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Kurt Warner’s magical run to 2000 Super Bowl title
Ogden column: Former Cedar Rapids Regis prep directed the St. Louis Rams to NFL championship after remarkable 1999 season
Feb. 4, 2025 9:53 am, Updated: Feb. 4, 2025 2:29 pm
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Do you remember?
It was a special time for many around Eastern Iowa, the state and the Midwest. It was unprecedented.
A local high school star not only playing on the biggest sports stage in the world, but winning a Super Bowl ring.
It was 25 years ago. Let that sink in for a bit.
Do you remember?
Kurt Warner, the Burlington native who was a high school football and basketball star at Cedar Rapids Regis and later the University of Northern Iowa (for one unforgettable year), led the St. Louis Rams to the 2000 Super Bowl title.
He was the unlikely ring leader in that magical 1999 season that led the “Greatest Show on Turf” to an NFL championship. He wasn’t even supposed to be the starter. But when Cedar Rapids native Trent Green went down in the preseason and was lost for the year, Warner was thrust into the role of starter — and star.
What followed was a season that included 4,353 passing yards, 41 touchdowns, a 65.1 percent completion rate and a 109.2 passer rating. Those latter three statistics led the NFL that year.
He was named MVP.
Then came the playoffs and wins over Minnesota and Tampa Bay before the 23-16 Super Bowl victory over the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 30, 2000.
Warner passed for a then-Super Bowl record 414 yards, including a game-winning 73-yard touchdown pass to Isaac Bruce late in the fourth quarter on that day 25 years ago.
He was named MVP of the Super Bowl, too.
Do you remember?
“It is amazing. Almost half my life ago,” the 53-year-old Warner said during an appearance on “The Chris and Amy Show” on St. Louis radio station KMOX. “It is definitely hard to believe that it was 25 years ago.”
Warner said he has “vivid” memories of that year — torn by how bad he felt about Green’s injury and thrilled to finally get his opportunity.
“I had been waiting and hoping and trying,” he said in the radio interview. “That was my moment ... I didn’t know how long it was going to last.”
Warner said it was the “perfect storm.”
“There were a lot of questions about me, which I completely understand,” he told Chris and Amy. “... Who is this guy? What is he capable of?
“I just wanted that chance. I wanted that opportunity. I fully believed in who I was and what I was capable of.”
That set off one of the most remarkable stories in NFL history. An undrafted free agent who first signed with the Green Bay Packers, who, after getting cut, stocked shelves at Hy-Vee before getting a chance with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League.
The Rams took a shot in 1997, signing him to a “future contract” and shipping him off to the Amsterdam Admirals of the NFL Europe league. He came home and was the Rams’ third-string QB in 1998.
In 1999, the “journey” took a turn to the unbelievable. Like many young football players, it was always a dream of Warner’s to play and star in the NFL. He just imagined a more traditional route.
“There was a time in my journey when I didn’t want my journey,” he said during the radio interview. “... (but) I’m so glad I’ve got a one-of-a-kind story.
“You come to appreciate all of those moments now.”
Warner, of course, was more than a one-year wonder.
He led the Rams back to the Super Bowl after the 2001 season and was named regular-season MVP again, passing for 4,830 yards, 36 touchdowns with a 101.4 passer rating.
After getting released from the Rams in 2004, Warner spent one season with the New York Giants before finding a second life in Arizona with the Cardinals. He passed 4,583 yards in 2008, leading the 9-7 Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII.
He retired in 2010 with a 67-49 record, a 65.5 percent completion percentage and 32,344 yards with 208 TDs. His career passer rating is 93.7.
He entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017.
He now works for Westwood One and will be on the radio broadcast for Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
“I’m so blessed in so many ways,” he said during the radio interview. “This is so far beyond what I ever dreamed.”
It’s the stuff of movies. And actually is. “American Underdog” was released in 2021.
Do you remember? Of course you do.
Comments: (319) 398-5861; jr.ogden@thegazette.com
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