St. Louis, MO- A city that played host to an NFL team called the Cardinals from 1960- 1987 before relocating to Tempe, AZ in 1988 and being renamed the Arizona Cardinals. For six years the city of St.Louis was without a professional football team, but in 1994 the Los Angeles Rams relocated east to the city of St.Louis where they became the St.Louis Rams and recaptured the love and pride for football in a city that has taken great pride over the years for their professional sports teams. While the team’s initial success was limited while the team never managed to post a winning or .500 record for their first five seasons of play in St.Louis, like the Budweiser Brewing Company, the Rams would be brewing up a winner that would be recognized by the entire football soon after the 1999 season as the “Greatest Show on Turf”.
(From left to right: Kurt Warner, Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce, Marshall Faulk)
In 1999, The St.Louis Rams started the preseason with Trent Green as their number one quarterback on the depth chart with their backup being future hall of fame quarterback, Kurt Warner. Warner has been on the Green Bay Packers practice squad 5 years prior before going to play football of the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League. Warner would go onto to play arena football until 1997, when the St.Louis Rams singed him to a futures contract which meant he would be going to play in NFL Europe for one season with the Amsterdam Admirals. At the conclusion of the 1998 season, Warner was made the second string quarterback behind Trent Green. Green suffered a season ACL tear in the preseason which meant it would be up to an unknown and unproven quarterback who’s only experience in the NFL was on the practice squad of the Packers. However, Warner would prove that he could be the man to step up to the plate and help lead the Rams to a winning season. Nobody thought Kurt Warner would not only take and lead the rams to a Super Bowl victory, but would become the man under center for “The Greatest Show on Turf”. This name was given due to the explosive, and powerful offensive attack the Rams had on offense that happened to play on an artificial turf field in St.Louis. The name originated from the 1950’s circus movie “The Greatest Show on Earth” and they sure lived up to that monicar by leading the NFL as a team with the most points scored, most passing yards, and most total yards. Warner and his supporting cast of Marshall Faulk, Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce, and head coach Dick Vermiel would finish the season 13-3 and cap off their record setting season with a 23-16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl 34. This offense was borderline unstoppable for three seasons in which they continued to either lead or be one of the top scoring teams in the NFL. The biggest surprise for most people when they think about this team is that if they were so unbelievably dominant for a three year period, how come this “Greatest Show on turf only has one Super Bowl titles? There are two big factors that contributed to the Rams inability to win the big game after the 1999 season concluded; poor defense, and Tom Brady.
The 2000 NFL season saw almost the identical prefromance from the high powered Rams offense who once again, would lead the NFL in multiple offensive categories . Their defense, on the other hand would go on to allow 471 points in the regular season which was the most in NFL history given up by a team with a winning record. The Rams would reach the postseason once again finishing the regular season with a 10-6 mark, but ultimately were defeated by the New Orleans Saints by a score of 31-28. In 2001, the Rams would again be ranked the number one offense in the NFL, and with a top ten ranked defense, the team was primed for another crack at a Super Bowl title and make the Rams a two time in three seasons Super Bowl champion. However, it was the underdog status and determination from Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots that would once again shatter the Rams chances for a title that would’ve helped the 1999-2001 Rams be referred to as a dynasty. Brady would lead the Patriots down the field on what would be the final drive of the game to set up a game winning field goal by Adam Vinatieri. While this team will go down as one of the greatest offenses in league history, you can’t help but think about “The Greatest Show on Turf” and think about the opportunities they had to add at least two more titles in their prime three years of 1999, 2000, and 2001. Greatness is truly hard to achieve, and while many reach it almost all of them share one common goal, sustaining it.
The G.O.A.T. 