The Los Angeles Rams are heading to the NFC Championship after yet another Matthew Stafford game-winning drive in the playoffs. It was the ‘Thiccer Kicker’ who sent the Rams to the NFC Championship Game
with the game-winning kick in overtime as the defense forced three turnovers. For the Rams, it didn’t come easy, but they were able to find a way in the cold when many counted them out. Let’s get to our 10 takeaways as we try to process what happened.
1. Rams defense was phenomenal
It’s hard to talk about this Rams win without first mentioning the defense. This group was absolutely phenomenal in this game. Time and time again, they showed up in the big moment. On the opening drive, they got the stop on fourth down with an interception from Cobie Durant. The Bears went 3-for-6 on fourth down. Multiple times in third and fourth-and-short situations, the Rams defense won at the line of scrimmage and got the stop. Winning in those moments affected Ben Johnson’s decision to go for two at the end of the game. For the most part, they played good situational football and won in the high-leverage moments.
However, it goes beyond the stops on fourth down or even the turnovers. In the third quarter, the Rams had 19 yards of total offense. Following the opening drive touchdown and taking away the field goal drive at the end of the half, the offense had 42 yards of offense going into the fourth quarter. The offense had a success rate of 35.5 percent. It was their lowest since the Brett Rypien game. In a game that was expected to have a lot of points, the Rams defense continuously showed up while the offense struggled. Chris Shula is going to be a head coach for a reason. His group got three turnovers, had three stops on fourth down, and held the Bears offense in check throughout the game. The Rams do not win without this group.
2. This was far from McVay’s best
This may have been one of the worst called games from Sean McVay. Coming into the game, the Bears had a bottom-five run defense. However, McVay could not stop throwing the ball with his quarterback that clearly just wasn’t feeling it. At one point the Rams had run 44 plays and only 11 of them were runs. The Rams leaned into 13 personnel throughout the back-half of the season. They used it on just 9.1 percent of their offensive plays on Sunday night.
With the season potentially on the line, McVay called a toss play to Blake Corum on third-and-1 to the short side of the field. Outside of Puka Nacua’s fourth down conversion on a jet sweep, the Bears had shown the ability to stop those outside runs. McVay had zero feel for this game from a play-calling standpoint and some of that is credit to Dennis Allen. The Bears blitzed the Rams heavily which is what they had success doing against Green Bay. It was clear for most of the game that the Rams didn’t expect that and didn’t have answers.
McVay also had a few clock management blunders at the end of the fourth quarter. He could have thrown the ball on 3rd-and-10 and gone for the win and the negative effect would have been minimal. A lot of McVay’s decision-making was confusing to say the least. With all of that said, it also doesn’t mean that he needs to give up play-calling or drastic changes are needed. He’s won 10 playoff games before the age of 40 which is as many as Bill Walsh and George Seifert.
3. Curl and Lake star in the secondary
It’s true that Cobie Durant had two interceptions in this game which were both important. For the most part, Durant and Darious Williams played well on the outside. Still, it’s hard to come back after his blunder and lack of field awareness on the game-tying touchdown. Kam Curl and Quentin Lake were two of the best players on the Rams defense for most of the night. Curl led the Rams with 13 tackles and allowed two receptions for 11 yards on four targets. He also had the game-changing interception in overtime. If that ball falls incomplete, the Bears are still just 15 yards away from being able to attempt a game-winning field goal.
Quentin Lake didn’t have a good debut last week against the Carolina Panthers, but he showed up on Sunday Night. He allowed two receptions for 11 yards and was all over the field. His most important play of the game came on third down at the goal line in the fourth quarter. D’Andre Swift went high over Darious Williams and Lake stopped Swift in the air to force fourth down. On the ensuing play, Omar Speights broke up the pass for a turnover on downs. If Lake doesn’t tackle Swift in that spot, the Bears may score there and end up winning in regulation.
4. Here for the Kyren Williams redemption arc
Just one year ago, the Rams seemed in control early in the fourth quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles. The Rams were down 16-15, but the defense had just forced a safety. Williams fumbled and it ended up being a big reason why the Rams lost that game. Earlier this season in Week 5, the Rams were in position to beat the San Francisco 49ers before Williams fumbled at the goal line.
One year removed from Williams’ mistake against the Eagles, an argument can be made that he was the best player on offense for the Rams against the Bears. He scored two touchdowns and had 21 carries for 87 yards. He also added four receptions for 30 yards. While he went out of bounds on the final drive in the fourth quarter to stop the clock, the Rams don’t win this game without Williams. A lot has been said about his lack of big-play ability and ball security issues. He was fantastic against the Bears and we are here for the redemption arc.
5. Jared Verse is a big game player
There are a few ways to look at Jared Verse’s performance against the Bears and it certainly wasn’t perfect. He missed a big sack on Caleb Williams, jumped offsides that resulted in a big play, and had a roughing the passer penalty. He also lost contain a couple of times. With all of that being said, we can focus on the negatives or understand that he was also the best player on the Rams defensive line for most of the night. Verse consistently shows up in big games and that was the case against the Bears.
According to NextGen stats, Verse generated a team-high six pressures which was double any other player on the Rams defense. Five of those came against Joe Thuney who the Bears had playing outside of his normal position at left tackle. Focusing on the lack of sacks also takes away from what Verse did in the run game. He didn’t have a sack, but still led the Rams defense with two tackles for loss. That speaks to being excellent against the run.
On the fourth down at the end of the game, it was Verse that broke through immediately and had Caleb Williams scrambling. If Durant doesn’t get lost, we’re praising Verse for impacting the play. We’re at the point of the ‘Jared Verse doesn’t do anything’ narrative where we’re going to look back at the first two years of his career and wish we appreciated it more. The negatives with Verse get much more focus than the positives. He impacted this game and the Rams don’t win without him.
6. Matthew Stafford did enough
It’s not a hot take to say that Matthew Stafford didn’t play well for a majority of this game. The cold certainly had an effect and the play-calling didn’t help. At the same time, Stafford didn’t complete 50 percent of his passes and had a QBR of 31.6. It was the first time since 2012 that Stafford had completed less than 50 percent of his passes and still come out with the win. He became the first quarterback with at least 25 pass attempts to complete less than 48 percent of his passes, throw zero touchdowns, and win a playoff game since Kordell Stewart in 1998.
However, is there a quarterback you would rather have the ball in their hands with the game on the line to go down and win the game? Stafford’s throw to Davante Adams in overtime along the sideline was incredible. Struggling against the blitz all day, he found Puka Nacua on 3rd-and-6 to put the Rams in field goal range. Stafford has seven playoff wins with the Rams and five of them have come via a game-winning drive. He’s now tied with Joe Montana and Eli Manning for the fourth-most game-winning drives in the playoffs.
Since the Rams traded for Stafford in 2021, he has continued to show in different ways why they made that move. It’s not just his ability to play his best with the game on the line or the no-look passes. This is a game that Jared Goff loses and it’s because the play-caller wasn’t at his best. Stafford has the ability to make McVay right even when he gets it very wrong as he did on Sunday. Sunday wasn’t great for Stafford or McVay, but it was the quarterback that did just enough to get the win.
7. Rams found the run game late
Looking at the box score, it doesn’t tell the full story. Throughout the game, many were calling for McVay to run the ball more and get back to who they were as an offense. Williams and Corum had a combined 27 runs between them. However, eight of them came on the touchdown drive in the fourth quarter and three others came on the game-winning drive in overtime. Out of the Rams’ 27 runs, 16 of them came in the fourth quarter and overtime while four others came on the opening drive of the game.
A lot can be said about the 2.5 quarters before that, but the Rams found the run game when it mattered and were able to lean on it to win the game. There’s no question that they should have run the ball 10 more times in this game, but they got it going when they needed to. With the return of Kevin Dotson, Williams had 12 carries for 53 yards and a 66.7 percent success rate. Running to the left, he had just a 22.2 percent success rate. Some of the struggles in the run game were because of the offensive line losing the battle in the trenches. However, when they needed it, the Rams were able to get it going.
8. Harrison Mevis comes through in big moment
The Rams have lost multiple games this season because of the kicking game. Joshua Karty missed a field goal against the 49ers back in Week 5. In Week 3, Karty had two field goals blocked, including a game-winner. Harrison Mevis missed a field goal in the 38-37 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Heading into the postseason, there were still questions on whether or not Mevis could deliver in a big-time moment.
In the frigid cold at Soldier Field and with the game on the line in overtime, Harrison Mevis delivered. For as much as the kicking game has struggled, it felt as if the Rams were due for one. It doesn’t get much bigger than a kick in overtime to send your team to the NFC Championship. When his number was called, Mevis delivered.
9. This team is resilient
Everything happens for a reason. Throughout the season, the Rams have found insane ways to lose games. In Week 3 against the Eagles, it was the two blocked field goals. Two weeks later, Williams fumbled at the goal line that would have given the Rams the win. In Week 16, the Rams blew a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter to the Seahawks. However, after what happened on Sunday, those losses were necessary to mentally prepare the Rams for this moment.
It would have been very easy for the Rams to fold after Caleb Williams found Cole Kmet in the back of the end zone on 4th-and-4. That play would rattle almost every other team in the NFL. That’s especially the case after the offense went three-and-out to start overtime. Not this Rams team. The Rams got a turnover in overtime with their backs against the wall. Resilience is the only way to describe this group. Last week when the defense struggled, the offense lifted them up by scoring 34 points. When the offense struggled, it was the defense lifting them up with three turnovers and continuing to give them an opportunity. The Rams can win in multiple ways and that speaks volumes to how good they are.
10. Rams must be better to beat Seahawks
Heading into the NFC Championship game, the Seahawks are being painted as a juggernaut after beating the San Francisco 49ers, 41-6. They’ve won each of their last three games by double digits. Since losing to the Rams, the Seahawks haven’t lost. While the Rams haven’t looked as good since, the Seahawks have looked like the best team in the NFL. If the Rams are going to beat the Seahawks on the road next week, they are going to have to play better than they have in two months. At this point in the season, you take wins however they come. With that said, this team also needs to be better and play four quarters.
Over the last two games, the offense has disappears for long stretches. Stafford hasn’t been sharp and the Seahawks defense will take advantage of that. This isn’t to say that the Rams don’t have a chance. They absolutely can beat the Seahawks. Still, the Seahawks are also too good for the Rams to not play at their best and come away with a win.
