Super Bowl power rankings: Who’s the best loser?
By John Buhler
44. 1979 Los Angeles Rams, Super Bowl XIV
The 1979 Los Angeles Rams were the only team that made it to a Super Bowl while the franchise has been in Southern California. Their two other trips to the Super Bowl came after the team had relocated to St. Louis — but the recent return to Los Angeles means the SoCal Super Bowl drought might soon end.
Los Angeles finished the ’79 regular season with a mediocre 9-7 record, but still managed to win the NFC West. They would defeat the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional round and would shut out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1979 NFC Championship before getting to play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.
Perhaps it was facing the last great team of the Steelers’ dynasty in the 1970s or maybe it was their utter lack of having done anything outstanding that year, but the Rams entered Super Bowl XIV as a 10.5-point underdogs. They ultimately lost by 12 points to the vastly superior Steelers, 31-19.
The Rams get a little credit for not getting totally crushed, but losing by 12 points in a Super Bowl still isn’t great and neither is a 9-7 record.
Perhaps a return to Southern California for LA’s original NFL franchise will help the Rams get back to another Super Bowl in the not-so-distant future.
Next: 43. 1996 New England Patriots