Super Bowl 2026: Would Matthew Stafford retire if Rams win it all?
CHICAGO- We’ve seen these movies before, or at least most of them.
With the NFL’s conference championship games scheduled — the Rams at Seattle after New England at Denver — three of the four possible Super Bowl permutations are rematches.
Patriotic rams? There were two, at the end of the 2001 and 2018 seasons.
And Seattle played both combinations, beating the Broncos in the 2013 season and losing to the Patriots a year later.
Of the four possibilities, the only one that didn’t happen was Rams-Broncos.
There are strong ownership ties between these two franchises. Among his many sporting titles, Rams owner Stan Kroenke also owns the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche. Although he built his empire with real estate and as a developer, he is married to Ann Walton Kroenke – of the Walmart family – who is a first cousin of Rob Walton, who led the group that purchased the Broncos in 2022.
The Broncos last won the Super Bowl 10 years ago, a few weeks after the Rams received clearance to return to Los Angeles, and it happened at Levi’s Stadium, site of this year’s game. That’s when Peyton Manning won his second ring, with his second franchise, and then called it a career.
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Gary Klein explains what went right for the Rams in their 20-17 overtime win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Playoffs at Soldier Field.
It’s possible that Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford follows this plan. He’s on his second team, after spending the first part of his career in Detroit, and he already has a ring. But while Manning was clearly in the sunset of his storied career, Stafford remains at the top of his game and will likely be the NFL’s Most Valuable Player this season.
Still, Stafford will turn 38 the day before the Super Bowl, and it wouldn’t be much of a curveball if it was his last game, especially if the Rams won.
Rams tight end Terrance Ferguson is from Littleton, Colorado, a suburb of Denver, and Broncos general manager George Paton is from La Cañada and played football at Loyola High and UCLA.
If the Seahawks won the NFC — and oddsmakers peg them as 2½-point favorites — they would look to repeat against Denver or atone for that painful loss to New England.
It was at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, remember, that Seattle overthrew Manning and the Broncos, 43-8, behind a suffocating defense. Pete Carroll’s team looked unbeatable.
A year later, in Arizona, one of the most atrocious moments in Seattle sports history.
With 20 seconds left and the Seahawks a yard away from the touchdown, Patriots rookie Malcom Butler caught a goal-line pass from Russell Wilson. Seattle inexplicably decided to punt instead of relying on battering ram Marshawn Lynch, who was almost automatic in short-yardage situations.
