After missing the previous biggest game of his career, Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp made sure to make this one—Super Bowl LVI—count.
And he did. To the tune of eight catches, two touchdowns, 92 yards and MVP honors in the big game.
About 40 minutes after it was all over, Kupp sat at a podium with his son Cypress and recalled the last time he was in this situation: February 3, 2019, when the Rams lost Super Bowl LIII to the New England Patriots in Atlanta. Kupp was inactive for that tilt as he was recovering from a torn left ACL.
“I don’t know what it was, there was just this vision that God revealed to me that we were gonna come back, we were gonna be a part of a Super Bowl, and we were gonna win it,” Kupp said. “And somehow, I was going to walk off the field as the MVP of the game.”
It, of course, all came to fruition Sunday night after Kupp did what he has done for the majority of his career. Kupp’s game-winning, one-yard TD catch from quarterback Matthew Stafford with 1:25 left cemented that vision as reality, and Kupp became just the eighth wide receiver to win Super Bowl MVP (and first since Julian Edelman in that Super Bowl LIII).
Despite winning the NFL’s receiving triple crown (receptions, yards, receiving touchdowns), Kupp came into the game as 7-1 underdog to win MVP, according to Caesars Sportsbook.
His performance is even more impressive given the fact that fellow wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. suffered a knee injury late in the first half, so the Bengals could focus more on slowing Kupp.
“Whatever it is, I just want to execute my job to the best of my ability,” he said. “I trust that as the game goes on, I will have opportunities, as well, and I just want to stay ready for those things, stay locked in.”
Kupp became the second player with four-plus receptions on a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter or later of a Super Bowl (Pittsburgh’s Santonio Holmes, Super Bowl XLIII).
“Once we got down in the tight red area, it felt like it was about 60 plays for us to be able to finally get that one in on the fade,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “And Cooper Kupp is the man.”
In addition, Kupp also:
- Set a record for receptions (33) and tied for the second-most receiving yards (478) and receiving touchdowns (6) in a postseason in NFL history;
- Caught a touchdown in each of the Rams’ four postseason games, becoming the second player in NFL history to do so in a single postseason (Arizona Cardinals’ Larry Fitzgerald);
- Joined former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Joe Montana as the only players to win Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP in the same season;
- Became the first player to lead the league in receiving and win a Super Bowl since 1994 (49ers Jerry Rice).
“I just felt like I was just so undeserving of what that was in that moment because the people I’ve been able to play with, the people that I’ve been around, the players that I get to play with and come into work with every single day, the coaches that I get to work with and collaborate with—it’s been just the perfect team, the perfect setup,” Kupp said. “I’m just so thankful for everyone that’s been around me. It still really hasn’t hit me.”
