There are still nights, 42 years later, when Jack Youngblood wakes up and thinks about it.

The memories are clear: It’s 1980, in the third quarter of Super Bowl XIV. The Los Angeles Rams are playing in the Rose Bowl, and they lead the Pittsburgh Steelers by two points.

Youngblood, the Rams’ stalwart defensive end, is getting near Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, deep in Pittsburgh territory. Sensing the pressure, Bradshaw tries to dump the ball down to receiver Lynn Swann.

Just then, safety Nolan Cromwell jumps the route. Youngblood, who considers Cromwell his most athletic teammate ever, turns to find someone to block. Surely, he thinks, Cromwell can return the interception for a touchdown and make it a two-possession game.

“And he dropped the ball,” Youngblood recalls, gravelly voice not betraying any emotion. “And he had me in front of him and there was nobody out there to block. He didn’t have but 20 yards to score.”

The Rams would go on to lose, 31-19, as the Steelers won their fourth Super Bowl in six years. More than four decades have passed, enough time for the Rams franchise to move to St. Louis and back. On Sunday, the Rams will get another chance to win a Super Bowl in their home city when they face the Cincinnati Bengals at SoFi Stadium.

And as the 1979 Rams can attest, win or lose, the memories won’t fade.

‘JUST THE GRIT’

It’s not all bad memories when the players look back on the 1979 Rams. In fact, pride remains the overwhelming sentiment due to the level of adversity the team overcame just to reach the Super Bowl.

Injuries were a constant for that team. Starting quarterback Pat Haden played in 10 games before breaking his finger and clearing the way for Vince Ferragamo. Jackie Slater and Rich Saul were the only offensive linemen to start every game that season. And Youngblood famously fractured his left fibula prior to the playoffs but did not miss a single game.

Those Rams won four of their last five games to finish 9-7. They clinched their seventh consecutive NFC West title in Week 15 to qualify for the playoffs.

“The thing that I remember about that team was just the grit, just the guts,” Slater said. “To be on a team like that and find yourself right in the thick of the chase after all we went through was very special.”

Having just cracked .500, the Rams were the road team for the first two rounds of the playoffs. But the in-season adversity proved valuable.

In the divisional round, the Rams found themselves trailing the Dallas Cowboys by five points in the fourth quarter. With two minutes left, Ferragamo hit Billy Waddy on a crossing route and Waddy, who died last month at 67 following a private battle with an undisclosed illness, sprinted for the 50-yard, winning touchdown.

“Nobody could catch him as he propelled us right on past those guys,” Slater said. “I’ve never seen a man that could be running fast as hell and change gear on you two more times.”

Rams kicker Frank Corral, left, and defensive back Pat Thomas celebrate their 21-19 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in an NFC divisional playoff game on Dec. 30, 1979, in Dallas. (AP Photo)

“He meant so much to me. Halfway through the season, we kind of knew we were rolling,” added Preston Dennard, Waddy’s receiving corps mate. “I just loved the dude to death. He had no idea how much he meant to me.”

Considering the Rams had lost to the Cowboys the previous year in the NFC title game, the divisional round win was cause for celebration, reasoned starting guard Dennis Harrah, who had opened his restaurant Legends Sports Bar in Long Beach that year.

“I called my partner and we had the whole team and anybody that wanted to come and had a few adult beverages there,” Harrah chuckled.

The Los Angles Rams are a happy group after they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 9-0, in the NFC championship game on Jan. 7, 1980. They advanced to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV at the Rose Bowl. (AP Photo)

The next week, the Rams grinded out a 9-0 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Florida. After four conference championship losses that decade, the Rams had finally punched their ticket to the Super Bowl.

“We finally got there,” said Youngblood, who was there for every previous letdown. “We got it done. It wasn’t pretty but it worked.”

THE BIG GAME

It wasn’t until the moments before the Super Bowl that Dennard realized how different the game would be.

He was out on the Rose Bowl field, inspecting the sidelines for holes and divots. Just then, the Steelers took the field in single-file and Dennard spotted linebacker Robin Cole, his college teammate at New Mexico.

“I figured, ‘Hey, my college teammate, we’re gonna stop and visit, just two New Mexico boys in a bowl game,’” Dennard recalled. “And, man, he ran by me, he gave me a high-five, never looked at me, kept going. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, we’re in for a game.’”

It was no secret the Rams were about to face one of the most physical teams in history. The Steel Curtain, the Steelers’ stout defensive line led by Mean Joe Greene and L.C. Greenwood, was backed by star linebackers Jack Lambert and Jack Ham. Behind them were cornerback Mel Blount and safety Donnie Shell. A rushing attack spearheaded by Franco Harris helped Bradshaw find standout receivers Swann and John Stallworth.

Pittsburgh Steelers Lynn Swann, from left, Terry Bradshaw and Franco Harris all played significant roles in their 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl. (Suzanne Vlamis/AP Photo)

Rams head coach Ray Malavasi tried to prepare his team for the grind by holding full scrimmages at practice for much of the two weeks leading up to the game. When running back Wendell Tyler ripped off a 39-yard run on the Rams’ opening drive, he affirmed what the team had been expecting.

“When he got up, we could hear him go, ‘Man, they hittin’. They hittin’,” Dennard said.

Tyler would leave the game with the help of trainers five separate times, partly due to the physicality of the game and partly due to a stomach issue.

Pittsburgh’s J.T. Thomas clubs the head of Rams running back Wendell Tyler (26) at the goal line during the first quarter of the Steelers’ 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl. Tyler had to leave the game following the play, but he returned later. (AP Photo)

The Rose Bowl held 103,985 fans that Sunday, but it wasn’t a traditional home-field advantage for the Rams despite playing in Pasadena.

Steelers fans made the trip in force for the game. But a marketing blunder by the Rams, handing out golden towels to fans that closely resembled the Steelers’ famed Terrible Towels, made the game feel like it was in Pittsburgh.

“Everybody looking at the game was thinking everybody’s got a Terrible Towel,” Swann said. “I thought whoever was on that for the Rams, shame on them. You could have at least made them blue.”

Despite that, the Rams started the game well, limiting Pittsburgh to a field goal on the opening possession. A short completion on his first attempt calmed Ferragamo as he and Tyler led the Rams to the goal line and Cullen Bryant rushed for a touchdown on third down to give L.A. the lead.

“We knew we were in this game. We were going to go toe-to-toe with these guys all the way,” Ferragamo said. “It’s not like we had doubt, but it just confirmed the way we felt.”

Steelers running back Franco Harris holds the ball aloft after his first-quarter touchdown run as Rams defensive end Fred Dryer looks on during Pittsburgh’s 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl. (AP Photo)

The Steelers, aided throughout the game by long kickoff returns by Larry Anderson, retook the lead on a Harris touchdown run. Two Frank Corral field goals put the Rams back ahead, and they took a 13-10 lead into halftime.

“It was all under our own control,” Ferragamo said.

“Our feeling was just every man do their job and get their job done,” Harrah added, “and we’re going to come out of this a winner.”

The Steelers opened the second half with a 47-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Swann, who tumbled into the end zone.

Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Lynn Swann gets lifted by teammate Bennie Cunningham after his touchdown catch during the third quarter of their 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. (AP Photo)

But Ferragamo answered with a 43-yarder to Ron Smith and the Rams intercepted Bradshaw twice in the third quarter.

As the game shifted to the fourth, the Rams’ sideline was bubbling with excitement.

“I remember getting close to their sideline and throwing a block and rolling out of bounds over near their sidelines. … Terry Bradshaw, you could just see defeat written all over him,” Slater recalled. “I tease him about this, ‘I’m one of the only people in the world that knows what your face looks like when you’re losing a Super Bowl.’”

But Bradshaw, the game’s eventual MVP, had a few tricks up his sleeve still, even with Swann sidelined with a neck injury.

Facing third-and-8 and down by two in the fourth quarter, Bradshaw found Stallworth streaking down the field. Bradshaw’s throw was just over the outstretched arm of Rod Perry and Stallworth, who made the catch over his wrong shoulder, ran 73 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.

Pittsburgh wide receiver John Stallworth pulls away for a long touchdown ahead of Rams defender Rod Perry during the fourth quarter of the Steelers’ 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. (AP Photo)

“That was just a thing of beauty, man,” Ferragamo admitted.

The teams traded punts the next two drives, then the Rams started to move. Ferragamo found Dennard for his first two catches of the game, then converted third-and-13 with a pass to Waddy.

On the next play, though, Lambert intercepted Ferragamo. Stallworth made another highlight catch, this one against his face mask for a big gain. A pass interference call in the end zone put the Steelers on the goal line, and Harris scored on third down to make it a 12-point game.

Pittsburgh running back Franco Harris (32) carries the ball as quarterback Terry Bradshaw (12) and Sidney Thornton (38) raise their arms after Harris scored the Steelers’ final touchdown in the fourth quarter of their 31-19 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XIV on Jan. 20, 1980, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. (AP Photo)

The Rams’ upset dreams were over.

“The one pass to Lambert that was intercepted was one that I never saw. So it’s things that happen, you know,” Ferragamo said 42 years later, his voice trailing off.

FULL CIRCLE

Should the current-day Rams beat the Bengals on Sunday, the overwhelming sentiment from their predecessors will be pride. But it won’t do much to negate the four-decade-old feelings of disappointment.

The closest Slater got to closure was watching his son, Matthew, win three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots.

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“Knowing he was going to be getting that ring and getting that parade,” Slater said, “I actually felt like I was a part of it.”

Just last month, Youngblood was doing an autograph signing alongside Cromwell. The Hall of Fame end told his teammate about that dropped interception that still keeps him up at night, and Cromwell stopped him.

“Don’t remind me,” he told Youngblood. “I don’t want to hear that again.”