A year ago, Sean McVay, Les Snead, and Stan Kroenke were watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers revel in their glory of having won the Super Bowl with a new quarterback. “New” to the Bucs, but “old news” to the NFL. The Los Angeles Rams had already acquired their new quarterback—they didn’t even wait until the 2021 Super Bowl was over before trading for the player who they felt would take them to the 2022 Super Bowl—but obviously there were stark differences between Tom Brady and Matthew Stafford.

Brady had as many Super Bowl losses as Stafford had total career playoff losses.

Brady had more than twice as many Super Bowl wins as Stafford had playoff appearances.

In Tampa Bay, it was the team that had to prove itself worthy of Brady. But in Los Angeles, it was Stafford who had to prove himself worthy of a franchise that had been to the Super Bowl themselves a few years earlier and that had sacrificed two first round picks for the rights to upgrade from Jared Goff.

Many felt that Stafford simply could not be the difference between the Rams going 9-7 or 10-6 and getting knocked out of the playoffs early or winning a Super Bowl. Now the Rams and Stafford are one win away from calling themselves champions for the first time since 1999.

After losing Super Bowls in 2001 and 2018, do the Rams now need to win their next game in order to justify the laundry list of headline moves that it cost Snead to get them this far?

It appears that to most Rams fans the answer is clear: NO.

In this week’s Survey for L.A. Rams Fans: SUPER BOWL EDITION! I asked you this:

If the Rams lose the Super Bowl, should 2021-2022 be considered a ‘failure’?

As of Wednesday morning, 66.3-percent of respondents have voted that the Rams have already been a success this season. By getting to the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium with Stafford, Los Angeles has arguably done enough to justify trading two first round picks for him, as well as all the other moves that transpired over the last 12 months.

Like trading for Von Miller, signing Odell Beckham, Jr., trading for Sony Michel, and even some of the team’s questionable long-term plans in the draft like selecting Tutu Atwell, Jacob Harris, and Bobby Brown as picks that were clearly not for 2021.

That still leaves 22.4-percent of voters who say that the Rams still need to win the Super Bowl in order for 2021-22 to be considered a success, and 11.4-percent who aren’t quite sure yet. I’m sure most people will tweak their answers, even slightly, based on what happens on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It’s not too late for you to throw your votes into the survey, there are nine other questions besides this one.

VOTE HERE

Among those questions are “Who is most responsible for the Rams getting to the Super Bowl?” and that’s another one that heavily involves Stafford, McVay, and Snead. Now who is going to be most responsible for the team planning and executing against the Bengals? That’s a question for Monday.