LOS ANGELES — For so many seasons, Aaron Donald did the impossible while reminding us that he is inevitable.The Future Hall of Fame defensive tackle’s decision to come out of retirement this summer, made official on Sunday afternoon, is of the same ethos: It feels impossible. It has felt inevitable.Donald has been preparing behind the scenes for a return for months, working out at the Rams’ facility and staying in close communication with head coach Sean McVay (who in turn has not been able to keep much of a poker face about the whole thing). Coaches plotted together about how they would utilize him in the event of his return. (Spoiler: a player who already was historically hard to game plan for now has an unpredictable snap count from game to game.)His eventual return was set in motion by the Rams’ trade in June for another future Hall of Famer, defensive end Myles Garrett. Garrett was a player the franchise had long dreamed about — even inquiring as to the possibility of a trade in 2022, as they discussed how they’d build their Super Bowl-defending roster.Back then, Donald was also due for the extension that we now know had flexibility built into it on the chance he decided to retire after the 2023 season; there were even reports of a letter of intent to retire that Donald submitted to the Rams that they ultimately tore up.Pairing Garrett with Donald, organizational leaders knew, would extend the Rams’ window at that time and give them a real shot at repeating as champions. Of course, what actually happened was very different: Garrett was not available; the Rams pursued other options in free agency while extending Donald, quarterback Matthew Stafford and receiver Cooper Kupp; and their 2022 season was a disaster in large part because of injuries. After serving as a bridge for the roster overhaul that followed in 2023, Donald decided he was, in his words, “full.” He stepped away.But “away” ultimately meant there was a path back. Now, Donald, Garrett, and cornerbacks Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson all count as “offseason acquisitions” on a superteam that still features Stafford, receivers Puka Nacua and Davante Adams and defensive linemen Kobie Turner, Braden Fiske, Byron Young and Poona Ford. That, my friends, is quite a sentence.It’s so difficult to win a Super Bowl, even as the favorite. Even before Donald’s reinstatement, the Rams had the best odds to do so. Their chances are still just 15.5 percent, according to The Athletic’s model; the Seattle Seahawks and Baltimore Ravens are the next-closest at 7.8 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively.Last year’s winner, the Seahawks, were given just a 2.1 percent chance of winning, according to the model, while the Bills, Ravens, Chiefs and Eagles ranked among the highest odds (none of them advanced beyond the divisional round, and the Ravens missed the playoffs entirely). In fact, over the last 24 seasons, only four times has the preseason betting favorite (or co-favorite) won the Super Bowl.All of this to say, the margins for success are slim, and it’s far more likely that things go wrong than right. Careful planning as the Rams have done — turning the sprint-rebuild of 2023 again into a multi-year contender, preserving Stafford’s health and contract, drafting and developing a stellar new core before acquiring resources they ultimately turned into premier players at premium positions (just like in 2021) — only goes so far.The few players on this Rams roster who have been in the big game before know: It’s the intangible things that also have to go right in November, December, January.Last time they made a Super Bowl run, it was a different star pass rusher paired with Donald in Von Miller, who sat next to Donald on the plane rides back from road games deep into the season and told him stories about what it was like to win it all. What it felt like to lift the Lombardi Trophy into the lights and confetti on the field afterward, what it felt like to cradle it in his arms in the days and weeks that followed. Garrett does not need any motivation, after the hope-sucking void of many of his years spent in Cleveland with no glimmer of the postseason in sight. But how fitting, now, that Donald will do for Garrett what once helped even the most intrinsically driven player find his extra gear?That Donald clearly wanted to return before the start of the regular season shows he wants to be a part of that intangible, constant push the team will need to feel every day to reach its championship goals. No surprise there, as that specific type of mental and physical strain is simply Donald’s way of being.Right now, this is fun. In a few weeks it will be hard.Maybe the challenge of this is in part why Donald decided to come back. Maybe it’s living in the specific thrill that will come from this team — now one of those “superteams” they make documentaries about — facing these odds and still having a target on its back all season. It will take some luck; any veteran player, coach, executive will tell you that. It will also take some taking-of-chances, another truth everyone in the NFL knows but many will never live by.There’s a route that the Rams and others have typically built into some of their pass concepts that is called “for the love of the game.” It mostly means that the receiver running it is in charge of executing a deep over route that draws one or more defenders with him, with the intent of clearing out space for other players underneath. Ninety-nine percent of the time he doesn’t get the ball.But there is that 1 percent …The Rams lived in those odds once, on a throw from Stafford to Kupp on a “for the love of the game” route that set up a game-winning field goal to win a divisional-round game, then a fateful match against the rival San Francisco 49ers, then an equally fateful march to Super Bowl LVI. That risk was worth everything.It’s one of the most famous plays in Rams history, of course superseded by Donald closing out the Super Bowl itself with a hit on Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. It is even rarer than winning a Super Bowl that a defensive player gets to make the game-sealing play.People often forget about the play before it, during which Donald stopped running back Samaje Perine on third-and-1 and set up his own pass-rush opportunity on fourth down.Donald, the inevitable force, called his shot at that moment. And now, for the love of the game, for the chance at achieving what in football often feels impossible, he is doing it again.