The second winter storm in a week cut a snowy trail across the Southeast, leaving Atlanta scraping away ice and further complicating the plans of those traveling to the game. (AFP)

By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, Jan. 30, 2000; Page A1

ATLANTA – The Super Bowl is professional sports' grandest stage. Yet Sunday's matchup between the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans lacks the marquee names that football fans have come to expect.

There won't be a Troy Aikman at quarterback, a Jerry Rice at wide receiver or anyone resembling a headliner on the field when Super Bowl XXXIV kicks off at the Georgia Dome.

The cast instead will include Kurt Warner, the Rams quarterback who a few years ago was stocking shelves at an grocery store in Iowa for $5.50 an hour; rookie defensive end Jevon Kearse, so physically gifted his Tennessee teammates call him "The Freak;" and talents Steve McNair and Eddie George, the Titans' starting quarterback and tailback, respectively.

It could spell a television ratings disaster for ABC Sports, which is broadcasting its first Super Bowl since 1995. Others think the new faces and fresh story lines – as well as winter weather around the country that could keep potential viewers at home Sunday – are just what the NFL needs to build on an already huge audience at home and abroad.

"This game is perfect for the fans tired of seeing the [Green Bay] Packers, [San Francisco] 49ers and [Denver] Broncos every year," said ABC announcer Al Michaels, who will share the broadcast booth Sunday with Boomer Esiason. "This is probably the most improbable Super Bowl matchup of all time. Looking at it in the preseason, this would have been an almost inconceivable pairing."

It seemed inconceivable to many of the players, too, even as they prepared for the big game this week amid frigid temperatures and a forecast of snow and sleet that threatened to keep thousands from attending.

Several players brought hand-held video cameras to Tuesday's media day to record the moment.

Kevin Long, Tennessee's backup center, phoned his parents in Summerville, S.C., to help them prepare for their first interview. "They were nervous about it," Long said. "I told them, 'Heck, I'm not too good at it because I haven't been interviewed that much.'‚"

And Warner answered endless questions about the grocery store where he worked nights so he could train during the day in hope of landing a pro tryout. From starting quarterback to backup place kicker, few players slipped easily into their new roles in the spotlight.

Said Tennessee tight end Frank Wycheck, a former University of Maryland standout who was cut by the Washington Redskins after the 1994 season: "Sometimes when I'm in my hotel room, I just think about what is really happening this week. You have to stop and pinch yourself because these things don't happen to guys like me."

In the history of the NFL, they rarely happen to teams that finish 4-12 or 8-8 the previous season, either, as the Rams and Titans did in 1998. Their dramatic turnarounds were spurred by a combination of factors – athletic, economic, even serendipitous.

Injuries hit many preseason favorites hard this season. San Francisco, which won five Super Bowls between 1982 and 1995, lost quarterback Steve Young to a concussion. The Atlanta Falcons, last season's National Football Conference champions, lost running back Jamal Anderson to a knee injury. The New York Jets' hopes were dashed when quarterback Vinny Testeverde suffered a ruptured Achilles' tendon in the season opener. And in Denver, quarterback John Elway retired after leading the Broncos to Super Bowl titles the last two seasons.

Meantime, the NFL's new economic structure has chipped away at traditional powers. Free agency, which allows players to leave teams for bigger salaries elsewhere, has led to perpetual reshuffling of rosters. And the NFL's salary cap has kept rivals on an even playing field, preventing free-spending owners from stockpiling the type of talent that ensures long-term success.

Dovetailing with the erosion of dominant teams is the resurgence of the downtrodden.

In the cases of Tennessee and St. Louis, two gifted coaches with sharply contrasting styles have done masterful jobs. And a few key players panned out beyond expectations.

The Titans' Jeff Fisher typifies the new breed of NFL coach. A former cornerback with the Chicago Bears, Fisher is respected by his players for his low-key manner and pro experience. "If he came in and did a Knute Rockne speech, we wouldn't take him seriously," linebacker Barron Wortham said. "He's the boss, but he's laid-back. But if you don't know your assignment, he's not messing around: He's pulling you."

Still, Fisher was nearly fired after a third consecutive 8-8 season. This season, his team advanced to the playoffs' second round with a thrilling, last-second victory over the Buffalo Bills. The play that won it – a lateral-aided kickoff return for a touchdown with three seconds remaining – was dubbed "the Music City Miracle" and convinced Tennesseeans that their Titans are a team of destiny.

Dick Vermeil, 63, is on his second tour as an NFL head coach after retiring from the Philadelphia Eagles in 1982. Edgy, hard-driving and authoritarian, he found success this season by loosening the reins on his players. They responded with a 13-3 regular season record, and Vermeil was named the NFL's coach of the year. Should the Rams win Sunday, some suspect he'll retire.

Then, there have been the heroics of unheralded players.

Warner, 28, wasn't deemed good enough in college to start during his first four years at Northern Iowa. He continued his tutelage with the Iowa Barnstormers of the fledgling Arena Football League and then overseas, as quarterback of NFL Europe's Amsterdam Admirals.

Rams offensive coordinator Mike Martz didn't know who Warner was when Warner dropped by his office in February, on Martz's second day on the job. Up to then, Warner had played only one quarter of an NFL game, completing four passes in a 38-19 loss to San Francisco. "I said, 'Well, who are you?'‚" Martz recalled. "He said, 'I'm Kurt Warner. A quarterback.' . . . Kurt was almost invisible at that point."

But the Rams' 1999 season fell on Warner's shoulders in August, when starting quarterback Trent Green suffered a knee injury so devastating it reduced Vermeil to tears. Warner took over, showing remarkable accuracy and decisiveness, and finished the season as the NFL's top-rated passer and most valuable player.

"If he wins the Super Bowl, it might be one of the most amazing stories ever in the NFL," said former quarterback Jim Kelly, who led the Bills to four Super Bowls during the 1990s.

McNair, 26, Tennessee's quarterback, also took an unorthodox route to the pros. A standout athlete in Mount Olive, Miss., McNair spurned offers to play defensive back at Notre Dame and Miami for the chance to play quarterback at tiny Alcorn State.

"That's where my heart has been all along," said McNair, who finished third in the 1994 Heisman Trophy balloting, yet was eyed warily by many pro scouts. "Since I was a little kid, I wanted to play quarterback. I wasn't going to let anybody or anything change that."

Kearse looms over the Titans defensive line at 6 feet 4, 265 pounds. But he's so fast, despite that height and heft, that he plays all over the field – rushing at quarterbacks with the speed and fury of the great New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

George, the 1995 Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State, is no secret to football fans, having rushed for more than 1,200 yards in each of his four seasons in the NFL. But until this season, his achievements were obscured by the Titans' mediocre record. As a youngster growing up on the rougher fringes of Philadelphia, George used to sit on his porch steps, he recalled this week, and stare out at the city's skyline, dreaming of playing in the Super Bowl.

Said former Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, now an ESPN analyst: "It's only appropriate that this Super Bowl of the new millennium introduces everybody to what I think will be the next generation of stars in the National Football League. And we'd better get used to becoming familiar with who the Tennessee Titans players are, who the Rams players are, who the Indianapolis Colts players are, who the Tampa Bay Bucs stars are. We have to realize that these guys are going to be here. Could the next bunch be the Cincinnati Bengals [whose record in the 1990s was 48-96]? Who knows?"