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The Rams were six yards from the Super Bowl.

The Rams’ celebrated young defense needed only to smother immobile Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold deep in his territory in the final five minutes to regain possession and have a real shot at winning last season’s NFC championship.

They couldn’t touch him.

For more than four minutes Darnold drove downfield, connecting on three of four passes, baffling the pass rushers, bleeding the clock, and by the time the Seahawks finally gave the ball back, the Rams had only 25 seconds to live.

Final score: Seahawks 31, Rams 27.

Final verdict: The Rams needed a closer.

The Rams needed somebody to chase Darnold into submission the way Aaron Donald once famously chased down Joe Burrow in the final seconds of Super Bowl LVI.

The Rams needed a closer the way the Dodgers needed Edwin Díaz.

The Rams needed … Myles Garrett?

Are you kidding me? They got him? He now plays for them?

The Rams needed an edge rusher and they acquired an edge destroyer? The Rams needed a veteran defensive lineman and they acquired a one-man defensive line?

The Rams needed a closer and here comes Mariano Rivera?

It’s all true. It’s hella crazy. It’s so Rams.

Myles Garrett points before a game between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 28.

(Jason Miller / Getty Images)

In their first blockbuster deal since the last one won them a Super Bowl — remember Jared Goff for Matthew Stafford? — the Rams pulled off another heist Monday in acquiring two-time defensive player of the year Myles Garrett from the Cleveland Browns for younger defensive star Jared Verse and multiple draft picks.

The Rams will miss the inspirational Verse, and one of those draft picks is a 2027 first rounder, and they’re once again dangerously mortgaging the future but … c’mon.

It’s Myles Garrett, people.

He treats quarterbacks the way Rams general manager Les Snead treats draft picks.

Crumple, discard, next.

He took what Deacon Jones invented and has done it better than anyone in history.

He’s a Fearsome Onesome.

Considering where he ranks in NFL history, the Browns just gave him away. Thank you, Cleveland. While you’re at it, can you take back LeBron?

Last season Garrett, who is still only 30, set the NFL’s single-season record for sacks with 23. He also owns the NFL record with six straight seasons of at least 12 sacks.

His career is filled with monster moments. In one game he had five sacks. In another game he had nine tackles, two sacks, two forced fumbles and a blocked field goal. In one season he had an NFL record 33 tackles for loss.

He’s also been the subject of a monster suspension, when the NFL kicked him out for the six remaining games of the season in 2019 after he pulled the helmet off Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and swung it at him, hitting him in the head.

Garrett later apologized while accusing Rudolph of precipitating the fight with a racial slur. Garrett’s claims were never proven, and he quietly rejoined the Browns for the 2020 season.

He’s not known for violence except if you’re holding a football. He’s not known for taking any plays off, even though he was so unhappy he requested a trade out of Cleveland. He’s largely stayed off the gossip pages, an absence which is about to end as he is dating Los Angeles local and Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim.

In all, Garrett is the one sweetheart of a player the Rams needed to complete their preparation for next Valentine’s Day 2027 Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium.

Matthew Stafford coming back? Check. He signed a contract extension.

Secondary help? Check. They added newly acquired All-Pro Trent McDuffie and his former Kansas City Chiefs running mate Jaylen Watson.

Nearly every other important player returning from a team that was arguably football’s best until that nail-biting loss to the eventual champion Seahawks? Check.

To all this, adding arguably the greatest edge rusher in history? Checkmate.

The Rams will miss Verse. The fans loved him, his teammates loved him more, and he was such a force after only two seasons he was considered the heir apparent to the retired Donald.

Two seasons ago he was the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year and last season he was widely lauded for his 7½ sacks.

But, um, Garrett had more than three times that many.

This sort of deal is what the Rams do when they think they are close to a championship. This is why they have become one of Los Angeles’ two most admired sports franchises.

They go for it. They push all their chips to the middle and they go for it. They realize this town won’t settle for anything less than championship effort so they go for it.

Rams general manager Les Snead walks on the field before a game between the Rams and New Orleans Saints at SoFi Stadium in November.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Some football executives are wary of criticism for trading draft picks. Snead wears T-shirts cursing those picks. Some football executives plan for the distant future. With the support of owner Stan Kroenke, Snead never looks past the next Sunday.

Way back when, some folks wondered about the wisdom of trading young and popular Goff and three prime draft picks for aging Stafford in March 2021. But the Rams knew Stafford was the closer they needed to win a Super Bowl.

And, yeah silly, they won the next Super Bowl.

In that way, this is much of the same deal. The Browns realize they’re not winning anything immediately and want to build for the future. The Rams were all too happy to give them that future for the Browns’ present.

And what a present Garrett will be, the gift that keeps on crushing, the crown jewel of a revamped defense that should make the Rams the preseason favorites to unseat the defending Super Bowl champions.

One of whom is undoubtedly listening.

Sam Darnold, you there?

For years, the NFL has playfully scoffed at conspiracy theories its drama is scripted.

Now, the league has hired some of the best writers in the entertainment industry to do just that.

The NFL is going Hollywood, looking to expand its audience with theatrical motion pictures and its first scripted streaming series. This isn’t just about using the names and logos of real NFL teams, but diving headlong into storytelling about the league in the form of upcoming movies — one about John Madden, another a Christmas Day release about an unlikely hero for the New York Giants — and “The Land,” a dramatic Hulu series centered on fictional characters and the Cleveland Browns starring Christopher Meloni, Mandy Moore and William H. Macy.

It’s the next step in the partnership between the NFL and Skydance Sports, the forming of a premier content studio aimed at creating must-watch storytelling and attracting everyone from hardcore football fans to people who otherwise have no real interest in the game.

The NFL has long contended it’s the world’s greatest reality show and the numbers support that. According to Sportico, NFL games were 84 of the top 100 most-watched television shows last year. And the year before, it was 93 of 100.

“When you have an audience as big as the NFL’s, there are a lot of different demographics to service and engage even more deeply,” said Jason Reed, who heads Skydance Sports. “Those movies work as a fan service. They service towns, fans of those franchises, and they really connect. What they also do is pick up this other group of people who maybe wouldn’t watch a football game.”

Pulling back the curtain on the league is a challenge. The NFL isn’t likely to sanction unflattering content, at least not much of it, yet the goal is to make the stories as realistic as possible. How will the writers handle issues such as concussions, drug use or domestic violence? That was addressed in a presentation at last month’s owners meetings by JW Johnson of the Haslam Sports Group, who oversees the business strategy of the Browns.

“We don’t want this to be — no offense to our friends at ESPN — a ‘Playmakers’ situation,” said Johnson, referring to the popular but short-lived series on the Cougars, a fictional football team, that explored mature themes and was canceled after one season after pressure from the NFL. “We want this to be a really fan-friendly show that also has the authenticity of what happens in a locker room and on the field. We’re very comfortable with it.”

David Corenswet as “John Tuggle” and Isabel May as as “Katie” in Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story,” from Paramount Pictures.

(Sarah Enticknap / Paramount Pictures)

Dan Fogelman, creator of “This is Us,” and a lifelong football fan, had long envisioned writing a dramatic series based on his favorite sport. That led to “The Land,” which began production last fall and does not have an official premiere date.

“We’re not making this stuff up out of thin air,” said Fogelman, who also created the Hulu series “Paradise,” a post-apocalyptic political thriller. “The characters are flawed and they do bad things, but the NFL has been great about that. I was worried up top, and it just hasn’t been an issue because we’re not out there looking to be salacious. We’re not trying to do ripped-from-the-headlines, crazy, exaggerated versions of reality. We want things that really happen, done accurately and in a cinematic way.”

To that end, he brought in actual NFL players as consultants to help with the storylines and make sure the details make sense.

“We had a bunch of NFL players come and visit us in our little office, and we’re on the second floor,” he said. “Some of my heroes were in that room. I was genuinely concerned the floor was going to fall through.”

Enter NFL Films, which for more than six decades has turned a violent sport into an art form, filling the frame with meticulous focus on a Matthew Stafford spiral — and without the benefit of a second take. Those camera operators are heavily involved in the production of both the upcoming movies and the streaming series.

“That’s our whole thing,” Reed said. “How do we support great filmmakers and make sure they know how to access the resources and expertise that NFL Films has developed over 60 years, and combine those two together? That, to me, is the secret sauce of the venture.”

What’s more, what the father-and-son combination of Ed and Steve Sabol created in NFL Films provides an incredible library for future projects.

“The well is infinite,” said Jessica Boddy, vice president of commercial operations and business affairs for NFL Films. “We’ve only scratched the surface.”

For Fogelman, “The Land” is scratching a creative itch he’s felt since childhood.

“I’ve wanted to do this show for 20 years,” he said. “I’m a failed athlete myself. My connection with my father growing up — he worked a lot — was I grew up in Pittsburgh as a Steelers fan and also migrated to New Jersey, where we became Giants fans. My dad would let me watch games with him if I was quiet and didn’t act goofy. We would also throw the football back and forth.

“Now, many decades later, my father is 83, and our connection is that we talk every Monday after Giants games. He now talks with my son and me. For me, football has been very much in the fabric of my life and my relationship with my friends. This has been something I’ve been chasing for a very long time.”

This might be the first time in the NFL’s modern era that Pittsburgh has hosted the draft, but the whole format was actually invented here.

Back in 1935, the league’s founders met at the Fort Pitt Hotel and voted unanimously to put in place a selection process in reverse order of the previous season’s standings. That would promote competitive balance, which has been a hallmark of the NFL ever since.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Las Vegas Raiders. The franchise went 21-41 over the past four seasons and its offense scored a league-worst 241 points last season.

Quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who led Indiana to a national championship, won’t be at the draft but almost certainly will hear his name called first. He’s likely to be the only quarterback selected in the opening round.

Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is widely expected to be the No. 1 pick of the NFL draft.

(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

The rest of the first round figures to be heavy on edge rushers and receivers — the Rams are in the market for a pass catcher — with a couple of Notre Dame running backs who could also make a splash.

Every franchise is looking for that game-changing find. The goal: Be a Pittsburgh stealer.

A look at how the draft could unfold:

1. Las Vegas Raiders: Fernando Mendoza, QB, Indiana — Mendoza gets Tom Brady’s stamp of approval, and Raiders begin yet another reboot.

2. New York Jets: Arvell Reese, Edge, Ohio State — Pie in the sky, but the Jets are praying to find a Micah Parsons of their own.

3. Arizona Cardinals: David Bailey, Edge, Texas Tech — Amid rumblings that Cardinals might take a running back, they grab a pass rusher instead.

4. Tennessee Titans: Jeremiyah Love, RB, Notre Dame — Cam Ward needs help, and Love bolsters that Titans backfield with big-play burst.

Ohio State’s Caleb Downs is projected to be selected No. 5 by the New York Giants.

(Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

5. New York Giants: Caleb Downs, S, Ohio State — John Harbaugh loves those smart safeties who can play quarterback on the back end of the defense.

6. Cleveland Browns: Carnell Tate, WR, Ohio State — The Browns got an up-close look at this guy in college, and they need to score points in the worst way.

7. Washington Commanders: Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State — The Commanders get a versatile leader in the middle who can play all four downs.

8. New Orleans Saints: Jordyn Tyson, WR, Arizona State — Chris Olave has been great for the Saints, but he’s prone to concussions. Tyson is insurance.

9. Kansas City Chiefs: Rueben Bain Jr., Edge, Miami — If the Chiefs don’t take a receiver, they would be perfectly happy with a do-it-all pass rusher.

LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane is projected to be the Giants’ second pick of the NFL draft.

(Michael DeMocker / Getty Images)

10. New York Giants: Mansoor Delane, CB, LSU — Giants will hold their breath making this pick as they have an illustrious history of drafting busts at corner.

11. Miami Dolphins: Keldric Faulk, Edge, Auburn — Dolphins are a trade-up candidate, but they are sorely in need of pass-rush help. Faulk is a good fit.

12. Dallas Cowboys: Dillon Thieneman, S, Oregon — The Cowboys surrendered a league-worst 30.1 points per game last season and need help all over.

13. Rams: Makai Lemon, WR, USC — The Rams have shown a knack for identifying receivers who will become stars. This would be a great landing spot.

USC receiver Makai Lemon, who made many acrobatic catches during his career with the Trojans, could be selected by the Rams.

(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)

14. Baltimore Ravens: Francis Mauigoa, OT, Miami — With the best of the receivers gone, the Ravens look to bolster their offensive line. They need help at guard and tackle.

15. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Akheem Mesidor, Edge, Miami — The Buccaneers haven’t had anyone with 10 sacks since 2021. Mesidor has that potential.

16. New York Jets: Denzel Boston, WR, Washington — The Jets need a bookend for Garret Wilson, and this gives Geno Smith a big target over the middle.

17. Detroit Lions: Spencer Fano, OT, Utah — Taylor Decker is gone. The Lions get a player who can line up on either side, opposite Penei Sewell.

18. Minnesota Vikings: Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, S, Toledo — Harrison Smith is in the sunset of his career, and if there’s a top-notch safety here, the Vikings need to grab him.

19. Carolina Panthers: Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon — The Panthers take an elite safety if there’s still one around, but a target for Bryce Young would be nice too.

20. Dallas Cowboys: Jermod McCoy, CB, Tennessee — More help for the Cowboys defense. This could be Texas Tech linebacker Jacob Rodriguez as well.

21. Pittsburgh Steelers: Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana — Steelers receivers coach is the brother of Indiana’s head coach. Pittsburgh knows this player well.

Penn State offensive lineman Olaivavega Ioane could be selected by the Chargers in the first round of the NFL draft.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

22. Chargers: Olaivavega Ioane, G, Penn State — The Chargers have huge draft investments in their tackles, but they still need to fortify that offensive line.

23. Philadelphia Eagles: Kadyn Proctor, OT, Alabama — With Lane Johnson near the end of his career, the Eagles need to start developing a huge young successor.

24. Cleveland Browns: Monroe Freeling, OT, Georgia — Thanks to a trade with Jacksonville, the Browns have the draft capital to take a left tackle here.

25. Chicago Bears: Zion Young, Edge, Missouri — Lots of talent on offense, but the Bears need to do everything they can to fortify their defense. Young can get to quarterbacks.

26. Buffalo Bills: Cashius Howell, Edge, Texas A&M — SEC Defensive Player of the Year should be a nice complement to newly-acquired Bradley Chubb off the edge.

27. San Francisco 49ers: KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&M — This receiver and return specialist fits the mold for Kyle Shanahan. A crisp route runner with speed to get deep.

28. Houston Texans: Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio State — The Texans need help along the interior of both of their lines. McDonald can make an immediate impact.

29. Kansas City Chiefs: Colton Hood, CB, Tennessee — Chiefs need a corner, and if Jermod McCoy is gone, Hood would be a good alternative.

30. Miami Dolphins: Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech — The reliable Rodriguez could go earlier – maybe to Dallas – but would help stabilize rebuilding Dolphins defense.

31. New England Patriots: T.J. Parker, Edge, Clemson — The Patriots have made no secret about their desire to beef up their rush off the edges.

32. Seattle Seahawks: Jadarian Price, RB, Notre Dame — The Seahawks didn’t re-sign Kenneth Walker III, so there’s opportunity for a young running back to fill the void.