The Los Angeles Rams put the finishing touches on a remarkable season by defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI to capture their second championship in franchise history.
Cooper Kupp hauled in eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns en route to earning MVP honors, but the win would not have been possible without the contributions of Aaron Donald on the defensive side.
The eight-time Pro Bowler recorded four tackles and tied for the team lead with two sacks against the Bengals, but his biggest moment came late in the fourth quarter when he got home on Joe Burrow to force an incomplete pass and clinch the game.
Earlier in the second half when the Rams were trailing, Donald was involved in a scuffle with the Bengals after shoving Burrow out of bounds. Several members of the Bengals offensive line retaliated by pushing Donald back, which the three-time Defensive Player of the Year cited as the moment that woke him up, via Peter King of NBC Sports:
“Actually, Burrow was the one, he looked at me, like, ‘Hey Aaron, that was a clean play.’ The quarterback told me that! I feel everybody start pushing me, hitting me. I almost lost it. The refs were like, Aaron, get out of here. They [the Bengals] already got me mad. Now they want to push on me, say all these words to me.
“You just woke me up. You just woke me up!”
Donald specifically recalled Bengals right guard Hakeem Adeniji trash talking him and used that as inspiration when he plowed the 330-pounder into Burrow for a crucial sack on third down, holding the Bengals to three points:
“That number 77,” Donald said, “he did a little talking, so I wanted to show him how strong I was.
“Pretty much bowled him back into the quarterback. You wanna start pushing and saying all these words to me? I like a little competition. We can play mean. Let’s play mean. I had to show them. They got three points out of it, but off a short-field turnover, we fought.”
The Bengals unleashing Donald’s inner beast proved beneficial to the Rams as he almost single-handedly won them the game on Cincinnati’s final offensive possession. In addition to pressuring Burrow on fourth down, he held back running back Semaje Perine from securing a first down on the previous play.
In the days since winning the Super Bowl, Donald celebrated the team’s victory at a parade outside of the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, sat courtside at the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Utah Jazz and even appeared on James Corden’s popular late-night show.
The one remaining question for Donald is whether or not he will resume his playing career next season. He has not explicitly denied those rumors but hinted at “running it back” during the Rams’ Super Bowl parade if they can bring back all of their key free agents.
