Chargers take a back seat in battle for Los Angeles as Rams head to Super Bowl LIII
By Travis Wakeman
The battle for Los Angeles is always going to be a thing as long as there are two NFL teams playing in the city. For now, the Los Angeles Chargers sit firmly in the back.
The Los Angeles Rams are headed to Super Bowl LIII after a victory, albeit a controversial one, over the New Orleans Saints. They will face the New England Patriots, who dispatched of the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night.
The Rams will now look to bring Los Angeles its first sports title since the Los Angeles Sparks won the WNBA championship in 2016. It would be just the second championship for the city in professional football.
It’s just the third time a Los Angeles team has reached the Super Bowl. The Rams lost Super Bowl XIV to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Four years later, the Raiders, playing in Los Angeles, trounced the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII.
The only other championship for the city in professional football came in the lone year of the XFL, won by the Los Angeles Xtreme.
We’ve talked about this before. Fans in the Los Angeles area have a slew of sports teams to root for, many of which they will only care about if success follows the team.
The Chargers had a terrific season, one that ended in sad fashion at the hands of the Patriots. But now that the Rams have reached the big game, it will be quite easy for fans in the area to push the Chargers to the back burner and root for the team that is still playing for something.
More from Bolt Beat
- LA Chargers: 3 early takeaways from 2021 minicamp thus far
- LA Chargers: Drue Tranquill takes a jab at Gus Bradley’s defense
- LA Chargers second-year players: Nothing to lose and a lot to gain
- LA Chargers: Why running back could be a big issue for the Bolts
- LA Chargers: Chris Rumph’s upside is Melvin Ingram-like, but better
Regardless of whether or not the Rams win it all, the Chargers seem destined to forever fight for support from fans in their own city.
The Rams were a Los Angeles team much longer than the Chargers were and they returned to the city first. Because of that, the Chargers were already in second place.
Soon, the two teams will be sharing a new stadium, similar to what the Jets and Giants do on the east coast. However, since the two teams came back to L.A., the Rams have been the better, more exciting team, and with a trip to the Super Bowl, Rams fans will start to come out of the woodwork.
The Chargers, unfortunately, will be recognized in L.A. as the far less interesting alternative until further notice.