By Blessing 
Too Bad
The Los Angeles Rams took a massive gamble when they went all in for the 2022 Super Bowl. They traded for longtime Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and surrounded him with a championship-ready roster on both sides of the ball. The gamble paid off in spectacular fashion, as the Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
Since then, though, Los Angeles hasn’t been able to climb back to the top. This season, however, Stafford has been playing some of the best football of his entire career, even earning a spot in early MVP conversations at the halfway point of the season.
Sunday’s victory over the San Francisco 49ers was a striking reminder of just how much of Stafford’s prime was spent toiling in Detroit.
“Matthew Stafford just reached a .500 career win percentage for the first time,” reported ESPN Insights after the game.
“At 231 starts, that’s the most starts by a QB before reaching .500 since starts were first tracked in 1950.”
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Fans couldn’t help but react. “Damn, the Lions were horrible… how I feel as a Raiders fan,” one person wrote. “At least they had a franchise quarterback.”
Another fan chimed in: “And needed a superteam for his one ring. Eli has two and some still think Stafford is more deserving of the HoF than Manning… if he is, so is Eli.”
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Whether Stafford ultimately reaches the Hall of Fame remains to be seen.