Eagles SB LIX dominating win makes Rams hopes for 2025 painfully obvious

The Los Angeles Rams sat and watched Super Bowl LIX like the rest of us. What they witnessed may be a bit frustrating, but it surely fuels plenty of optimism for the team in 2025. Here's why:

The Kansas City Chiefs face the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX, the final and most prestigious game of the 2024 NFL season. As is the case with all postseason formats, there could only be one winner. The other team, the loser, was simply the last team not to hoist the Lombardi Trophy, and the 31st team to make a selection in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.

The Chiefs were out to set the NFL record, winning their third consecutive Super Bowl. No team in NFL history had accomplished that feat since pivoting to the Super Bowl format. But there have been teams that have made three consecutive Super Bowl appearances. They are:

• Buffalo Bills: The Bills hold the record for consecutive Super Bowl appearances with four. But the team led by Jim Kelly lost four times. Buffalo. The Bills have never won a Super Bowl, missing again this year after falling to the Chiefs in the AFC championship game.
• Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins were the first team to reach three straight Super Bowls. Behind QB Bob Griese, they fell to the Dallas Cowboys by a score of 24-3 before winning two straight Lombardis.
• New England Patriots: If any team were to challenge the record, surely the New England Patriots behind QB Tom Brady and HC Bill Belichick could. The Patriots are the most recent NFL team to make three consecutive Super Bowls from 2016-2018. They did not win all three appearances, losing in 2017. They lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII before returning to win SB LIII.

But the Chiefs have now joined the ranks of three-time appearances, only to fail to win that ever-elusive third appearance.

Rams fans have even more fuel to be optimistic

Even after the LA Rams were stopped in their tracks by the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Round of the 2025 NFL Playoffs, the game ended with the Rams driving into the Eagles Red Zone. That drive pushed the Rams to

• First-down and 10 yards to go on the Eagles 21-yard line with 1:25 remaining
• Second-down and 7 yards to go on the Eagles 18-yard line with 1:19 to go
• Third-down and 2 yards to go on the Eagles 13-yard line with 1:14 to go
• Fourth-down and 11 yards to go on the Eagles 22-yard line with 0:31 to go.

If the Rams had not turned the football over twice in two consecutive possessions, the Eagles would not possess a six-point lead with time running out.

If there were more time on the clock, the Eagles would have kicked the field goal and played for another possession. If the team was not penalized on second down, or had not surrendered a quarterback sack on third down, the Rams would have scored. No, I do not advocate playing the 'What if...?' game for too long, because it never ends up in a good place.

As it stood, the Rams were oh-so-close to winning the game by a score of 29-28, a fact that would haunt the team and its fans for the remained of the playoffs. After all, the Eagles demolished the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship Game. And then, the team demolished the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX by a score of 40-22.

Ultimately, it was the Rams cagey quarterback Matthew Stafford and a young passionate defense under DC Chris Shula that seemed to come closest to knocking off the Eagles in the post season.

While the rosters, schedules, injuries, and coaches of all 32 NFL teams will reset with the start of the 2025 NFL season, there is some solace in the knowledge that the Rams were so close to winning it all.

It's not as easy as just regrouping the same players to rekey for a new season. Veteran players get older and suffer the passing of time. Younger players gain more experience and comfort in their teams and roles. And the attrition of expiring contracts combine with the influx with new free agents and rookies to completely change the team's dynamics.

Still, the Rams had the Eagles on the ropes if for just a couple of offensive plays as time ran out. That is more than any other team can claim as the 2024 NFL season ends.

As always, thanks for reading.

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