Who Is My Favorite All-Time NFL Team?

First of all, thanks for asking. 

It’s been almost a decade, since I entertained the fond memories of the St. Louis Rams' Super Bowl season of 1999.   This particular Rams team rates as my all-time favorite, not because they were an underdog who found a way to win a game.  No, they are my all-time favorite team because they were the biggest underdog in the history of the NFL, and they found a way to win it all.

To fully appreciate just how much that 1999 Super Bowl win meant to a guy from Dallas, you have to go back to 1979, when my love affair with the Rams was born.  I was sitting in the stands in Los Angeles, watching my first NFL game live, without the limitations of the cameras and TV.  The Rams were hosting the Minnesota Vikings.  

Even as seven-year-old, I remember understanding the situation on the field.   The game had gone into overtime, tied at 21-21.  The Rams had the ball, fourth and goal at the Vikings five-yard line.  The Rams lined up for the winning field goal.

What happened next, I would never forget. 

Instead of kicking the field goal, head coach John Robinson called for the fake, where All-Pro safety and place holder Nolan Cromwell kept the ball and made a mad dash for the corner pylon.  Cromwell sprinted to the exact corner of the end zone where my mom and I were sitting.   The fake was a beauty and everyone on the Vikings sold out for the block—except the safety valve, who spotted Cromwell at the hash, and the race was on.

Let’s just say in today’s NFL, Cromwell probably wouldn’t have scored, but he won the five-yard sprint to the goal line and the Rams won the game, 27-21.  From that day, that moment, my love for the Rams was born.

Fast forward exactly 20 seasons to 1999.

In a meaningless preseason game, the Rams lose starting quarterback Trent Green to a season ending injury.  Head coach Dick Vermeil is literally crying about it, telling fans the team will trooper on without him but the loss is “devastating”.

As Vermeil cries, I use this killer new search tool called the Internet to find out who is listed as the backup quarterback in the Rams two-deep roster. A few clicks later, I find out its a guy named Kurt Warner, who was most recently employed by an Arena League team and before that he worked for a super market bagging groceries.   

You have got to be kidding me. 

Again, I plugged into this marvelous network of information called the World Wide Web and referenced the Odds to Win the Super Bowl on my offshore account.  Sure enough, the guys in Las Vegas were so enamored with an Arena Quarterback starting in the NFL, the Rams were listed as 250-1 odds to win the Super Bowl that year.  Far and away the longest shot of any team on the board to win the world championship.

While the rest of the world snickered at the Rams' misfortune, the team circled the wagons and rallied behind their new starting quarterback.

In the season home opener, Warner declared his intentions by passing for three touchdowns and 309 yards, leading the Rams to a 27-10 victory over Baltimore.  After a bye week, Warner threw another three touchdowns in a 35-7 route of the Atlanta Falcons.

When the Rams took their show to Cincinnati for Warner’s first road start of his NFL career, everyone figured reality would settle in and the Rams would lose.  Three Warner touchdown passes and 310 yards later, the Rams were off to a perfect 3-0 start.

When the hated 49ers came to town, the Rams announced to their bitter rivals and to the entire league that not only was the Rams' quarterback not a position of liability, but he may be the best in the league.   Warner dropped two touchdown bombs of 45 yards and 42 yards to Issac Bruce, while throwing a career high five touchdown passes in the 42-20 blowout victory.

In four games to start his NFL career, Warner had thrown 14 touchdowns for 938 yards and his team was a perfect 4-0.  The Rams would extend their streak of perfection to six games, before losing on the road to the Tennessee Titans, 24-17.  Ironically, this is the same team the Rams would play in the Super Bowl.

The Rams finished the regular season 13-3.  The offense racked up 32.9 points per game, while the defense proved solid, giving up only 15.1 points per game.  The 17.8 points per game differential was easily the highest in the league.

In Super Bowl XXXIV at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, the 15-3 Rams took on the 16-3 Titans in a rematch for the world championship.  Despite dominating the first half offensively (294 yards to 89), the Rams only led 9-0. 

The Rams opened the scoring in the second half with a touchdown pass from Warner to Torry Holt, extending the margin to 16-0.  It looked like another Super Bowl blowout that failed to live up to the pre-game hype.

But Tennessee didn’t get the blowout memo, and they scored the next 17 points, taking the lead 17-16 with 2:12 seconds to play in the game.

So here came the Rams offense.  Down by one, in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, with a quarterback who one year ago was playing Arena football, and one year before that was bagging groceries.

As he did all season, Warner met the challenge.  As the pocket collapsed around him, Warner held the ball just long enough to spot a streaking Issac Bruce down the right sideline.  Warner threw a perfect pass for a 73-yard touchdown strike.  Warner finished his Super Bowl debut hitting 24-of-45 for 414 yards and two touchdowns.

The quick strike meant the Titans had time of their own and they drove the ball all the way to the Rams 10-yard line with six seconds remaining and no timeouts.   On the final play, Titans quarterback Steve McNair spotted an open Kevin Dyson, who caught the ball at the three.  Dyson was immediately grabbed by Rams linebacker Mike Jones, who slid down Dyson as he fought for the two yards to the end zone and a world championship.

Jones hung on for dear life, and as Dyson went down, he stretched the ball as far as he could toward the goal line, but ended up one yard short.

The Rams won their first Super Bowl in my lifetime, and at that exact same moment, I realized that yes, my head can actually hit the ceiling of my house if I jump high enough.

My beloved Rams had gone from the biggest underdog to Super Bowl champions, and they did it behind a man who perfectly personified the team.