February 2002 marked the last time that the Rams and the Patriots faced off in the Super Bowl. Then, the Rams belonged to St. Louis and would suffer a loss to New England.
17 years later, the rematch is staged with the New England Patriots defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game 37-31 while the Los Angeles Rams took over the New Orleans Saints for an ultimate victory of 26-23. In their matchup, the Rams overcame a 13-point deficit against New Orleans, also in an overtime win for the NFC Championship to take them to their fourth Super Bowl appearance.
In the Pats' case, it was a victory in overtime that earned them the AFC title and their ninth Super Bowl appearance since Tom Brady was drafted in 2000.
"We just made some huge third-down plays and guys played their butts off," Brady said in a postgame interview. "It took everything and like (coach Bill Belichick) said, they don't give these (trophies) away you gotta earn 'em."
Brady finished the game 30-of-46 for 348 yeards in comparisons to Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes, who went 16-of-31 for 295 yards.
Next up, both squads will head to Atlanta for the Big Game at the city's Mercedes-Benz stadium on February 3rd.