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:
Winners
Harrison Mevis, K
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.
Cobie Durant, CB
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.
Kamren Curl, DB
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, MLB
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. He was all over the place in the short-middle area of the field, in a good way.
Kevin Dotson, RG
This game proved how important Kevin Dotson is to the offensive line. The run game looked night and day from last week upon the veteran’s return. While the Rams were mostly reluctant to commit to the ground game until the fourth quarter, when they did run they were highly efficient.
Dotson will get his chance for revenge against the Seahawks Derrick Hall next week. Hall was suspended for injuring the right guard in their last matchup.
Kyren Williams & Blake Corum, RB
According to SumerLive, 61 of the Rams’ 93 rushing yards came after contact. This is a huge credit to both Kyren Williams and Blake Corum.
It was interesting that Corum earned the nod in the backfield into overtime while Williams was on the sideline. I thought Williams was shaky in pass protection for most of this game and that could have been the deciding factor. Corum also has an edge as a shiftier back with more run after the catch ability as a receiver.
Losers
Davante Adams, WR
Adams caught two passes for 24 yards late, including a beautiful sideline catch in overtime. For most of this game it seemed he was running in sand and struggling to separate. His first four targets fell incomplete.
Not much was working for the Rams’ passing game; however, you expect a veteran player like Adams to step up in the playoffs. Through two weeks that has not been the case. Is Adams still limited by the hamstring injury that caused him to miss the end of the regular season?
Matthew Stafford, QB
https://sumersports.com/live/adedf70c-f037-11f0-9442-5911216651e2/?playerId=14e23363-7413-5d3f-aeed-7e8d1ff2a94c
Stafford deserves credit for leading the game-winning drive in overtime. He hit Puka Nacua on a third down catch-and-run that moved LA into scoring position. With that said, it was strange that on second and third and six, Stafford threw two passes to the end zone instead of looking to move the chains or making the field goal a shorter attempt.
But the fact is that the Rams’ quarterback was not good for most of this game. Stafford completed less than 50% of his passes and finished 20/42 (47%) for 258 yards. He took four sacks which was a 50% pressure to sack ratio according to SumerLive. This game was an interesting comparison between a highly athletic quarterback and one who is very limited.
Stafford did most of his work in the short area of the field. The Rams had nothing going deep. It was clear that Stafford was not accurate, whether that is explained by his finger injury from last week or the tough Chicago weather. Either way, a performance like this against the Seahawks won’t get the job done next week. Even more concerning is the fact that it’s been a long while since we’ve seen “playoff Stafford”. Sunday was the continuation of a troubling trend.
