The Rams Have Officially Entered Super Bowl-or-Bust Mode

The Los Angeles Rams have made one thing abundantly clear this offseason, and that is they are 100 percent all-in on a Super Bowl in 2026. There is only one reason why a team trades future draft capital for players such as Trent McDuffie and then makes the splashiest move of the offseason by acquiring Myles Garrett.

Over the past two years, the Rams have tried to live in two different timelines. They are very aware of the current timeline with Matthew Stafford at quarterback, but they have also been cognizant of the timeline beyond that. The Rams drafted Ty Simpson with the 13th overall pick with the future beyond Stafford in mind.

This Is the Moment the Rams Have Been Building Toward

When we think about teams going all-in, teams like the Brooklyn Nets immediately come to mind when they acquired Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. You can go back even further when they added Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry in a blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics. In both cases, the bottom fell out.

The Rams are doing their best to avoid that as they attempt to have sustained success. They managed it after winning in 2021 as they missed the postseason just once.

Since then, the Rams haven’t necessarily had a ‘’happy-go-lucky’ mindset, but winning the Super Bowl wasn’t necessarily always the ultimate goal. Winning in the playoffs is always important, but when the Rams made the postseason in 2023, nobody expected them to be there. They were ahead of schedule and anything at that point was a success.

The Rams were in a competitive spot again in 2024, but they were still retooling the roster with young players gaining valuable experience. An argument can be made that the Rams should have done more last season with Stafford playing at an MVP level, but they were a team that came a handful of plays away from going to the Super Bowl.

Is Anything Less Than a Super Bowl a Failure?

As the Rams head into the 2026 season, they haven’t had this level of expectations since 2021. Stafford and the Rams rose to the occasion during that season, becoming the second team to win a Super Bowl on their home field. However, that type of pressure is something that a large core of this roster hasn’t dealt with before.

Sports Illustrated’s Gilbert Manzano recently laid out the road map for a Rams Super Bowl in 2026.

“They have top-five players at a handful of positions, and the most brilliant football mind is controlling the operation,” said Manzano. “Anything other than a Super Bowl would definitely be a failure for McVay’s team, even though he attempted to downplay the expectations during Garrett’s introductory news conference in June. On paper, L.A. has the best roster in recent memory. Now, it’s on the Rams to do what the Patriots couldn’t in 2007—win the Super Bowl with a giant target on their backs.”

Manzano wrote something interesting there that is worth discussing. “Anything other than a Super Bowl would definitely be a failure for McVay’s team.” That isn’t necessarily wrong and might be a harsh reality. At the same time, the Rams likely don’t have that mindset.

Winning the Super Bowl is obviously the ultimate goal this season. Again, a team doesn’t trade for McDuffie and Garrett if that isn’t the goal. However, it’s also a short-sighted way of looking at things and undermines how difficult it is to win a Super Bowl.

Oftentimes, winning a Super Bowl is like hitting a 10-leg parlay. A bunch of things have to go a certain way to win big. When the Rams won in 2021, a lot of things went their way. That’s not to say that the Rams got lucky, but a lot of things had to go right, especially in the playoffs.

In the Divisional Round, the Rams gave up a big lead and it took Stafford hitting Cooper Kupp against the right coverage to set up a game-winning field goal. Against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, Stafford nearly had an interception that could have ended any chance of a comeback. In the Super Bowl, Jalen Ramsey fell, leaving Ja’Marr Chase wide open. However, Aaron Donald got to Joe Burrow before he could see it.

The right plays were made, but those plays had to go a certain way. An argument could be made that last year goes differently if the Seahawks miss just one of their two-point conversion attempts in their comeback win. What if the Rams had home field advantage in the playoffs?

The Rams Have Earned These Expectations

The goal for the Rams is to win the Super Bowl in 2026, but falling short doesn't necessarily make the season a failure. The NFC is very competitive with the defending Super Bowl champions and teams like the Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions looking to get back to being a contender.

Still, winning the division and making it back to the NFC Championship game should be the expectation. Anything less than that or having a poor performance in the NFC Championship can be considered a failure. If the Rams make the Super Bowl or come up a few plays short in the NFC Championship again, it’s hard to call that a failure given how hard it can be to get over that hump.

There’s a difference between having Super Bowl expectations and considering everything short of that a failure. Given the moves that the Rams made this offseason, they’ve earned the target on their backs. They experienced that in 2021 after trading for Stafford. The Rams have put themselves in the best position possible to win another Super Bowl and now they just need those small moments to go their way.

Add us as a preferred source on Google