INGLEWOOD — For generations of Los Angeles Rams fans, it was a dream. For owner Stan Kroenke, it was a blueprint. For general manager Les Snead, it was a gamble. For coach Sean McVay, it was a game plan. For players like Aaron Donald, it was a bucket-list goal.

At precisely 7 p.m. Sunday, it became real.

The L.A. Rams are Super Bowl champions.

It came true in a dramatic and fitting way, with quarterback Matthew Stafford throwing a 1-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Cooper Kupp to give the Rams the lead over the Cincinnati Bengals with 1:25 to play.

The defense finished the job in equally trademark fashion, with Donald pressuring Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow into an incomplete pass on fourth and 1 near midfield to clinch the 23-20 victory in front of 70,048 fans.

After Stafford kneeled to run out the last 39 seconds of the 35th fourth-quarter comeback of his career, Rams players and coaches surged off the sideline to celebrate in a cloud of confetti.

Kupp was named Most Valuable Player of the game.

The game had been like the Rams’ season, brilliant to begin with, worrisome in the middle, as good as it could be at the end.

The game changed the first time on the first two plays of the second half.

Trailing 13-10, the Bengals took the lead for the first time on a first-down pass play from Burrow to Tee Higgins covering 75 yards.

TV replays showed Higgins grabbing Jalen Ramsey by the face mask, pulling down the All-Pro cornerback as they fought for the ball. Higgins caught it at about the Rams’ 35 and was untouched to the end zone. The Bengals were up 17-13.

The no-call of a face-mask penalty couldn’t be reviewed, by NFL rules.

On the next snap, Stafford threw to Ben Skowronek, who was replacing injured Odell Beckham Jr. The ball glanced off the rookie’s hands and straight to safety Jessie Bates. The Bengals had the ball at the Rams’ 31.

The damage from Stafford’s second interception of the day was limited by two sacks by Donald, among the Rams’ seven sacks of Burrow, forcing a field goal that put the Bengals up 20-13.

It turned into an exchange of field goals when a third-down trick play resulted in an overthrown pass from Cooper Kupp to Stafford, and it was Bengals 20, Rams 16.

Two quarterbacks respected by their teams for clutch, late-game performances had 21 minutes to show the world.

The game kicked off on an 82-degree afternoon with the Bengals seeking their first Super Bowl victory on their third try, and the Rams seeking their first Super Bowl win as an L.A. team after winning one in their St. Louis years and two mid-century NFL championships.

The Rams had extra incentive to win at their home stadium, built at a cost of $5 billion by Kroenke, and to do it in the season Snead went “all in” by acquiring Stafford and adding Beckham and linebacker Von Miller in a show of urgency.

The game went the Rams’ way early.

The defense held the Bengals without a first down on their first two series, rookie linebacker Ernest Jones deflecting Joe Burrow’s pass on fourth and 1 at the Rams’ 49.

Stafford took advantage of the field position, hitting Kupp for a 20-yard catch and run into the red zone, and then throwing a perfect pass to Beckham behind a Cincinnati cornerback in the right corner of the end zone for a 17-yard touchdown.

The defense gave up a 46-yard pass from Burrow to rookie Ja’Marr Chase, who got behind Ramsey and took the Bengals to the Rams’ 11. But then it tightened, with Von Miller deflecting a pass and Ramsey breaking up a third-down pass at the goal line. Evan McPherson’s 29-yard field goal cut the lead to 7-3.

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The Rams quickly went 75 yards. Beckham took a pass 35 yards into Bengals territory, and Darrell Henderson came out of the backfield to catch a 25-yarder up the left sideline. On second down from the 11, Stafford and Kupp made it look easy, play-action helping the NFL’s leading receiver get open crossing left to right in the end zone.

It was 13-3 after a messed-up exchange from long snapper Matt Orzech to holder Johnny Hekker kept Matt Gay from trying the extra point.

Hoping to slow down Bengals running back Joe Mixon and mount a rush on the often-sacked Burrow, the Rams’ defense did neither often in the first half.

After the Kupp touchdown, the Bengals marched 75 yards in 12 plays, most of them involving Mixon. He carried and caught passes to help Cincinnati get inside the Rams’ 10. Then he took a pitch from Burrow and threw a pass to Tee Higgins, who got away from Nick Scott in the right corner of the end zone.

That made it a game at halftime, Rams 13, Bengals 10.

Ahead on the scoreboard, the Rams were down in the injury tent, Beckham having been helped off the field after quickly grabbing his left knee as he dropped a pass over the middle without being hit.