INGLEWOOD, Calif. — This was the joyous moment that had always been reserved for someone else, for Tom Brady, for Peyton Manning, for Patrick Mahomes, even for Nick Foles … but never for him. 

Until now. 

Until Aaron Donald pressured Joe Burrow into a fourth-and-1 incompletion, after all the pressure Burrow felt in the second half, until Matthew Stafford could take a knee and look up and see and feel the confetti falling down on him after Rams 23 Bengals 20 and feel like a little kid again and hug as many jubilant teammates as he could, and of course his wife, Kelly, three years removed from brain cancer surgery. 

For 12 years, he had been held hostage in Detroit, just another big-armed quarterback who could make all the throws for all those yards but never win The Big Game. Or Any Big Game. 

It simply wasn’t enough to be lionhearted. 

Until now. 

When it came time for Matthew Stafford to win The Biggest Game. 

The game Sean McVay couldn’t win with Jared Goff three years ago when he told the world that he had been outcoached by Bill Belichick. The game he bet Matthew Stafford could win for him when he traded for him just before Super Bowl LV. And then added Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. 

It meant that Stafford was the quarterback of a Dream Team and in the biggest game of his life, on the biggest drive of his life, he showed up as a dream quarterback who made a dream come true, for himself, for McVay, for Donald, for Beckham. 

It was Bengals 20, Rams 16 when the scoreboard at SoFi Stadium showed Stafford that he had 6:13 left to change the narrative of an unfulfilled career. 

To get redemption for McVay for Super Bowl LIII. 

To get that elusive ring for arguably the greatest defensive tackle in NFL history. 

To get that redemptive first ring for OBJ. 

To get one for 40-year-old Andrew Whitworth. 

To get one for MVP Kupp, a helpless spectator with a knee injury at Super Bowl LIII. 

This would be The Legacy Drive. 

He had thrown a pair of interceptions, one end-zone bomb at the end of the first half, one short pass over the middle that Ben Skowronek had batted up in the air as a gift to Chidobe Awuzie. 

Stafford had lost Odell Beckham Jr., whose 17-yard touchdown catch had opened the scoring, to a non-contact knee injury in the first half. He had no running game. He had a terrible play-caller where Cooper Kupp overthrew him on a third-and-5 that resulted in a field goal. 

He started from his 21, and when it was fourth-and-1 at his 30, reason prevailed: he would ride Kupp to the Lombardi Trophy if he could. 

Kupp took the handoff and hit for 7 yards. Then Stafford hit him for 8. Then Stafford fired a missile over the middle to Kupp for 22. Then another one to Kupp for 8 more. 

Matthew Stafford was 8 yards from the Lombardi Trophy now. 

On third down, of course he looked for Kupp, his Breakfast Club companion. 

Logan Wilson was called for holding. 

Stafford was 4 yards from the Lombardi Trophy. 

Kupp caught a touchdown pass that was nullified by offsetting penalties. 

Still 4 yards from the Lombardi Trophy. 

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. 

Stafford tried Kupp again, and drew an interference call in the end zone against Eli Apple. 

Stafford was 1 yard from the Lombardi Trophy. 

After 12 long years dreaming of one. 

Apple versus the wondrous Kupp was never going to be a fair fight. No one ever called it Apple Island. Kupp beat him to the corner and Stafford hit him with 1:25 remaining. 

“That last drive was a special drive,” Stafford said. “One I’ll never forget.” 

He put the ball in the perfect place. 

“No hell over the top,” Stafford said. 

At the postgame podium, he held two of his little daughters on his lap, while another sat on a table in front of him. He talked about his wife now. 

“We battled so many things together,” Stafford said. “It’s such a special thing.” 

Stafford had struck on his second possession: he looked left on third-and-3 before looking to his right and finding Kupp wide open for a 20-yard catch-and-run. 

It was third-and-3 again and now Stafford lofted a beauty of a 20-yard TD pass to Beckham Jr. against Mike Hilton. Two hands needed for OBJ to pluck it out of the air and secure the catch. 

Stafford found OBJ streaking left to right for 35 yards and then Darrell Henderson wide open by the left sideline for 25 more before he rolled right and hit Kupp with the 16-yard TD pass that made it Rams 13, Bengals 3. 

It was 13-10 when Stafford made his first faux pas, signaling Van Jefferson to go deep and watching his underthrown ball picked off in the end zone by Jessie Bates. 

He wouldn’t let it stop him or define his night. A night he deserved after 12 long years in Detroit. With a afterthought receiver out of Eastern Washington he deserved. And very possibly now, a bust one day in Canton.