The Los Angeles Rams became the second consecutive host team to win a Super Bowl, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in front of a packed house of celebrities and other corporate types at SoFi Stadium in nearby Inglewood, CA. Rams QB Matthew Stafford threw a touchdown pass with less than a minute to go to Cooper Kupp in the end zone. Kupp earned the game's MVP award for scoring two touchdowns and catching eight passes for 92 yards.
This is the Rams' second Super Bowl title in franchise history, but their first in Los Angeles (they did win one in 2000 while in St. Louis). They also won the NFL championship in 1951.
For Stafford, this was more of a redemption game, finding success after years of misery as a Detroit Lion. For Odell Beckham Jr., who was injured after scoring first for the Rams, seeing his team pull out the game ended any thoughts of letting them down since they really didn't have much of a running game to begin with. For Sean McVay, the youngest head coach (36) to win a Super Bowl, it comes with reports that he might quit coaching and go into TV. For offensive coordinator Kevin O'Connell, he might become the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.
For the NFL, it was the climax to a playoff series of last-second finishes and upsets that few will ever forget. Not even Hollywood could come up with endings like those.
Halftime
It was a hip hop extravaganza with oldies acts Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and relative newcomer Kendrick Lamar. It was historic because you couldn't do a show like this back when they were popular (and maybe even now) due to content issues, and because of the NFL's own public embarrassments involving issues of race. Eminem did make headlines for taking a knee at the end of his brief performance in support of Colin Kaepernick, the former Super Bowl quarterback who hasn't had an NFL job since he kneeled down during the national anthem.
The poor sound quality made the rapping unintelligible. Either that or it was all pre-recorded. But honestly, it isn't hip hop on TV unless the over/under on bleeped lyrics is around ten. You hardly heard any Sunday night, possibly a new standard in restraint
The Ads
Despite all the (high-priced) celebrities' pitches for junk food, beer, electric cars, Bitcoin knockoffs, etc., there was no expensively-produced ad that really stood out. Maybe they didn't have much in the budget after paying all the celebrities?
NBC
This was probably the last rodeo for "Sunday Night Football" as we know it. Al Michaels will likely be replaced on play-by-play with Mike Tirico (a move long rumored), and take his talents to Amazon's new Thursday night package. Which is interesting because in 2006, Michaels switched from Monday nights on ABC (which was moving its games to ESPN) to Sundays on NBC because he didn't want to work on cable. Well, what's Amazon Prime Video? It's a streaming service that delivers fewer viewers than cable, and will now be able to charge more on Prime to pay for the football.
Longtime sideline reporter Michele Tafoya has left TV to go into conservative politics. She'll be on the staff of Republican Kendall Qualls' run for governor of Minnesota, hoping to unseat incumbent Democrat Tim Walz in the upcoming midterm elections.
NBC took a break from the Winter Olympics for several hours of Super Bowl coverage. While we're all disappointed there's no head-to-head matchup between The Games and The Big Game, it probably would have been a ratings mismatch anyway.
