ATLANTA -- Somehow, Kurt Warner's last pass, hanging in the air like a lame duck, was the appropriate metaphor for this ridiculous NFL season. The St. Louis Rams quarterback had been throwing precise passes at the Tennessee Titans, like darts in a British pub, for nearly 58 minutes.
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| Kurt Warner's magical right arm hoists the Lombardi Trophy. |
But this last one, with 2:05 left in a 16-16 game, was a heave. Tennessee defensive end Jevon Kearse crashed the offensive line and got one of his monstrous mitts on Warner, but the Rams QB muscled the ball down the right sideline.
Isaac Bruce, noting the parabolic trajectory, slowed down and outjumped Titans cornerback Denard Walker for the ball, then made safety Anthony Dorsett miss. He was gone for a 73-yard touchdown. St. Louis led 23-16, which would be Super Bowl XXXIV's final score.
"We had called a play earlier, and they came and told me Isaac could beat him," Warner said. "So we needed a big play, and Isaac is our go-to guy."
It was a bold strike, gutsy beyond belief. And it won the game for the Rams. For as breathtaking as the game's final play was -- when Kevin Dyson was dragged down by Rams linebacker Mike Jones less than one yard short of the end zone as time ran out -- this one framed the Rams' and Warner's improbable, and, even in retrospect, impossible season.
The Rams found their way to the top from farther down than any team ever, following last year's 4-12 season. Warner, the MVP of the Super Bowl and the NFL's regular season, had thrown all of 11 career passes in this league going into the year. This is the guy who was stocking shelves -- Aisle 5, bakery supplies, at the Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls, Iowa -- after he was cut by the Green Bay Packers in 1994. The player who reached the Arena Bowl twice with the Iowa Barnstormers (twice), but never won the ultimate indoor game.
On Sunday, the 28-year-old won in the biggest arena in sport.
After the game, some joker with a notepad asked Warner if he was thinking about throwing a touchdown pass.
"There was no reason we couldn't move it up and down the field. We'd been doing it all day," Warner said, electing not to roll his eyes. "There's two minutes left, and it's the Super Bowl, and we're tied. Of course we were thinking that."
Warner's season has been marked by this blunt, Point A-to-Point B approach:
He completed 24 of 45 passes for 414 yards and two touchdowns in the biggest game of his life.
Those 414 yards obliterated the previous Super Bowl record, set by the 49ers' Joe Montana in Super Bowl XXIV against Cincinnati in 1989.
Warner finished the season with a surreal 49 touchdown passes in 19 games.
Early on, the Rams' game plan was as obvious as Warner's gaudy statistics. Their strength is throwing the ball down the field, and the Titans' vulnerable secondary posed an appealing option. Irresistible, really.
When Blaine Bishop literally knocked himself out of the game in the third quarter, the Titans were down to two backups, Dorsett (for injured Marcus Robertson) and Perry Phenix, at safety.
Warner hoisted the ball a staggering 35 times in the first half, completing 19 for 277 yards. In the second half, when the Rams temporarily enjoyed a 16-0 lead, Warner threw only 10 passes. Two of them went for touchdowns.
The first one, a quick 9-yard slant to Torry Holt, victimized Dainon Sidney, a second-year defensive back. Holt faked left and went right, leaving Sidney a critical split-second behind. That ended the Rams' 0-for-12 streak in the red zone, a run of frustration that extended back to the NFC title game.
"It's what we call 'Twins right, Ace right, 999 halfback ballon,' " Rams offensive coordinator Mike Martz said. "We had five seconds left before the two-minute warning. We wanted to take a shot to Isaac over there, and we hadn't gotten it done during the game, for whatever reason.
"I thought we'd take a shot. If we got it, great. If not, the two-minute warning would kick off, and he could rest. So we'd go at it again with something else. The two of them just hooked up and made a great play."
Warner was one of the few people in the country who didn't see Bruce catch the ball.
"I missed it," Warner said. "I kind of got my head opened up."
Warner's life story might never be a movie. No one would believe it.
"It's real life," Rams coach Dick Vermeil said. "He's an example of what we'd all like to be. He's a great example of persistence."
Perhaps he will become an adjective, or a verb, like Wally Pipp. As in, to Kurt Warner: to wildly succeed against unfathomable odds. Sometimes in this cynical, complicated world, simple, fragile dreams do come true.
"Don't ever lose sight of it," Warner said. "Don't let anyone tell you can't do something. I believe in the Lord, and I believe in myself. With that, you can accomplish anything."
Greg Garber is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. His column has appeared every day during Super Bowl week.
