SEATTLE — The wrath of a city desperate to will its beloved Seahawks back to the Super Bowl rained down on Matthew Stafford.
With the stakes Super high, the 12s were committed to making life hell for Stafford.
So it was Stafford versus the howling 12s, conspiring against him with the league’s No. 1 defense.
Because of all the storylines they feared most in this NFC Championship game, it was the Rams quarterback versus their quarterback.
Matthew Stafford versus Sam Darnold.
Matthew Stafford Against The World.
And Matthew Stafford wasn’t blinking.
The MVP quarterback who lives for and embraces these monumental moments versus the young journeyman quarterback who had yet to prove he could.
Until now.
Stafford, the 31-27 loser, gave the Rams a comfort that Darnold was not supposed to have given the 12s.
Except Darnold, as if he were back at San Clemente HS and USC, wasn’t cooperating.
The 12s hadn’t loved a team as much as this one since Russell Wilson quarterbacked their Seahawks and Pete Carroll coached them and the Legion of Boom helped them win Super Bowl 48.
They were so loud Stafford might have thought they were the 13s.
The Rams would need Stafford to summon every ounce of his fearlessness, field vision, arm talent, savvy and moxie.
Now 12:18 remained. Stafford, down four, started at his 10.
The decibel level reached 115.
Fourth-and-1 at the Seattle 26.
Decibel 116.
Stafford, at last resort, scrambled up the middle for three yards.
Third-and-4.
Decibel 114.
Fourth-and-4 at the Seattle 6.
Decibel 116.
Incomplete in the middle of the end zone for Terrance Ferguson.
4:54 remained.
You either prolong your season and celebrate a return to the Super Bowl … or you leave a dream shattered behind you
Stafford got the ball back at his 7 with 25 seconds and no timeouts left.
Decibel 115.
No miracle comeback this time for Matthew Stafford.
Stafford wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere other than Lumen Field.
He had wanted the ball in his hands with the game on the line.
He was that way during his 12 unfulfilling seasons in Detroit, where the naysayers viewed him as a compiler of passing yards and touchdowns but not as a winner, and he was that way Sunday night.
He was that way, at age 37 no less, with a sprained right index finger in overtime at frigid Soldier Field.
He wanted to snatch these guys’ hearts just as he had snatched those Panthers’ hearts at the end in the wild-card round.
And this game, and this season, would be on the line in the fourth quarter.
Darnold had thrown his third TD pass, to Cooper Kupp, and it was Seahawks 31, Rams 20 late in the third quarter.
The Rams were set to punt when a 15-yard taunting penalty was called on Riq Woolen.
Giving Stafford new life often means a death sentence.
Stafford promptly hit Puka Nacua with a 34-yard TD pass. Seahawks 31, Rams 27.
It had been Seahawks 24, Rams 13 after Darnold had found Jake Bobo with a 17-yard TD pass after Dareke Young recovered a muffed punt by Xavier Smith.
In the blink of an eye, it was 24-20.
Stafford hit Colby Parkinson with a 40-yard bull’s-eye. Then Davante Adams for 29 yards to position his 2-yard TD pass to Adams.
Sean McVay and Les Snead traded for Stafford to win games like this, and four years ago Stafford immediately won games like this on his way to his first Super Bowl championship at SoFi Stadium and the franchise’s first in 22 years and Los Angeles’ first since 1951.
“You can’t write the story any better,” Stafford had said after leading a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the 49ers in that NFC Championship game four years ago. “I’m at a loss for words. I’m just having a blast playing ball with these guys, and shoot, we’ve got one more at the home stadium. Let’s get it done.”
Stafford has epitomized one of Bill Parcells’ Quarterback Commandments: “We need battlefield commanders that are willing to fight it out, every day, every week and every season and lead their team to win after win after win.”
Stafford needed this one more win for the chance to win his second Super Bowl and become the ninth starting quarterback with two rings.
The final chapter remains to be written, but unless and until the Lions can win a Super Bowl with Jared Goff and the bounty of premium draft picks they received, the Rams won the trade that changed their franchise and fortunes. Even if Stafford couldn’t get back to the Super Bowl.
