There are certain moments in sports that transcend all explanation, that make believers out of all of us and defy the simple logic we expect.

For the St. Louis Rams, that moment came at halftime of last week's thunderous playoff win over the Minnesota Vikings.

The Rams had galloped to a 14-3 lead over the Vikings with 4:19 left in the first quarter and the Trans World Dome had never been louder. After forcing a Minnesota punt that was returned 34 yards by Az-Zahir Hakim to the Vikings' 47-yard line, it appeared as if the Rams would put an early stranglehold on this game.

It seemed to be the time for the Rams to run their base offense, take some time off the clock so the defense could get a breather. After all, despite having that 11-point lead, the Rams' offense had been on the field for only five plays, while the Vikings had run 27. The Rams possessed the ball for only 2:16, the Vikings for 14 minutes.

But that's not the way this team plays. Not with offensive coordinator Mike Martz running the show. The Rams went for the jugular with quarterback Kurt Warner trying to go deep once again for wide receiver Isaac Bruce.

However, Warner's pass was slightly underthrown and to the left of Bruce, who had inside position on Vikings cornerback Jimmy Hitchcock. Hitchcock made the interception, giving Minnesota the ball on their own 4-yard line. Eight plays and 96 yards later, the Vikings were in the end zone.

After Hakim dropped a pass on third down, the Rams responded with a Dexter McCleon interception. But on their first play, running back Marshall Faulk never got the handle on a handoff from Warner and Robert Griffith recovered for the Vikings. Seven plays and 53 yards later, the Vikings were suddenly ahead.

This was unaccustomed territory for the Rams. They had trailed only twice at home this season, for a total elapsed time of 4:29. This was the first time they had been behind twice in the same game at home. The Vikings were starting to strut, believing they had taken control of the game. That was a mistake. "I told the team I was confident at halftime," coach Dick Vermeil said. "I felt we had taken their best shot and were down three points. We just had to play our game."

Said Faulk, "At halftime, I mean, it was like look, we've gotta go out there. We've gotta pick up the intensity. We've gotta go play, I mean, the way that we play. And we weren't playing our football in the first half. Coach made the remark, `Hey, we're stopping ourselves. Point blank. That's it. We're gonna do the same things we've been doing and we're gonna play fast.' And that's what we did. We picked up the intensity."

"We knew what we needed to do," Hakim said of the team's attitude at the break. "Whoever had the opportunity to make a play had to do it."

Said Martz, "We just had to do what we do best. Be patient and not beat ourselves."

But did he regret the deep pass to Bruce that was intercepted?

"No," Martz quickly answered. That's the way we play. Attack."

In every phase of the game, as Tony Horne displayed on the second-half kickoff - with a little help from his friends.

The third quarter became a picture postcard of just how complete this team is. Horne's 95-yard return that gave the Rams the lead again. The defense limiting the Vikings to seven plays for minus-two yards. Warner completing 11 of 12 passes to eight different players and for 141 yards. The Rams amassing 10 first downs to the Vikings' none. Wide receiver Ricky Proehl continued his staggering success when it matters: His 10-yard reception to the Vikings' 4-yard line when the score was still 21-17 was for a first down. This season, Proehl has 34 receptions, with 25 good for first downs.

"Nothing they do surprises me," special teams coach Frank Gansz said of his kickoff return unit and Horne's 95-yard touchdown scamper that ignited the team. "They were together in harmony. It's exciting watching those players be there for each other."

He could have been talking about every player on this roster. This is not only a talented football team. It is a talented team that cares about and picks up for each other.

When Faulk was asked during the week preceding the game what makes the offense so tough in the red zone, he said, "We're unselfish."

That is something to savor in this era of professional sports where the individual often is emphasized more than the team. And it is what makes this Rams team something more than simply a collection of fine players.

Things like Vermeil's emotions. Or Gansz's speeches and use of quotes and historical perspective. When the team was losing, Vermeil's personality was considered cloying. And Gansz's approach trite. Now with the wins coming fast and furious, Vermeil is considered caring and Gansz is being heard.

In fact, Gansz used a Winston Churchill quote from World War II in preparing for the playoffs. "Victory at all costs," Churchill's quote was recited. "Victory in spite of terror, no matter how long and how hard the road may be. Without victory, there is no survival."

This team has not only survived, it has thrived. It has taken domination, especially at home, to another level.

There were questions about playoff experience before the game, not only for the players but the crowd. After all, this was a totally new experience for the fans. And they came through in flying blue and gold colors.

This was a playoff atmosphere. This was a playoff crowd. One hour before the game, the electricity and buzz was evident, unlike a normal St. Louis crowd.

But this, obviously, was not a normal football day in St. Louis.

"The crowd had a tremendous effect," Vermeil said.

This was something special, something to be savored for a long time.

Well, at least for another seven days, because it will all happen again this Sunday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come to town for the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME. The NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!

How improbable that seemed not so long ago. How amazing it is to consider:
The road to the Super Bowl goes through St. Louis.

And Georgia has Georgia on her mind.

All season he has been one of the unsung wolves on this improbably successful St. Louis Rams football team. Subjugating his role because of the talent around him, but always being there when a big play is needed.

For Ricky Proehl, the 30-yard touchdown catch that provided the winning points in the Rams' rather ugly 11-6 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was a dream come true, but fitting as well.

During a year in which 17 different players scored touchdowns and nine different ones caught touchdown passes, Prohel had caught none. Until that is, the game and the season were on the line. Once again, Ricky Proehl came through.

"My high school coach told me earlier this week I was going to score the winning touchdown in the NFC championship game," Proehl said.

Who could have known it would be the only touchdown of the game? Who could have known he would catch it over Bucs defensive back Brian Kelly, who had taunted the Rams bench earlier in the fourth quarter with a mock bob and weave after an interception?

Said an admiring coach Dick Vermeil of Proehl, "He's been a leader in everything he does, his work ethic, his leadership in the locker room with the younger players. He's a quality person who just happens to make a living playing pro football."

Vermeil has made an effort to fill his roster with quality people and that's what makes this team so special. It is a "pack" with more than one "wolf." A "pack" that constantly picks up each other and listens to the "wolves."

Said Proehl, "Not only are there great football players on this team, but they're just good people. We're a close-knit group, and I think this whole organization -- from top to bottom -- deserved this."

Tampa Bay's suffocating defense had stymied the Rams and frustrated quarterback Kurt Warner all afternoon. There were scant yards after receptions. On third-and-three or less, where the Rams were 29-for-52 during the regular season, they were 3 of 6 against the Bucs. On third-and-one, where the Rams were 13-for-20 during the season, they made only two of four tries.

But the biggest one may have been a Marshall Faulk two-yard run three plays before the Proehl heroics. Yet, as big as Proehl's play was, it might not have happened without the Dre' Bly interception that preceded it.

The Bucs' defense, coupled with their special teams that limited the Rams to 63 yards combined on kickoff and punt returns, consistently put the Rams in poor field position.

In the first half, the Rams started their drives from their own 23-, 20-, 21-, 40- (after a safety), 12-, and 20-yard lines. A Todd Lyght interception gave the Rams the ball at the Bucs' 48, but that came with only 11 seconds remaining in the first half. In the second half, it was no better. Until the Bly interception, that is.

St. Louis began its drives from its own 13-, 26- and 8-yard line. After the latter start and a Mike Horan punt, Tampa Bay took over on the Rams' 49-yard line, the fourth time the Bucs had gained control in St. Louis territory. But they could muster only two field goals for their trouble.

It was third-and-11 from midfield for the Bucs after a Kevin Carter sack for a six-yard loss and a Warrick Dunn five-yard run. But quarterback Shaun King, under pressure, threw behind Dunn and Bly made the pick, returning it to the Tampa Bay 47-yard line. Had King merely thrown incomplete, the Rams likely would have been pinned deep in their end again.

"That was huge," said Rams cornerback Todd Lyght of Bly's play. "He came up big for us all season. We knew that as a defense we had to get the ball back. Both defenses played extremely well, but we forced that turnover at the end and that turned out to be the difference."

Along with Ricky Proehl, whose touchdown pass gave him six receptions for 100 yards in the game and was his fifth first down and fourth on third down.

"It was totally money," said Lyght. "He is the clutch receiver that comes up with so many big catches."

That he does. In 18 games, Proehl has only 40 receptions, but an amazing 30 have been for first downs with 18 coming on third down.

Some had said the Rams might be exposed because they had played few games, none at home, that came down to the final minutes. How would they react?

"We proved that we can play in a close game," Faulk said. "People didn't think we had the stamina or we could not play a close game and play four quarters of football. We proved it today."

The end result made everyone forget how demoralizing it would have been to lose a conference title game 6-5. Just think: In two conference championship games between these teams, albeit 20 years apart, the Rams have out-scored the Bucs, 20-6, with only one touchdown in the books.

"We were trapped in their game, because of our turnovers, and their stopping our running game," Vermeil said. "Give them credit. I feel fortunate to have won the football game."

Said wide receiver Isaac Bruce, who had only three receptions for 22 yards, "They forced us to play their game and we beat them at it. Point made."

But not with an exclamation point.

GOTTA GO TO WORK

With no extra week between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, there was little time to savor the victory over the Bucs.

And that's fine with Vermeil. Reflecting on his previous trip there with the Eagles 19 years ago, he said, "I don't want anybody to think that we're celebrating tonight, because it is not over. I went to this game one other time, and I felt one of the biggest mistakes we made is we almost gave the impression to our city and ourselves that it was over -- that we had already achieved our goal, that we won the NFC championship and turned the city into a winning city.

"I'm not letting that happen again. We haven't finished what we've set out to do."

See you in Atlanta.

We are the champions, my friend.
And we'll keep on fighting to the end.
We are the champions, we are the champions.
No time for losers, 'cause we are the champions ...
Of the world."

How improbable. How unbelievable.

How unexplainable.

Coupling St. Louis with the word champions in pro football has never been said before. Saying Rams and champions hasn't been said since 1951.

But now, put them together, and you have a story that no scriptwriter would dare conceive unless it was fiction. This is one of those stories that needs no embellishment, no exaggeration.

The former grocery-store stock boy who once helped put cereal on the shelves and now has a cereal with his name on it.

The running back acquired for only second- and fifth-round draft picks, who simply goes out and breaks the league record for combined yards in a season.

The wide receiver who rolls his car after a blowout of the tire, but walks away without a scratch. And who opens the playoffs with a 77-yard touchdown pass and ends the post-season with the game-winning 73-yard score.

Or the rookie wide receiver who gutted it out by playing with an injured shoulder, and scored the touchdown that put his team ahead, 16-0.

The linebacker who played fullback in college, and makes the tackle that ended the game with Tennessee one yard away from tying the score.

The offensive coordinator with a gunslinger's mentality that attacked all season, but was available to the Rams last February only because the Bears botched the hiring of Dave McGinnis as head coach a few weeks earlier.

Or, of course, the head coach, who everyone wanted fired after being 9-23 in two seasons, but who adjusted without wavering in his belief that a team can win by emphasizing quality character in combination with work ethic and ability. And who makes everyone in the organization feel special.

"I want all the organization to touch that trophy," coach Dick Vermeil said, after the Rams defeated the valiant Tennessee Titans. "It is as meaningful to everybody in that organization, from our janitors, to our equipment guys, to the guys that take care of the field, to our owners, to me. It is very meaningful and equally meaningful to everybody because we are all a part of this thing."

That's what makes singling out Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk and Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt and Mike Jones and Mike Martz so difficult. They have made big play after big play, but so many others made that possible.

"This is a special group," part-owner Stan Kroenke said simply after the victory.

Kroenke said those same words to the team following practice two days before the game.

"I told them I was proud of them and no one deserved this more than them," Kroenke said. He also created some laughter with some talk about Vermeil's emotions.

"Bear with me," Kroenke said. "Because after being around Dick for three years, I get a little emotional. But I know from being around Dick for three years that it's OK."

For the previous two years, when the team was losing, Vermeil's emotions were seen as a sign of weakness, that today's players just wouldn't buy into it. Now, those same emotions are seen as real and players respond because they know he cares.

Tight end Ernie Conwell understands. He came back from a horrific knee injury suffered last season, and contributed down the stretch in the title quest.

"I started to cry a little bit during the national anthem," Conwell admitted. "I told God, `You've been so faithful and helped restore me and get me back. I'm thankful for everything.'

"Faith Hill did a great job (with the anthem) and I thought, `What a great way to cap the whole recovery process.' It was one of the most emotional moments I've experienced as far as sports are concerned."

And that was before the game even started!

Linebacker Todd Collins shared Conwell's special emotion.

"It (magnitude of the game) hit me during the anthem, with Faith Hill singing and then the fireworks going off after that," he said. "I'm not really an emotional person, but I had to catch myself during that. It made me feel how blessed I was to be in this situation, coming to a new team that wants you and then have a season like this."

Holt, who set Super Bowl rookie records for receptions (7) and receiving yards (109), knows about being blessed. He coughed up blood after a hit in the Rams' win over Tampa Bay and came back to play, only to then hurt his shoulder. But that didn't stop him against Tennessee.

"I was hurting. I was about a six," Holt said. "But I had to suck it up. It was something I developed looking at my mother and watching her raise us while she was battling cancer. I defeated it, ground it out, put it behind me and just played.

"My mother is always looking down on me. I wear a T-shirt right now in the memory of my mom. I keep it right here all the time and this is for her. I just wish she keeps smiling. She is doing a lot of bobbing and weaving right now."

Vermeil knows about the special love only a mother can give. Serenely calm during the game, he maintained his emotions afterward until he was asked by a local reporter about the warm place he holds in his heart for Calistoga, Calif., where he played football in high school.

"It will always be special to me," Vermeil said. "It is also where both my parents are buried."

His eyes began to tear as he said, "My mother always told me, in the years I was away from coaching, that I would go back and keep coaching until I won a Super Bowl."

Looking up, while remembering that she passed away five years ago, he said, "Mom, you were right."

EDITOR'S NOTE: Lindy's Magazines will hit St. Louis Wednesday with a commemorative magazine chronicling the Rams' improbable season.