Rams need Super Bowl win to mend rift from their departure

Editor’s Note: Review-Journal Raiders beat writer Vincent Bonsignore covered Los Angeles sports for more than three decades, including the Rams’ return to L.A. in 2016.

If you are wondering what a Rams Super Bowl win would mean to Los Angeles, let’s just say the answer is complicated.

Because in so many ways, the Rams and Los Angeles are still in the process of getting to know one another again.

Let me back up a little bit.

For so many years Los Angeles was the jilted lover of the Rams, the first professional sports team to arrive in L.A. back in 1946. For the next 48 years, they were every bit as popular as the Dodgers, who joined them in the City of Angels in 1958, and the Lakers, who came to town in 1960.

From Bob Waterfield to Norm Van Brocklin to Elroy Hirsch to Tom Fears to the Fearsome Foursome to Roman Gabriel to Eric Dickerson, the Rams churned out stars and wins year after year after year.

Only to give it all up when they left for St. Louis in 1994.

Over the next 21 years, aside from a hardcore group of supporters who stuck with them in spite of them turning their back on the region, most fans kicked them to the curb, erased them from their memory bank.

Meanwhile, a generation of Angelenos grew up without any knowledge the Rams ever called L.A. home and became fans of the Patriots or Cowboys or 49ers or Raiders, who spent 12 years in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 and even won a Super Bowl championship in L.A.

Then, almost out of the blue, the Rams figured out a way to return to the region they called home. Needless to say, there was some awkwardness when they got back in 2016.

Some fans in Los Angeles didn’t know whether to hug them for showing back up at their doorstep or slug them for breaking their hearts all those years ago.

Winning them back over became the Rams’ top priority. It’s an ongoing process. The Rams understood they weren’t just going to waltz back to town and reclaim their spot alongside the other iconic sports franchises in town.

But between the beautiful new stadium they built and their success on the field, now playing in their second Super Bowl in five years, they are forging their way back into the heart and soul of Los Angeles.

Which makes the last six years, and in particular this past week, so surreal. Not only have the Rams returned home to Los Angeles, but they will play Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium, their spectacular $5 billion stadium.

If they can seize the moment and beat the Cincinnati Bengals, they will take a big step toward reclaiming their place alongside the Lakers, Dodgers and USC football in the hearts of Los Angeles sports fans.

But if you are asking me what a Super Bowl win would mean for the city, that is a tough one.

A segment of the sprawling Southern California metropolis will celebrate. Others will take notice and maybe jump on the bandwagon. Some will be indifferent, too busy enjoying all the other great elements that living in Los Angeles offers.

In that way, it will be quite a bit different than if the Bengals win and an entire region of fans in Ohio rejoice together.

But it will be a big step forward in their quest to reclaim the stature they surrendered by turning their backs on L.A. in 1994.

Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on Twitter.