National Football League

Super Bowl 2022: Cooper Kupp envisioned winning, being MVP

Updated Jan. 17, 2023 2:47 p.m. ET

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By Eric D. Williams
FOX Sports NFL Writer

The Los Angeles Rams were down a big-time playmaker, with an injured Odell Beckham Jr. watching in street clothes from the sideline.

It didn’t matter.

Los Angeles' do-everything receiver, Cooper Kupp, once again stepped up during the critical stretch of the game. The Eastern Washington product scored the go-ahead touchdown on a leaping, 1-yard catch on a back-shoulder fade from Matthew Stafford with 1:25 left in the game.

Aaron Donald and L.A.’s defense held up, and the Rams took home a 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium.

Kupp finished with eight receptions for 92 receiving yards and two scores. For his effort, he earned Super Bowl MVP honors. 

Cooper Kupp envisioned winning Super Bowl MVP

Cooper Kupp said in his postgame interview that after the Rams lost the Super Bowl in 2019, he had a vision that the team would return to the big game and he would be the MVP.

"That game today is the story of our season," Stafford said. "It’s up and down. It’s tough. And we’re a frickin’ tough team. We showed up late and got it done. I’m excited." 

Down 20-16 with a little more than six minutes left and the Bengals in control, the Rams needed to march the length of the field for a score. And they had to do so while shorthanded on offense. 

Beckham was on his way to another solid outing, posting two receptions for 52 yards, including a 17-yard catch for the first touchdown of the game.

However, things changed quickly for Beckham and L.A.’s offense when he suffered a noncontact left knee injury on second-and-9 from the Los Angeles 45-yard line with 3:54 left in the first half. 

Beckham dropped a Stafford pass on a shallow crossing route and immediately went down in pain. He was attended to by trainers, helped off the field and eventually ruled out for the game.

He came out with a white hoodie and a sleeve on his left leg in the second half, relegated to watching from the sideline. The injury was to the same left knee on which Beckham had ACL surgery in November 2020. 

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Beckham had been productive since joining the Rams, catching seven touchdown passes across the regular season and playoffs, tying him with Amari Cooper (Dallas Cowboys, 2018) for the most by a player on a team with which he didn’t start the season. Previously, Beckham had just seven touchdowns in 29 games with the Cleveland Browns.

With Beckham out, the Rams struggled to move the football. Ben Skowronek replaced Beckham and finished with just two catches for 12 yards on five targets.

In addition to Beckham, the Rams were without two of their top pass-catchers from the regular season. Tight end Tyler Higbee did not play due to a knee injury, and the Rams lost Robert Woods to an ACL injury earlier this year.

Making matters worse, the Rams could not run the football, totaling just 43 yards on the ground. But on the deciding drive, they moved the ball 79 yards on 15 plays for the winning score. 

Kupp finished with three catches for 30 yards on the drive. He also ran for a critical first down on fourth-and-1 from L.A.’s 30-yard line, scampering 7 yards on an end-around to keep the chains moving. In addition, he coaxed two defensive penalties in the end zone to get Los Angeles closer to scoring position.

"That’s hard work, hours spent together," Stafford said when asked about the chemistry between him and Kupp. "I just thank Coach for putting it in our hands: ‘Hey, Matthew, you and Coop go get this thing done.’ He kept calling plays for him, finding ways to get him the ball, and he made unbelievable plays. That’s what he does."

Added Sean McVay: "We were able to get them into some more regulated looks by playing fast. They still were tight-window throws. [Cincinnati] made it really difficult tonight. I’ve got a lot of respect for the Bengals’ defense, but we were able to find a way." 

Kupp became the eighth wide receiver to win Super Bowl MVP and the first since Julian Edelman took home the trophy in Super Bowl LIII.

The Rams' WR1 had the most receptions ever in a single playoff run (33). He finished with 478 receiving yards and six touchdowns in the postseason, trailing only Larry Fitzgerald (546 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in 2008) in league history.

"I’m just so thankful for everyone that’s been in my life, that’s encouraged me and been with me every step of the way," Kupp said when asked about winning Super Bowl MVP. 

His Super Bowl performance was merely a continuation of Kupp's playing big in the biggest moments. In the NFC Championship game, he finished with a game-high 11 catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the San Francisco 49ers to get Los Angeles to the Super Bowl.

He also had two big catches to help put Los Angeles into field-goal position in his team’s three-point win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round.

Kupp finished as the triple crown champion in the regular season, leading the NFL in receptions (145), receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16). Based on that production, he won the NFL Offensive Player of the Year. 

For the season, Stafford and Kupp connected on 22 scores, second-most in league history behind Brady and Randy Moss, who had 24 in 2007. 

Kupp didn’t play in the Rams’ 2018 Super Bowl run because of an ACL injury to his left knee, so he made the most of his first Super Bowl opportunity.

"In 2019, we walked off the field that last time after losing to the Patriots," Kupp said after his team’s victory. "I wasn’t able to be part of that. I don’t know what it was, but I just had this vision God revealed to me that we were going to come back. We were going to be part of a Super Bowl. We were going to win it, and somehow, I was going to walk off the field as MVP of the game.

"And I shared that with my wife because I couldn’t share that with anyone else, obviously, what that was. But from the moment this postseason started, there was a belief every game. 

"It was written already, and I got to play free."  

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on Twitter @eric_d_williams.

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