Matthew Stafford orchestrates a retro 4th quarterback comeback for Super Bowl win

The Lions’ king of comebacks orchestrated one on the biggest NFL stage… for the Rams.

In his 12 years with the Detroit Lions, Matthew Stafford orchestrated 38 game-winning drives and 31 fourth quarter comebacks.

On the biggest stage in his new home in Los Angeles, Stafford needed one more to do what he’s been dying to do for his entire career: win a Super Bowl.

Down four points with 6:13 left, Stafford led the Rams on a 15-play, 79-yard touchdown drive to re-take the lead for good, 23-20. It wasn’t easy for Stafford. In the first half, he lost Odell Beckham Jr.—a favorite target of his as of late—to a knee injury. Stafford’s running game had been non-existent all day, finishing the game with under 2.0 yards per carry.

But Stafford went to the well that has worked for him all season. He threaded the needle to Cooper Kupp for 22 critical yards. Then immediately found him for another 8 to get him into the red zone. A few plays later, knowing the team’s short-yardage running game was not working, Stafford went back to Kupp, this time in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown.

It wasn’t a perfect game for Stafford, but it perfectly encapsulated everything that is the Matthew Stafford experience. He started the game with a perfect passer rating through 1.5 quarters, but then he threw two interceptions in this game—one due to hubris in his own arm and the other a slight misfire to a backup receiver. Throughout the entire contest, he had to carry the offense that had no running game and a beat-up group of receivers. And then he pulled himself out of the hole he had partially dug himself and won the damn football game.

When it came down to it, Stafford did what he became notorious for locally here in Detroit. He said to Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals:

That’s a nice lead you have there
It’d be a shame
If someone
Made a comeback

Congrats, Matthew.