessman Homer Marshman and run by player-coach Damon “Buzz” Wetzel, a former All-American at Ohio State who played for the Bears and Pittsburgh Pirates the year before. 

Marshman found stockholders to help fund the team and also invited representatives from local newspapers the Press and Plain-Dealer. The name Rams was selected for two reasons. First, the Rhode Island Rams were one of the more successful college teams of the time, and also because the name was short and easy to fit in a newspaper headline. 

Cleveland finished 5-2-2, second behind the 8-3 Boston Shamrocks in the AFL’s first season. However, despite the on-field success and solid crowd support, the Rams lost quite a bit of money. 

When the NFL decided to expand to 10 teams the following year, Marshman and the other representatives paid a $10,000 league fee and spent $55,000 more to fund club operations. Wetzel was replaced as coach by longtime Penn State field general and former Pirates baseball manager Hugo Bezdek, but the Rams went 1-10. Four more losing seasons followed under former Lions star Earl “Dutch” Clark, but the Rams were working their way toward respectability, finishing with a 5-6 record in 1942. 

Marshman and the other associates sold the team the year before to Dan Reeves and his business partner Robert Levy. Reeves worked at his family’s grocery store chain in New York City before it was sold to Safeway Stores earlier in 1941, which allowed him to pursue his dream to own a professional football team. 

The NFL was affected greatly by World War II. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh combined franchises in 1943. The same year, Reeves was drafted into the military and Cleveland suspended operations. The Steelers and Cardinals united the following season and the Rams returned and posted a 4-6 record. 

Cleveland had its best season in 1945, due to the arrival of quarterback Bob Waterfield, who was also the team’s kicker and punter and led the club with six interceptions. The Rams went 9-1 and faced the Redskins in the NFL Championship Game. In below zero weather, Waterfield threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns in a 14-13 victory. He would win the Joe F. Carr trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player for the season. 

One month later, Reeves moved the team to Los Angeles, citing warmer weather, poor attendance, financial losses and travel restrictions during World War II. The move west meant that the team would have to integrate as part of its rental agreement with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. 

After failing to reach the postseason their first three seasons on the West Coast, the Rams went 8-2-2 and edged out the 9-3 Bears to win the West Division in 1949. Waterfield and receiver Tom Fears formed a star pairing, but Los Angeles fell 14-0 to the Eagles, who were making their third straight trip to the NFL Championship Game. 

The Rams and Bears tied for the National Division crown with a 9-3 record the following year, and Los Angeles won the Division game, 24-14. However, L. A. lost, 30-28, to Otto Graham and the Browns, who were champions in their first season in the NFL after winning all four titles in the All-America Football Conference. 

Los Angeles won its third straight division title in 1951 with an 8-4 mark, one-half game better than the 49ers and Lions. Waterfield was supplanted at quarterback by Norm Van Brocklin, but the Rams had the best offense in the NFL thanks to receiver Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch and the “Bull Elephant Backfield,” which consisted of Dick Hoerner, Paul “Tank” Younger, and Dan “Deacon” Towler.

The Rams and Browns faced off in the NFL Championship Game once again. Van Brocklin relieved Waterfield and found Fears with a 73-yard pass late in the fourth as the Rams won, 24-17, for their second title. Los Angeles and Detroit ended the 1952 regular season tied atop the division at 9-3, but the Lions won the playoff game, 31-21. 

Los Angeles missed the postseason the next two years before winning their fifth division title with an 8-3-1 record in 1955. Van Brocklin threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Volney “Skeets” Quinlan, but Cleveland won, 38-14, for their seventh title in 10 seasons. 

After the loss, the Rams went on a postseason drought, making the playoffs just twice in 17 seasons. Los Angeles went 11-1-2 in 1967 and won the Coastal Division over the Colts by a tiebreaker. The “Fearsome Foursome” defensive line of David “Deacon” Jones, Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, and Rosey Grier had broken up when Grier retired after tearing his Achilles tendon, but the Rams still had the best defense in the league. 

However, the Packers won the NFL Championship Game and went on to beat the Raiders in Super Bowl II. The Rams went 10-3-1 the following year, but the Colts posted a 13-1 record and played in Super Bowl III. In 1969, Los Angeles went 11-3 behind league MVP quarterback Roman Gabriel, but lost to the Vikings in the Division round. 

Three years later, Reeves sold the Rams to Chicago businessman Robert Irsay for $19 million. Irsay snuck in to outbid Florida lawyer and investment banker Hugh Culverhouse, who had a handshake deal with Reeves. Irsay immediately worked out a deal with Colts owner Carroll Rosenbloom to swap franchises. 

Under coaches Chuck Knox and Ray Malavasi, Los Angeles had seven double-digit win seasons in an eight-year stretch. The team went to five NFC Championship Games during that time, losing to the Vikings in 1974 and ’76 and the Cowboys in ’75 and ’78 before finally breaking through. 

The only season the Rams did not win at least 10 games was 1979, when they went 9-7 before beating the Cowboys and Buccaneers to reach Super Bowl XIV. Thanks to a rushing touchdown by Cullen Bryant and another score on a halfback option pass from Lawrence McCutcheon to Ron Smith, Los Angeles led, 19-17, after three quarters. 

However, game MVP Terry Bradshaw threw a 73-yard touchdown pass to John Stallworth and Franco Harris added his second rushing score and Pittsburgh won, 31-19. Rosenbloom did not see his team’s greatest success because earlier in the year, he had a heart attack while swimming in Florida and drowned. His wife, Georgia Frontiere, inherited a 70 percent stake, with Rosenbloom’s children getting the rest of the shares.

The Raiders moved from Oakland to Los Angeles in 1982, but the Rams were still successful under former USC coach John Robinson. The team made the playoffs six times in seven seasons and reached the NFC Championship Game twice, losing 24-0 to the dominant Bears defense in 1985 and getting routed by the 49ers four years later. 

One of the bright spots was running back Eric Dickerson. He was the Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1983 and ran for a league-record 2,105 years the following year (Dan Marino was named MVP after passing for an NFL-record 5,084 yards). In 1986, Dickerson was named Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for 1,821 yards. 

After the 1989 NFC Championship Game, the Rams lost at least 10 games in each of the next five seasons. Frontiere tried unsuccessfully to get a new stadium in Los Angeles, so she moved the team to St. Louis in 1995 after threatening to sue the league under antitrust laws. Frontiere had bought out the team shares held by Rosenbloom’s children in 1980, but under the relocation deal, she sold a 40 percent stake to entrepreneur Stan Kroenke. 

St. Louis fans endured four more losing seasons before the Rams went an NFC-best 13-3 under Dick Vermeil in 1999. The high-powered offense was called the “Greatest Show on Turf.” The unit featured league MVP Kurt Warner at quarterback, dual-threat running back Marshall Faulk and receivers Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt. St. Louis won a shootout with the Vikings and a defensive struggle against the Buccaneers to reach their second Super Bowl. 

The Rams led Super Bowl XXXIV, 16-0, midway through the third quarter, but the Titans came back to tie on two Eddie George runs and an Al Del Greco field goal with 2:12 left. On the next play from scrimmage, Warner found Bruce with a 73-yard scoring pass to put St. Louis back on top, 23-16. 

Steve McNair drove Tennessee down to the St. Louis 10-yard-line with five seconds left. The final play was a pass over the middle to Kevin Dyson, who appeared to have a chance to score, but linebacker Mike Jones wrapped up his legs and Dyson’s lunge for the end zone came up less than a yard short. For the Rams, it was their second title and first in 48 years.

St. Louis did not take quite so long to return to the top. With Mike Martz as a coach in 2001, the Rams led the NFL with a 14-2 record, then ran through the Packers and edged the Eagles to reach the Super Bowl once again. 

Trailing 17-3 early in the fourth quarter, Warner had a rushing touchdown and also scored on a pass to Ricky Proehl with 1:30 remaining. However, that was more than enough time for Tom Brady, who led his team down the field to set up Adam Vinatieri’s 48-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots a 20-17 victory. 

The Rams went to the postseason twice more under Martz, but lost in the Division round in both 2003 and ’04. The team would not have a winning record for the next 12 years. 

Frontiere died from breast cancer in 2008, and children Dale “Chip” Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez inherited her 60 percent majority share in the Rams. Two years later, Kroenke purchased half of the shares, and he acquired the other 30 percent soon after. 

Stadium issues in St. Louis led Kroenke to move the team back to Los Angeles. Under the lease, The Dome at America’s Center needed to be in the top 25 percent of NFL stadiums in terms of amenities and luxury boxes. The city went against an arbitration ruling and did not agree to pay for the updates, allowing the team to opt-out of the lease. 

The Rams went back to the West Coast and are playing in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum once again until the Stadium at Hollywood Park (which they will share with the Chargers) is completed in 2020.

In 2017, Los Angeles hired former Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay, who became the youngest head coach in league history at age 30. The team went 11-5 but lost to the Falcons in the Division round. 

Last year, the Rams won the NFC West with a 13-3 record. The NFL’s second-ranked offense was led by Jared Goff at quarterback, along with running back Todd Gurley and receivers Robert Woods, Brandin Cooks and Cooper Kupp. Three-time Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald and Pro Bowl linebacker Cory Littleton starred on defense. 

After defeating the Cowboys in the Division round and edging the Saints in the NFC Championship Game (thanks to a questionable no-call on a pass interference late in the contest), the Rams went to the Superbowl for the fourth time. 

New England held Los Angeles to 62 yards on the ground and Sony Michel scored the only touchdown as the Patriots won the Super Bowl LIII, 13-3, the lowest final score in the game’s history. 

The Rams added to their defense for 2019. They signed longtime Packers linebacker Clay Matthews and former Ravens free safety Eric Weddle in free agency.

-By: Kevin Rakas