Will Rams “all in” Super Bowl win set a trend in sports?

A miniature Los Angeles Rams helmet.

Will teams all over the sports world strive to be like the Los Angeles Rams?

The NFL’s Rams pushed all their chips to the centre of the table for the 2021 campaign. On Sunday, that move culminated in the Rams winning Super Bowl LVI in front of their hometown fans at SoFi Stadium 23-20 over the Cincinnati Bengals.

During the off-season leading up to the 2021 campaign, the Rams acquired star quarterback Matthew Stafford in a trade from the woeful Detroit Lions in exchange for standout signal caller Jared Goff, a third-round selection in the 2021 NFL Draft, a first round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and a first round choice in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The Rams acquired Stafford with the promise that they now had the quarterback that could take them to the Promised Land.

Stafford delivered on Sunday. With the Rams trailing the Bengals 20-16 in the fourth quarter, Stafford led the Rams downfield on a touchdown drive that covered 79 yards on 15 plays and ate four minutes and 48 seconds off the clock.

The drive culminated with Stafford hitting star receiver Cooper Kupp with a one-yard touchdown toss with 1:25 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the Rams in front by the 23-20 final score.

The ensuing Bengals drive ended after Rams star defensive tackle Aaron Donald forced Cincinnati star quarterback Joe Burrow to throw and errant incomplete pass on a fourth down play. The Rams were able to run out the rest of the fourth quarter clock with Stafford taking a knee.

Stafford completed 26-of-40 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions. He enjoyed a championship moment that seemed impossible to accomplish with the Lions.

Back in the 2009 NFL Draft, the Lions selected Stafford first overall. He played 12 seasons for the Lions making them look more respectable than they should have qualifying for the post-season three times.

Stafford put up passing numbers with the Lions that alone should get him elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also took a physical beating with the Lions, who never had the supporting cast to help him win an NFL title.

The Rams gave up key draft picks to get Stafford along with a quarterback in Goff who they selected first overall in the 2016 NFL Draft. Goff guided them to the Super Bowl following the 2018 season.

The NFL could see team copy the Los Angeles Rams.

On February 3, 2019, the Goff led Rams fell 13-3 in Super Bowl LIII to the Tom Brady led New England Patriots in Atlanta, Georgia. Los Angeles wasn’t able to return to the Super Bowl following the 2019 and 2020 campaigns.

Stafford was viewed as the quarterback that could take the Rams that next step to being a Super Bowl winner.

Part way through the 2021 campaign, the Rams acquired star linebacker Von Miller via a trade with the Denver Broncos. Los Angeles further stacked its roster signing star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. after he was released by the Cleveland Browns.

While a lot of the Rams roster was built through the NFL Draft that included players like Kupp and Donald, lots of football followers will focus on the trade to bring in Stafford along with the acquisitions of Miller and Beckham. Those moves allowed the Rams to win a tough NFC West Division with a 12-5 regular season record and win four post-season games to capture the Super Bowl at home.

Traditionally, the NFL has been a copycat league, so you can expect there will be teams in the short term that will attempt to do what the Rams have done.

Since the NFL is the most popular sports league in North America, the Rams road to Super Bowl success will likely make teams across the rest of the world of sports try to emulate that road to success.

In North America’s four big professional leagues in the NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL, fans and speculative media will put pressure on the teams they follow to go “all in” and win right now like the Rams did. In those leagues, fans are paying hundreds of dollars in single game tickets, so if teams are viewed as not trying the utmost to win, the fans will be super mad.

For teams that do go “all in,” it seems worth it during the moment of a championship win.

If a championship isn’t won or a team has to suffer through five bad years thanks to going “all in,” fans and media will moan about the losing and criticize their teams for going “all in.”

Even in a circuit like the CFL there will be pressure to go “all in.” For most stadiums, about 70 per cent of the seats cost over $100, so fans expect a bang for their buck.

Back in 2013, the Saskatchewan Roughriders went “all in,” when they hosted the Grey Cup at their former legendary home park in Taylor Field. They didn’t need to find a star quarterback as Darian Durant was already there to fill that role.

Before the season began, they made a trade to acquire CFL all-time great receiver Geroy Simon from the British Columbia Lions. They signed defensive end Ricky Foley and defensive backs Dwight Anderson and Weldon Brown as free agents.

Will QB Cody Fajardo (#7) and the Roughriders go “all in” for 2022?

After defensive end John Chick was released by the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars, the Roughriders were able to bring him in before the start of the regular season. Chick was a key member of the Roughriders 2007 Grey Cup winning team.

The Roughriders proceeded to post an 11-7 regular season record and win all three of their post-season games including a 45-23 romp over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Grey Cup played on November 24, 2013 to cash in on their “all in” move.

Saskatchewan hosts the Grey Cup in 2022 at their new home park in Mosaic Stadium. After what the Rams did in the Super Bowl along with the precedent the Roughriders set in 2013, current Roughriders management will be under a lot of pressure to go “all in” this season.

Unfortunately, that strategy doesn’t work the majority of the time as only one team in each sports league can win a championship.

In the 2012-13 season, the Saskatoon Blades went “all in” with a number of trades to win the WHL championship and the CHL’s championship tournament – the Memorial Cup. The Blades were the Memorial Cup hosts that season.

The Blades finished first in the WHL’s East Division. They were swept out of the first round of the WHL playoffs by the Medicine Hat Tigers and won one game at the Memorial Cup tournament.

The Blades proceed to miss the post-season for the next five straight years going through a rebuild after going “all in.”

The WHL’s Swift Current Broncos and Regina Pats did the same thing in the 2017-18 season. The Pats were the Memorial Cup hosts in that campaign.

The Broncos won the WHL championship that season, but went winless in the Memorial Cup tournament.

The Pats were eliminated in the first round of the WHL playoffs by the Broncos, but did make the championship game of the Memorial Cup tournament. Regina was blanked 3-0 in that championship game by the QMJHL champion Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

It took the Broncos four seasons to reach the form to be a contender for a lower seed WHL playoff berth and Pats returned to that spot slightly quicker in three seasons.

The 2017-18 Pats went “all in” and didn’t win any championships.

Still, going “all in” will likely be a short-term fad due to the fact the Rams won the Super Bowl. While the Rams had success with their “all in” venture, the risk is often way greater than the reward.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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