The Rams and Bengals enter Super Bowl 2022 Sunday at SoFi Stadium with one Lombardi Trophy between them in a combined five tries at football’s ultimate prize.

If not for Mike Jones, the teams might be a combined 0-5 entering this game.

Remember Mike Jones?

The Rams should, because without him the franchise wouldn’t have its only Super Bowl title.

The former St. Louis Rams linebacker authored the reality version of the longest yard when he tackled Titans receiver Kevin Dyson at the 1-yard line on the final play of Super Bowl XXXIV on Jan. 30, 2000, at the Georgia Dome to preserve a 23-16 Rams victory.

Jones, who played 183 games across 12 NFL seasons and made 648 career tackles, will forever be known for one of those 648 stops, and he is OK with that — even though he carved out a pretty accomplished career otherwise.

“Without a doubt, it was the best play I ever made,’’ Jones told The Post. “People ask, ‘Does it bother you that that’s the one play you’re remembered by?’ I’m like, ‘Well, it could be worse. I could be known as the guy that didn’t make the tackle.’ ’’

The image of Dyson desperately reaching for the goal line with his right arm extended with the ball in his hand and Jones holding onto him for dear life remains one of the most iconic photographs in Super Bowl history.

“Do I know I made a lot more plays in my career than that tackle? Absolutely,’’ Jones said. “It doesn’t bother me. It’s a great honor to be able to say I was one of the guys people talk about in Super Bowl history.

“Do most kids dream about making the tackle to win the Super Bowl at the 1-yard line? No. Most kids think about throwing the game-winning touchdown or catching it or making a strip-sack and interception. But hey, I take what I can get.’’

As important to this story is what Dyson didn’t get, which was the game-tying touchdown reception from Steve McNair.

He was haunted by not getting across that goal line for a while. It, in fact, wasn’t until Dyson met Jones months later that he was able to let go of the anxiety that engulfed him so badly he was getting a rash of stress-related canker sores in his mouth.

Getting to know Jones and building a relationship with the man who denied him his own Super Bowl moment of glory turned out to be healing for Dyson.

Jones, now 52, is still living in St. Louis and coaching high school football. He was humble back then about that memorable play and he remains so today, acknowledging that “it could have gone either way.’’

“In games like that, in situations like that, it’s unfortunate that someone’s going to be the good guy and someone’s going to be the bad guy,’’ Jones said.

Dyson and Jones got to know each other when the Rams and Titans worked out together the following training camp in St. Louis. It was then when they sat down and watched the tape of the play together for an ESPN feature with the late Stuart Scott.

“When I saw how humble he was about the play, I let go of my anger right then,’’ Dyson told The Post. “I was like, ‘This dude is so humble about it, he recognizes that could have gone either way, and I’m holding onto this bitterness for no reason.’ I just let it go.’’

Dyson’s world was rocked by not getting across that goal line because he felt as if he had let his teammates down.

“It was first time in my athletic life when I had the ball in my hand with the game on the line that I wasn’t successful,’’ he said.

In the days, weeks and months after that Super Bowl, Dyson couldn’t escape the play, seeing it on TV highlights, talked about on sports radio.

“Everywhere I would go people would mention it,’’ he said. “It was one of those things where I couldn’t get away from it. That was part of that process of me trying to overcome it.’’

Listening to both players break down the final sequence is fascinating.

“That last play, they knew what coverage we were in,’’ Jones said. “They thought they had the right play call for the defense we were in, and I was fortunate enough to make the tackle.’’

Jones recalled later seeing one of those NFL Films mic’d up replays and hearing Titans receiver Yancey Thigpen standing on the sidelines saying, “Ooh, we got ’em,’’ as the play was unfolding.

“He knew we were in the coverage they wanted to see,’’ Jones said. “We were in what they wanted for the play that they called.’’

“The ball is snapped and [tight end] Frank Wycheck goes vertical and I’m running with Frank, but I had my eyes looking at Kevin,’’ Jones said. “I saw Kevin plant, so I plant. He caught the ball and I come downhill to hit him and I wrap him. I knew where I was on the field when I tackled him, so I knew he wasn’t getting in.

“When I tackled him and Kevin fell, I think I hit him on about the 4-yard line, so I was like, ‘Unless he’s 12-feet tall, he’s not going to get in.’ When I tackled him and hit his leg, he loses his balance. He fell like a tree, then you see him reach the ball out, and that’s what everyone sees.”

Dyson, now 46 and a principal at a high school outside of Nashville, said he went into motion to identify what coverage the Rams were in.

“I saw they were in zone when I went in motion, so I knew the ball was coming my way,’’ he said.

Dyson, asked if he was certain he was going to score the game-tying touchdown, said: “You’re so hyper-focused in the moment, but what I do remember is color. I remember the yellow paint in the end zone and seeing it’s right there. When I caught the ball, I knew Mike was there, but I didn’t think he was in position to make the play. I thought I was going to be able to go by him and get to the end zone.

“It goes to show you how small the margin of error is in football.’’

The lives of both men, and many others involved, might have shifted had Dyson gotten across the goal line.

Both players said they have a framed picture of that play. Dyson said his is hanging up in the basement of his home, where he keeps memorabilia. Interestingly, Jones said he has it, but it isn’t hanging anywhere in his home, and he doesn’t know exactly where it is.

Jones, like Dyson, said he was so immersed in the moment that he wasn’t thinking about the consequences of that play when he made it.

“When you’re playing, you don’t realize the magnitude of it until after the fact,’’ Jones said. “You do it so often, it’s like a habit. I’m not trying to minimize the play. I just did what we always worked on. It’s a play that I made throughout my career. It just happened to be the last play of the Super Bowl.’’