Rams History: The Greatest Show on Turf Era

Staff Writer
Staff Writer
3 Min Read

The Rams franchise has won two Super Bowls. The most recent Super Bowl victory was the first for the Los Angeles Rams after winning a Super Bowl for St. Louis, Missouri, in 2000. That victory came at the expense of an outstanding Tennessee Titans team and sealed the legacy of the Rams franchise’s Greatest Show On Turf era.

The St. Louis Rams team was one of the most dominant teams in NFL history. The team was heralded for the nearly unstoppable offense, the brainchild of Hall of Fame head coach Dick Vermeil and offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

That season the Rams’ offense was downright dominant in that Super Bowl victory. They racked up over 500 yards of total offense, including 414 passing yards from then-MVP quarterback Kurt Warner. The offensive output was too much for the Titans, who could only muster 131 yards through the air and 251 yards in total.

The Rams’ defense also came up big, forcing two turnovers and sacking Titans quarterback Steve McNair four times. This was a complete team effort from the Rams, who put on an offensive clinic en route to their first Super Bowl victory in franchise history.

The Longest Longshot

The Rams entered the 1999 season not as a long shot but as the longest shot in NFL history. That’s quite the hurdle. Even the team was focused on playing competitive football at the opening kickoff. Nobody was talking playoffs for the Rams, let alone a Super Bowl birth.

However, a freak injury to starting quarterback Trent Green sent the team down a fantastic path. With Green out of the lineup, the Rams were forced to start backup quarterback Kurt Warner, who was only two years removed from the Arena Football League.

Warner was not without talent surrounding him. He had two speedy receivers in Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt and a big physical running back in Eric Dickerson, who could run, block, and catch the ball, but who could have predicted that Warner would go on to have one of the greatest seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, or that the Rams would score a then-record 500 points in that season.

The Rams could put up points in bunches with this group of players. In 1999, their first season under Martz, the Rams scored 526 points. They also won their first division title in 10 years and won the Super Bowl.

The Rams’ “Greatest Show on Turf” offense was one of the most prolific and exciting units in NFL history.