UNDATED (AP) — Rams fans cheered on Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, Aaron Donald and the rest of the Super Bowl champions during a victory parade in Los Angeles Wednesday. Thousands lined up the parade route that runs about a mile through the city before a rally just outside LA Coliseum.
The celebrating began Sunday when the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 after a final drive by Stafford that ended with a 1-yard TD toss to Kupp, the game’s MVP. Three LA teams have won championships in the last two years, but the Lakers and Dodgers didn’t get parades because of the pandemic.
In other NFL news:
— The Vikings have finalized their hiring of head coach Kevin O’Connell, completing a sharp offseason shift in direction for the team. The 36-year-old offensive coordinator of the Super Bowl champion Rams replaces Mike Zimmer and becomes the 10th head coach in Vikings history. O’Connell is the fourth former assistant under Rams head coach Sean McVay to become an NFL head coach himself.
— The Bengals have signed coach Zac Taylor to a five-year contract extension. The deal was announced, three days after the Bengals lost 23-20 to the Rams in the Super Bowl. Cincinnati improved to 10-7 in 2021 and went on an improbable run through the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.
— The Falcons have released outside linebacker Dante Fowler after he failed to provide the expected boost to the team’s long-suffering pass rush. Fowler led the Falcons with 4 1/2 sacks in 2021, giving him only 7 1/2 sacks in his two seasons before Wednesday’s release announced by the team.
— The Cowboys reportedly have paid $2.4 million to four members of the team’s cheerleading squad who accused a team vice president of watching them undress in a locker room during a 2015 event at AT&T Stadium. ESPN reports that each of the women received $399,523, citing documents and unidentified people as sources.
