(Credit: LA Times/Facebook)

The Los Angeles Times upset readers with a front-page headline post-Super Bowl that read, “Lambs, not Rams.”

According to the Los Angeles Times‘ own story from current readers representative J.T. Cramer, readers “called the headline disrespectful, disgusting, disappointing and dismissive of a championship team.”

But, the Times defended its headline, saying it wasn’t trying to mock the Los Angeles Rams. Assistant managing editor for sports, Angel Rodriguez, is quoted as explaining:

“It was meant as a play on the fact that the younger, less-experienced Rams with Jared Goff and Sean McVay were beaten by the older, more-experienced duo of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. What we missed is that some fans of the Rams remember ‘Lambs’ being used as a term to make light of the Rams. It is not, and has never been, our policy to make fun of the teams we cover.”

The Times deputy sports editor Mike Hiserman tweeted “in retrospect, not the best of choices because it could — and, in some cases, definitely was — be taken as a cheap shot.”

SB Nation’s Turf Show Times characterized the Times as apologizing. iMediaEthics has written to the Times to ask if it issued an apology and how many complaints it received; a Times spokesperson pointed to the readers representative article.