Here is the link to my introduction to this series, as well as the first team I talked about, the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. They’re getting no ire from me, not after the dominant run they’re going to turn into a full-blown dynasty if people aren’t careful.

Smartest teams with recent rings to show for it:

#2 Rams: you know, from St. Louis

Two teams that play in Missouri, being the two smartest teams? What a red-letter day for the Ozarks. Never in my wildest dreams… hold on (*someone whispers in my ear*) they moved to where?

All kidding aside, do you remember the initial reports when they were coming out? And then Stan Kroenke moved the team from St. Louis to LA, and nobody thought that was a good idea? It wasn’t, and still isn’t, no one in LA cares and it didn’t matter at all. What a scam, a total con. Investigate every NFL owner because they’re all psychopaths and criminals who hoard wealth like a dragon sitting on a pile of stolen gold.

Anyways, whiz kid genius guru Sean McVay, is by my count, the 2nd best head coach in the league. And GM Les Snead had more than a decade to bring the team a championship, which he did. Success! The rest is gravy, and the Rams are still playoff-level good. Sure, Snead broke the bank and gave away all of his first-rounders for years to get it done, but that is exactly what you have to do in order to win. He bet big, and it paid off. All fans would do the exact same thing 10/10 times. Win now, worry about the aftermath later, because banners fly forever. If the Toronto Raptors can do it, so can you. Although, if you bet the farm and don’t win, you become the Phoenix Suns currently (not to mix sports and metaphors, but you’re smart you most likely understand the point I’m making).

With that being said, the fact that after that Super Bowl win the team didn’t completely collapse into a disaster is a testament to this team’s leadership, strategy, vision, and commitment. They’re also, surprise surprise, terrific at drafting. Whether it be luck or actual skill in scouting (borderline witchcraft), they have a wicked knack for picking up impact guys and coaching them UP and not into the ground (Jared Goff is still good, Tyler Higbee in the 4th, Gerald Everett in the 2nd, Cooper Kupp in the 3rd, Josh Reynolds in the 4th, Darrell Henderson in the 3rd, Cam Akers in the 2nd, Van Jefferson in the 2nd, Tutu Atwell in the 2nd, Kyren Williams in the 5th, Puka Nacua in the 5th, and gave the Jets John Franlin-Myers thank you for that). Imagine if Michigan Wolverine hero Blake Corum keeps his streak of death rolling, just eviscerating every 7-man front he sees, a miniature human wrecking ball just bouncing between dudes to the end zone. I wish he stayed in college for us forever.

By the way, I have to really thank my fantasy football league for letting me pick up Puka and Tutu, because they were very clutch adds from the waiver wire and that lifted me to the playoffs. The Rams have the special sauce, every team should be copying whatever the hell they’re doing, wholesale. And not just hiring McVay’s staff, it feels like teams whiffing on Belichick’s coaching scraps; all of the clout yet none of the actual insight or ability to “misinterpret the rules” on the same level.

For now, though, Stafford is just coasting into the sunset soon, Aaron Donald retired gracefully, and yet they’re still going to be a perennial playoff team. And with all of their draft picks coming up, they can actually build a stable foundation for the future. Jared Verse as an Aaron Donald replacement? Who knows. Blake Corum as a Todd Gurley-type of sensation? Why not. What I do know for certain is that this team doesn’t seem to screw up too often and that’s why they’ve been relevant for years now.

If only every fanbase could see a win in their lifetime and then just get to see competent, consistently good play every Sunday. What a dream it must be for the dozens of LA Rams fans out there. All 84 of you out there, what a lucky fanbase. Small, yet mighty, Rams nation will continue to occasionally wear their Kupp jerseys outside when the Dodgers and Lakers gear is in the wash.

By the way, “Lakers” is still a deeply dark and humorous name for a team leaving the Great Lakes for a desert, and the Dodgers used eminent domain to ruin an entire Mexican-American community to build a stadium and some highways.