The Rams might be having their best season since the Greatest Show on Turf in 1999, which makes this week a good opportunity to remember what L.A. must not do again if they want to secure the NFC’s number one seed in the playoffs: Don’t have a slip up against the Detroit Lions.
It was Week 9 and the Lions were a surprising 5-2 after beating the likes of the Seahawks, Packers, Vikings, Panthers, and Bucs (all five finished .500 or better in 1999) with a home date against the more-surprising Rams at 6-1.
The Rams could do no wrong under Kurt Warner that season but were coming off of a Super Bowl foreshadowing loss to the Titans, 24-21. This game between the Rams and Lions could have decided the number one seed and it was leaning Detroit’s way at midseason after they beat St. Louis 31-27 that day to improve to 6-2.
What happened after Week 9 was anything but what you would have expected.
First, here’s a recap of the game from Chris Berman:
The game started with a perfect punt by Rick Tuten, which is a lot like the perfect punt from Ethan Evans against the Seahawks a few weeks ago. On the next play, London Fletcher makes a tackle for a safety and a 2-0 Rams lead.
Warner and Charlie Batch traded touchdown passes, while Jason Hanson and Jeff Wilkins traded field goals, and the halftime score stood at 12-10 in the Rams favor.
Suddenly, Batch loses the feeling in his right thumb (???) and is replaced by Gus Frerotte and he gives Detroit a 18-12 lead on a fourth down touchdown pass in the third quarter and a 2-point conversion. St Louis’s next drive goes nowhere and the Lions tack on a field goal to make it 21-12.
Cut to the fourth quarter, Warner throws a 75-yard touchdown to Az-Zahir Hakim and then after another Hanson field goal, Warner throws a touchdown to TACKLE ELIGIBLE Ryan Tucker for a 25-24 lead. Isaac Bruce scores on the 2-point conversion to give the Rams a 3-point lead with under 3 minutes to play.
Then a defense that had pretty much gotten the job done all day long by forcing field goals gets Frerotte into a 4th-and-26 situation after a D’Marco Farr sack. Game over, right?
Fre-wrong.
Frerotte throws a 57-yard pass to Germane Crowell to put the Lions in field goal range. A costly pass interference penalty on Dexter McCleon gives the Lions first and 10 from the 12 with :33 seconds, which turns into a 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnnie Morton. Warner throws a desperation interception to end the game and the Lions shock the Rams 31-27 to take the lead in the NFC playoff race.
What an insane game!
And it could have been the moment that the Detroit Lions — not the St. Louis Rams — became the darlings of the 1999 season…until we got to Week 10, that is.
What happened next
The Lions lost six of their next eight games and only miraculously made the playoffs with an 8-8 record. Then they lost to Washington 27-13 in the wild card round. Frerotte had no more miracles left in him.
You may remember that he played for the Rams from 2006-2007 but it wasn’t a very memorable era.
The Rams won their next seven games in a row and only lost the season finale to the Eagles because they pulled started with the number one seed on lock. The Rams would win the Super Bowl and become one of the all-time greatest teams in NFL history by closing out the season—and making almost everyone forget about that loss to the Lions (and the Titans) in the regular season.
Rams-Lions today
Cut to 2025 and Rams-Lions is one of the most intriguing rivalries in the NFL.
The Rams are 2-2 against the Lions under Sean McVay, but they’ve lost their last 2 to Detroit, including in the playoffs two years ago.
Since the blockbuster Matthew Stafford trade in 2021, these two franchises are intrinsically locked until they aren’t. Stafford has won a Super Bowl with the Rams and L.A. is the favorite to win another. But the Lions somehow don’t miss Stafford because they’ve carved a different path with Dan Campbell, Jared Goff, and GM Brad Holmes, a longtime front office exec with the Rams.
The Lions have gradually improved every year with Goff:
- 3-13-1 in 2021
- 9-8 in 2022
- 12-5 in 2023
- 15-2 in 2024
However, the Lions were off to a rocky start this season after losing both their offensive and defensive coordinators in the offseason. But since Campbell took over play calling duties over a month ago, the Lions are first in scoring despite losing tight end Sam LaPorta.
That being said, the Lions beat the Cowboys last week and Detroit has not won back-to-back games since Week 5. At 8-5, the Lions are still on the outside-looking in of the playoff picture, needing to win and see a loss by the 49ers or Bears to climb back into a tie for a wild card spot.
If the Rams win this week, the Lions drop to 8-6 and could even fall behind the Carolina Panthers, almost completely crushing Goff and Campbell’s hopes for a third straight playoff berth. The Lions haven’t done that since 1993-1995 with Barry Sanders.
The franchises have played against each other 89 times. And whether we’re talking about game #77 in 1999 or game #90 this weekend, the Rams and Lions often seem to make it interesting.
What do you remember about that 1999 Lions game? Or which Lions-Rams game stands out to you the most?
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