{"id":431904,"date":"2026-01-25T07:57:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T07:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431904\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T07:57:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T07:57:09","slug":"a-second-super-bowl-for-matthew-stafford-could-cap-off-nfl-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/431904\/","title":{"rendered":"A second Super Bowl for Matthew Stafford could cap off NFL legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"

SEATTLE \u2014 Matthew Stafford could punch his golden ticket to the Hall of Fame in the Super Bowl\u2019s diamond anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First things first, however: An NFC Championship game before Super Bowl LX.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stafford, 37, will lead the Rams in a legacy game Sunday against the Seahawks for the right to play two weeks from now in the Bay Area against either the Patriots or Broncos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"LosMatthew Stafford celebrates after a touchdown during the first quarter of the Rams\u2019 NFC divisional round win over the Bears at Soldier Field on Jan. 18, 2026 in Chicago. Getty Images<\/p>\n

A second Super Bowl victory to couple with the one captured in his first season with the Rams would put Stafford in a rarefied group as the 14th multi-time-champion starting quarterback. All but two (Jim Plunkett and Eli Manning) are in the Hall of Fame if eligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s a Hall of Famer,\u201d ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky, Stafford\u2019s former Lions teammate and close friend, said on \u201cGet Up.\u201d \u201cBut, if he wins this game and then wins the Super Bowl, I think he gets into the conversation for one of the top 10-15 quarterbacks of all-time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Is it a stretch? Stafford ranks top-seven in career passing yards and touchdowns \u2014 granted, those are two 21st Century-dominated lists \u2014 and is the favorite to win his first MVP after his first First-Team All-Pro selection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Given a chance to be a frequent playoff participant in Act II of his career, the former Lions great has delivered. In total, Stafford has a career 98.2 quarterback rating with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 12 playoff games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just part of his personality \u2026 how cool, calm and poised he is,\u201d said receiver Davante Adams, who also played with fellow Father Time-defier Aaron Rodgers. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what it takes to win games over time. Any game \u2014 let alone over the course of his career and over the course of being in L.A. \u2014 it takes that type of poise and just being locked in. And he\u2019s got that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A year that began with Stafford gaining permission to seek a trade over a contract dispute \u2014 the Giants were all-in \u2014 could end up with him having a chance to prove he is invaluable. Standing in the way is the Seahawks\u2019 NFL-best scoring defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stafford had his best game of the season (457 yards, three touchdowns) in a Week 15 loss to the Seahawks and his lowest yardage total (130) in a Week 10 win against the Seahawks. Go figure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MatthewMatthew Stafford throws a pass during the Rams\u2019 NFC divisional round win over the Bears in Chicago. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI think quarterback wins is an interesting stat,\u201d Stafford said. \u201cIt takes everybody. There are certain games where I don\u2019t play up to par but we win the game. Or certain games where I feel like I played really well and we don\u2019t win the game. Surely, I\u2019m doing my best to try and play at a high level or lead the guys in the right way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Look at Stafford\u2019s contemporaries:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Drews Brees only won (and appeared in) one Super Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Matt Ryan only got one shot \u2014 one more than Philip Rivers \u2014 and lost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rodgers is 0-4 in the conference championships since his lone Super Bowl ring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Russell Wilson went 1-1 in back-to-back trips and hasn\u2019t returned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Will Stafford be part of that group? Or join two-time winners Manning and Ben Roethlisberger?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think excuses are tools of the incompetent,\u201d head coach Sean McVay said. \u201cMatthew is the furthest thing from that. I think people want to follow him because of the way that he stays humble in the great moments, which he sure has had a handful of those. Then in the moments that we can be better, he owns it. He\u2019s a freaking stud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

No argument there. But will he get to a second Super Bowl?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEATTLE \u2014 Matthew Stafford could punch his golden ticket to the Hall of Fame in the Super Bowl\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431905,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,1749,3150,514,68628,1739,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-431904","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-matthew-stafford","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nfl-playoffs","14":"tag-seattle-seahawks","15":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}