Aaron Donald has accomplished everything a defensive player could hope to do individually in the NFL. He’s won Defensive Player of the Year three times, led the league in sacks, been selected as a first-team All-Pro seven times and made the Pro Bowl in all eight seasons.
Outside of winning MVP, there isn’t an individual feat Donald has failed to reach.
One thing he has yet to do is win a Super Bowl – something he came close to doing three years ago when the Rams lost to the Patriots. Donald and the Rams have a chance to get back to the big game with a win over the 49ers on Sunday, which would also snap their six-game losing streak to San Francisco.
Donald’s mindset this week comes with the belief that there’s no way the Rams are going to lose.
“They just won, but the past is the past, honestly,” he said Thursday. “This is a different type of football here that’s going on this week. This is one game away from the Super Bowl against an opponent that we’re both used to. We know what to expect. We just have to play four quarters. We’ve got to find a way to finish. Obviously, they’ve beat us in ways. I’m not going to sit here and talk about it, but they did. This week, my mindset is there’s no way we’re going to lose this game. We have to play for quarters. We have to find a way to finish, and I know we’re going to do that.”
Donald has never been one to lack confidence. He always has faith that his team is going to win, and that’s certainly the case this week against the 49ers.
The Rams know what they’re going to get in this game. The 49ers are going to run the ball heavily, they’re going to be physical up front on defense and Jimmy Garoppolo is going to be asked to move the chains on third down and avoid costly turnovers.
If they can play the way they have the last two weeks, the Rams are going to be in good shape – and move one step closer to accomplishing the ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl.
“Well, this is what you work for. This is what I’ve been working for. This is what we’ve been working for,” Donald said of his desire to win a championship. “We’ve been trying to find a way to get to the Super Bowl and we’re one game away against a divisional opponent. They had our number the past couple of times we played them. I feel like there’s no better stage than this. This is the type of game you train for during the offseason. All that extra grind, all that extra film is to play in big games like this. I feel like there’s no better stage than what we have right now.”
