The Rams will play in the NFC championship game — for the first time since their 2021 Super Bowl-winning season — Sunday in Seattle thanks to a 20-17 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears.
The game is a matchup of the NFL’s best offensive and defensive teams. The Rams averaged a league-high 30.5 points per game while the Seahawks allowed a league-low 17.2 points.
The Rams will “have to be better” than they played against the Bears “to come away with the result we want against a special football team,” Rams coach Sean McVay said.
The teams split their two regular-season games, with the home team winning both times.
The Rams won 21-19 Nov. 16 at SoFi Stadium with Jason Myers’ 61-yard field goal attempt as time expired falling short.
The Seahawks won 38-37 Dec. 18 at Lumen Field, rallying from a 30-14 deficit with touchdowns and 2-point conversions with 8:03 and 6:23 left in regulation and winning on a touchdown and 2-point conversion in overtime after the Rams had regained a seven-point lead.
Oddsmakers have made the Rams a 2 1/2-point underdog.
A watch party will be held at SoFi Stadium, with gates opening at 2 p.m. for the 3:30 p.m. game. Tickets are $5 for season ticket members and $10 the general public. They will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday.
All proceeds will go to the Rams Foundation, the team’s charitable arm, which “aims to inspire change with a focus on providing access and opportunity, driving equity and fighting for equality for all Angelenos,” according to the team.
On Sunday, Harrison Mevis kicked the game-winning 42-yard field goal 11:41 into overtime in the divisional round playoff game in Chicago, 10 plays after safety Kamren Curl intercepted a pass by Caleb Williams at the Rams’ 22-yard line.
Matthew Stafford completed three of his first four passes for 43 yards on the game-winning drive, beginning with a 15-yard completion to tight end Colby Parkinson that advanced the ball to the Rams’ 41-yard line.
“I thought Matthew did a great job of finding Colby early in that drive to be able to get up the sidelines for the first first down,” McVay said.
.Stafford completed a 12-yard pass to Davante Adams on the next play, which McVay called “an unbelievable catch on the sideline.”
The Rams faced a third-and-6 from the Bears’ 43-yard line two plays later, with McVay calling a time out because he “didn’t like the look.”
Stafford completed a short pass Puka Nacua turned into a 16-yard gain moving the ball to Chicago’s 27-yard line. Mevis kicked the game-winning field goal four plays later.
Mevis has made 16 of 17 field goal attempts since becoming the Rams’ kicker Nov. 9.
The Bears had driven to the Rams’ 48-yard line on their lone overtime possession in a game played in light snow where the temperature at the opening kickoff at 5:41 p.m. Central Standard Time was 19 degrees.
The Rams punted after three plays on their first overtime possession after Blake Corum was tackled for a 2-yard loss on a third-and-1 from their own 36.
Chicago forced the overtime on Williams’ fourth-down 14-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet with 18 seconds left in regulation. Williams took the snap at the Rams’ 19-yard line, retreated to the 40, then threw the ball into the zone.
The Rams had taken a 17-10 lead on Kyren Williams’ 5-yard touchdown run with 8:50 to play in regulation, culminating a 14-play, 91-yard drive that consumed 6:02. The game’s longest play came on the fourth play of the drive, a short pass Parkinson made into a 35-yard gain.
The Bears drove to the Rams’ 2-yard on the ensuing possession, but D’Andre Swift was stopped for no gain on third-and-goal and Caleb Williams’ fourth-down pass fell incomplete.
The Rams were outgained 417 yards to 340, trailed 23-22 in first downs and 38:29-32:26 in time of possession in front of a crowd announced at 60,253 at Soldier Field.
“I thought our defense came up time in and time out tonight,” McVay said.
The Rams were successful on five of 16 third-down conversion attempts and their only fourth-down conversion attempt. Chicago was successful on nine of 19 third-down conversion attempts and three of six fourth-down conversion attempts.
The Bears were penalized three times for 24 yards, the Rams once for five yards.
Kyren Williams ran for a game-high 87 yards on 21 carries and also scored the Rams’ other touchdown Sunday, running four yards on their first possession, 14 plays after Cobie Durant intercepted a fourth-down pass by Caleb Williams at their 1-yard line and returning the ball 14 yards.
Chicago scored the next 10 points on Caleb Williams’ 3-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Moore five seconds into the second quarter and a 48-yard field goal by Cario Santos 1:10 before halftime. Santos kicked for the Rams for two games in 2018 when Greg Zuerlein was sidelined by a groin injury.
Mevis kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter.
Stafford completed 20 of 42 passes for 258 yards and was sacked four times. Caleb Williams completed 23 of 41 passes for 257 for two touchdowns with three interceptions, the game’s only turnovers. He was not sacked.