The Los Angeles Rams are preparing for the second round of the playoffs, in which they will be heading to Chicago to take on the Bears.
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Rams and the Chicago Bears will face off in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs on Sunday, and Matthew Stafford said he has tunnel vision on this game and Kevin Dotson said he wanted to get his get back.
This comes after this Rams team beat the Carolina Panthers in a 34-31 NFL Wild Card Playoff down to the wire win.
“I feel like you’re never out of the game until the clocks over or there’s just obviously not going to be enough time, but if there’s time on the clock I feel great about it”. Stafford continued, “and emotion is great … but you gotta go out there and execute.”
Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young threw a 7 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jalen Coker to give the Panthers the lead as the scoreboard read 31-27 Carolina. This left Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford less than three minutes to come back and win the game. In classic MVP front runner fashion, Stafford did just that, completing a 19 yard touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson. With a successful extra point from Harrison Mevis, Los Angeles left 38 seconds on the clock with them ahead 34-31.
With many factors going on around the great quarterback going into the second round of the playoffs, Stafford still does not have a hard time shutting out the noise. “You could have told me everyone’s still playing. I'd have believed you, so I’m just worried about our game we got in front of us you know, and I think that serves me well. I kind of live in that tunnel vision all season and it’s the best way for me … We got nothing else to think about except for the Chicago Bears.”
Similarly, the Chicago Bears did not make it easy for themselves in their Wild Card Round wild victory against the Green Bay Packers. In this one the Bears were down 21-3 going into halftime, but fortunately the Chicago quarterback Caleb Willliams made impressive throws leading his team to score 25 points in the 4th quarter alone to win the game 31-27.
The down to the wire ending of the Rams Wild Card game was unlike how many expected them to play. Head Coach Sean McVay said that there were some things that bothered him, “we’re better than that,” he expressed.
One main focus going into the Divisional Round, is that the Los Angeles Rams are practicing in 80 degree weather ahead of taking on Chicago's unforgiving weather. The forecast is looking like it is going to be around 20 degrees or lower with a chance of snow. McVay, Stafford and Davante Adams all expressed that there is nothing they can do about the weather conditions, so that’s not something they are focusing on. McVay jokingly said, “You know what we’re gonna do is, we’re gonna get in the biggest cold plunge ever and see if we can sit in that thing for three hours.” Not to mention, there are numerous players on this Rams team that have played in cold weather games for periods of their careers.
As the Rams continue to get ready for the Bears, their Head Coach continues to stay honed in on what truly matters.
“We talk about mental toughness all the time. McVay continued, “and really controlling the things that we can control.”
Category: General Sports
