(WXYZ) — Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl champions. The Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 on Sunday night at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, with the Rams defense stopping the Bengals with seconds left in the game.
Stafford was 26/40 for 283 yards and three touchdowns in the game. Joe Burrow was 22/33 for 263 yards and a touchdown.
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The Rams got off to a fast start after both teams had their drives end quickly.
Los Angeles went six plays for 50 yards that ended with a Stafford touchdown pass to Odell Beckham for 17 yards, giving the Rams a 7-0 lead.
Both teams traded punts, and then the Bengals with 59 yards on six plays in 1:41 that ended with a field goal, cutting the lead to 7-3.
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Los Angeles then scored on their ensuing drive, going 75 yards on six plays, culminating in a Stafford touchdown pass to Cooper Kupp. Los Angeles' holder fumbled the PAT, and the Bengals got the ball but couldn't do anything with it.
Then, the Bengals scored on their drive, going 12 plays for 75 yards in 7:04 that ended with a trick play. Running back Joe Mixon threw a pass to Tee Higgins for a 6-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to 13-10.
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The score would stay that way until halftime, as Stafford threw an interception and then both teams traded punts.
Things quickly changed when the second half began. Burrow found Tee Higgins on the first play of the third quarter for a 75-yard touchdown pass. During replays, it was found the referees likely missed an offensive pass interference call that would have negated the touchdown.
Then, on the first play that the Rams took over, Stafford's pass to Ben Skowronek bounced off Skowronek's hand and was intercepted. That led to a drive ending in a field goal for the Bengals, and quickly a 13-10 lead for the Rams became a 20-10 deficit.
The Rams answered the Bengals' field goal with a field goal of their own after a 10-play drive, cutting the lead to 20-16 near the end of the third quarter.
Both teams then traded punts for six consecutive drives getting late in the fourth quarter. The Bengals still had a 20-16 lead.
Stafford then led the Rams down the field, which included a fourth-down conversion and another controversial call with less than two minutes left in the red zone, where the officials called a defensive holding penalty that gave the Rams four more downs to try to score.
Another defensive holding call at the goal line gave the Rams the ball at the 1-yard line with just over 1:30 left in the game and four downs to win.
On the 15th play of the drive, Stafford found Kupp and the Rams took a 23-20 lead with 1:25 left in the game.
Cincinnati took over with Burrow quickly leading the Bengals to the middle of the field with just over 40 seconds left, and the Bengals had to go for it on 4th and 1.
