Turf Show Times
One of the oldest NFL cliches is “defense wins championships”. That held true for the Los Angeles Rams as they stifled the Chicago Bears on the road en route to a 20-17 victory. LA advances to the NFC Championship game where they’ll travel to face the Seattle Seahawks next week.
The Rams forced three interceptions by Caleb Williams. Cobie Durant caught two—moving him to three on the 2025 playoffs—and Kam Curl nabbed an incredible diving pick in overtime to shift momentum.
Matthew Stafford and the offense, while far from electric for most of this one, took care of business to move the team into field goal range. Rookie kicker Harrison Mevis nailed the game-winner.
Let’s take a look at the individual performances that kept LA alive:
Mevis was cool as a cucumber as the forced the game-winning kick through the uprights in overtime. We’ve seen others recently struggle when the pressure is at its highest, such as Tyler Loop who eliminated the Baltimore Ravens from playoff contention.
Recent Rams Super Bowl runs have featured high-leverage kicks. Mevis now joins Greg Zuerlein and Matt Gay in franchise history as clutch kickers. Hopefully the Rams don’t need him to win the game next week in Seattle.
Many will focus on the game-tying touchdown that Cobie Durant allowed to Cole Kmet. Caleb Williams was falling backwards away from a gaggle of pass rushers and lofted a hail mary into the end zone on fourth down. Durant didn’t follow Kmet in the deep area of the end zone. This score moved the game to overtime.
But I’m choosing to focus on the positive. Durant snagged an interception on Chicago’s first possession. He caught another one later to slow the Bears’ momentum.
It’s clear that Durant is the best corner on LA’s roster, although he’s far from consistently good. His ball skills are a strong positive working in his favor.
The only Rams corners that are likely to be back—or at least under contract—for next season are Josh Wallace and Emmanuel Forbes. Can LA really afford to let Durant walk away? He’s played so many meaningful snaps for this team and comes away with important takeaways.
In what was possibly the most important play of the game, Curl intercepted Williams deep while Chicago was roughly 10-15 yards away from game-winning field goal position. This wasn’t the only positive play that Curl made on the day. He was active around the line of scrimmage and laid a big hit on DJ Moore, to start.
Curl was an enforcer on the defense Sunday.
Omar Speights finished with two crucial pass breakups and was inches away from a third. He was in position to intercept Williams on Chicago’s first touchdown; however, Williams perfectly layered the throw to fit the ball into Moore.
The second-year linebacker could of had a pick-six on Williams in the fourth quarter at the goal line....
