4
game he had ever attended as a “fan.” Whitworth and
his family meant that much to Lewis.
In that wild-card win over the Cardinals, Whitworth
came down with right knee and ankle injuries. But
even that day, with his upcoming availability in doubt,
Whitworth, his wife and Lewis considered a potential
and enticing matchup on the near-ish horizon. They
couldn’t help but wonder about an unlikely scenario.
What if both the Bengals and the Rams advanced to
Super Bowl LVI? What if Whitworth, in what could,
might, should be his final season, met the franchise he
spent a decade-plus pushing toward the Super Bowl in
the Super Bowl and in his final game? What if he won?
“It’s kind of a fairy-tale story,” Lewis says.
It wasn’t an ideal existence in Cincinnati—otherwise,
Whitworth wouldn’t have left. But the important part,
to him, was what he carried with him to Los Angeles:
11 seasons’ worth of lessons, nuances and insights. His
measured approach to football helped McVay evolve.
They held several conversations in which Whitworth
emphasized to his coach that the Rams would mimicMcVay’s response to wins and losses. He needed to stay
more in the middle in terms of temperament, never
elated and never despondent. Celebrate or lament, and
then move on.
The duo made the postseason in their first year
together. In 2018, Whitworth’s second season with the
Rams, they advanced to Super Bowl LIII, way ahead of
schedule. Before the Rams clashed with the Patriots for
the title, Whitworth finally told McVay what he had said
to his wife on that flight to L.A. the year before. That
day in Atlanta, Melissa was standing next to him, and
she saw McVay shoot her husband a smirk, eyebrows
raised in mock amusement. “Why did you say that?”
he asked lightheartedly.
Whitworth shrugged. “I had no idea how this was
going to play out,” he responded.
By then the dynamic between Whitworth and McVay
would have made for a buddy comedy on Netf lix: the
huge, older player contrasted with the smaller, younger
coach. “Like the movie Tw in s,” McVay joked. “I guessfeelings. He tried to forget all that on his free-agent
visit to Los Angeles that March.
As he sat next to his wife, Melissa, on the plane, he
painted a realistic picture. “You realize my dreams of
winning the Super Bowl are over,” he started, point-
ing out the franchise had just hired a young first-time
head coach in Sean McVay. Whitworth was four years
older than his potential new boss. The Rams had just
stumbled to a 4–12 record in 2016, dismissing Jeff Fisher
during the season. They were one of the youngest teams
in the league. If Big Whit, as he’s known, chose L.A.,
he would essentially be swapping losing for more los-
ing, moving from a team that last seized a postseason
victory in 1990 to one that last claimed a playoff win in- “I’d be going to L.A. to help rebuild that locker
room and bring a veteran presence,” he said.
Melissa nodded and said something about a new
adventure. Internally, she thought, “That’s really sad.”
The visit went well, right from the start. Whitworth
hit it off with McVay, and he agreed to become the fran-
chise’s new left tackle and elder statesman. He missed
a call from his new (and younger) coach en route to the
airport for his return f light. But he saved the voicemail
that McVay left, because it meant that much. McVay
had plans, dreams, Super Bowl aspirations, and he
laid them out so passionately and then connected how
Whitworth fit within the framework he envisioned so
precisely that Whitworth’s confidence surged.
He found the message to be “square” and “cheesy”
but also remarkable, all at once. He knew right then
he had made the right decision. He felt reenergized.
“I believe we were destined to meet each other,”
Whitworth says now.
In January, the football universe began to reveal the
cosmic tie. Both franchises that W hitworth played for
made the playoffs. And the same weekend Cincinnati
outlasted the Raiders in the wild-card round, the
Bengals’ former coach f lew to L.A. to visit an old friend.
Marvin Lewis stayed with the Whitworths that week-
end and attended the Rams’ thumping of the Arizona—
despite four decades as a coach, that marked the first2022 SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONSMCVAY HAD PLANS, DREAMS, SUPER BOWL ASPIRATIONS, AND HELAID THEM OUT SO PASSIONATELY. WHITWORTH SAYS OF HIS COACH,“I BELIEVE WE WERE DESTINED TO MEET EACH OTHER.”ROAD TO A CHAMPIONSHIP