INSANITY, California The San Francisco 49ers would not have been the Los Angeles Rams’ opponent in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game.
On November 15, the Rams suffered a 31-10 loss to their northern rivals; in the season finale on January 9, they lost 27-24. And now, on the greatest stage in the NFC, they have to play the 49ers, a team the Rams have lost to six times in a row, who made the playoffs with their victory in Week 18.
Even worse for Los Angeles, past performance indicates that it is not as difficult as it seems to defeat the same team three times in a single season. 22 times, the teams have faced off in a third meeting; 14 of those times, the victor of the first two meetings has advanced to the third round.Thus, for the second time in postseason history, the 49ers and Rams will square off for the NFC title (6:30 p.m. ET, Fox). The 1989 NFC Championship Game saw the 49ers defeat the Rams 30-3.
Kyle Shanahan, the coach of the Niners, stated, “I don’t think there are many secrets.” “It’s kind of the most entertaining approach, but there aren’t many things we can surprise them with, and the same goes for them with us. There will be two excellent sides playing a fantastic football match in which neither team can truly fool the other. You need to go bash someone up.”
During the current six-game winning streak, the 49ers have won four of them as underdogs; San Francisco is once again in this position going intoTight end George Kittle of the Niners described their Week 18 matchup as “kind of a body-bag game” before trying to explain how the victor would need to force the other team to give up. It seems that the Rams used that as content for their bulletin board.
Kittle said that five Rams players were “chirping” at him after Los Angeles jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half. In response, he commented that there was “a lot of time up on that clock.”
He was accurate. After the Niners rallied and punched their ticket to the postseason, Kittle remarked, “Hopefully, I can see them again.” Rams pass-rusher Von Miller got a chuckle out of it when notified of Kittle’s commentsthis week.
“That’s the Joker,” Miller chuckled to himself. That’s just how he approaches things. I suppose it’s our responsibility to ensure that there are body bags here as well. They are a strong, athletic team. That’s just the way they handle things. It has been effective for them. We must play the football that is unique to us, do what we can, and avoid getting too hung up.”
Something else the Rams are unable to become entangled in? composition of the crowd. The stadium was a sea of red during that Week 18 matchup, to the point where quarterback Matthew Stafford described it as a “tough environment.” The noise from the crowd forced the Rams’ offense to switch to a quiet snap count, and head coach