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From Sam Farmer: The New York Giants and Jets have been in the playoffs in the same season only five times.
The Los Angeles Rams and Chargers could surpass that. They have achieved the feat for the second time in seven years.
The Chargers will open wild-card weekend, and the Rams will close it, the NFL announced Sunday night.
By virtue of clinching the fifth seed in the AFC, the Chargers will play at Houston in the early game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PST, a familiar time slot for the Texans.
The Rams, winners of the NFC West, will play host to the Minnesota Vikings two days later on “Monday Night Football.” It’s a rematch of a game the Rams won earlier this season, and is an L.A. homecoming for Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, a onetime USC standout.
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RAMS
From Gary Klein: Rams players and coaches left SoFi Stadium on Sunday not knowing who they would play in an NFC wild-card game.
The Rams ensured their waiting game by losing to the Seattle Seahawks 30-25 in front of 72,610.
But whether it would be the Detroit Lions or the Minnesota Vikings next Monday night at SoFi Stadium did not matter to the Rams after they fell from the No. 3 to the No. 4 seed in the NFC.
“We respect all,” coach Sean McVay said, “but we fear none.”
Rams players echoed McVay’s sentiment after completing a season that featured a rebound from a 1-4 start to finish 10-7.
They might as well start printing T-shirts now with the slogan, “Don’t matter who it is.”
It is the Vikings (14-3), who lost to the Lions (15-2) in the regular-season finale late Sunday, 31-9, and became the No. 5 seed wild-card team.
CHARGERS
From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: On Sept. 8 at SoFi Stadium, after the Chargers started their season with a win over the Las Vegas Raiders, outside linebacker Joey Bosa interrupted Jim Harbaugh’s postgame speech to repeat one of the coach’s favorite phrases.
“Turn the worm!” Bosa shouted, eliciting cheers from his teammates.
Four months later and in a locker room nearly 300 miles away, the message still applies. Facing the same team they opened their season against, the Chargers proved how far the franchise’s fate truly has turned by delivering a clutch 34-20 win over the Raiders on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium to finish the regular season and clinch the No. 5 seed in the AFC.
The team long known for devastating defeats was not just content to make the playoffs for the first time since 2022 and settle for more difficult road matchups against the Buffalo Bills or Baltimore Ravens. The Chargers (11-6) finished with three consecutive wins to earn a road playoff game against No. 4 seed Houston on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. PST.
NFL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Wild-card round
Saturday
All times Pacific
AFC
No. 5 Chargers at No. 4 Houston Texans, 1:30 p.m. (CBS, Paramount+)
No. 6 Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 3 Baltimore Ravens, 5 p.m. (Prime Video)
Sunday
AFC
No. 7 Denver Broncos at No. 2 Buffalo Bills, 10 a.m. (CBS, Paramount+)
NFC
No. 7 Green Bay Packers at No. 2 Philadelphia Eagles, 1:30 p.m. (FOX, FOX Deportes)
No. 6 Washington Commanders at No. 3 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 5 p.m. (NBC, Peacock, Universo)
Monday
NFC
No. 5 Minnesota Vikings at No. 4 Rams, 5 p.m. (ESPN/ABC/ESPN+/ ESPN Deportes; ManningCast-ESPN2/ESPN+)
Divisional round: Jan. 18-19
Conference championships: Jan. 26
Super Bowl 59: Feb. 9 at New Orleans (Fox)
LAKERS
From Dan Woike: The curse of the NBA regular season is that it’s a months long slog from city to city, from hotel rooms and hostile arenas, with opposing scouting reports bleeding into one another in what can create an unrecognizable blur.
The gift of that 82-game schedule are the tests, the moments of competition when a team can take an honest look at what it is and what it isn’t against worthy opposition.
Sunday, the Lakers were given a gift.
Playing a Houston team that split the series and showed size, speed and athleticism in doing so last season, the Lakers got a chance to fight a team just above them in the standings. And it was a fight that they nearly won.
Despite being badly beaten for almost the whole first half, the Lakers played one of their best second halves of the season only to come up just short 119-115.
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Bill Plaschke: She was a kid. He was a legend.
She was an assistant coach in her first college job. He was the greatest coach in college basketball history.
She was 22. He was 83.
When she was ushered into his Encino condo for the first time, she was so nervous, she couldn’t even pronounce her name.
“Who is this?” asked John Wooden, pointing to where she was standing behind several other visiting coaches.
Cori Close oversees a team practice. Before she took over as UCLA coach, Close learned valuable lessons from Bruins coaching legend John Wooden.
“I’m Co-o-o-ri,” responded Cori Close, drawing out the simple introduction to 10 syllables.
“How do you spell that?” said Wooden.
She spelled it, and he smiled, and invited her into his den to inspect a tiny stool adorned with the same name.
“Cori, that’s my great-granddaughter’s name,” he said. “You’re the first person I’ve ever met who also spells it like that.”
————
From Ben Bolch: UCLA has an answer for one of its biggest problems taking up more space than anyone else on the bench.
He stands 7 feet 3, wears size-18 shoes and has a wingspan rivaling that of some regional jets.
His name is Aday Mara, and he’s probably going to have to play significantly more minutes for the Bruins to get where they want to go these next two months, let alone March.
During his 11 minutes against Nebraska on Saturday, the sophomore center made both of his shots, blocked two shots, snagged a steal and threw a perfect pass to Tyler Bilodeau for a dunk. Not shown in the box score were the shots that Mara altered or prevented from being taken, not to mention his supersized screens and the improved spacing for the offense whenever he was in the game.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin, who has acknowledged needing to play Mara more for at least a month, said the big man’s minutes were limited Saturday because of depth issues. Eric Dailey Jr. did not play because of an ongoing issue with a facial injury and William Kyle III was out after undergoing a recent undisclosed medical procedure.
Here are five takeaways from UCLA’s first loss in Big Ten play:
USC BASKETBALL
JuJu Watkins had 23 points and 14 rebounds to help No. 4 USC rout Rutgers 92-42 on Sunday night, handing the Scarlet Knights their worst loss in school history.
Rutgers was missing star freshman guard Kiyomi McMiller, who wasn’t with the team. The school said it was coach Coquese Washington’s decision and will be handled internally. McMiller’s averaging 19.9 points a game.
The Trojans (14-1, 4-0 Big Ten) were up 22-8 after one quarter and extended the advantage to 37-14 at the half.
DUCKS
Frank Vatrano had two goals and assist after signing a three-year contract extension Sunday, John Gibson picked up his 200th NHL win and the Ducks defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1.
Troy Terry also had a goal and an assist for the Ducks, who have won four of their last six. Jackson Lacombe put it out of reach with a goal at 16:26 of the third. Gibson stopped 36 shots.
THIS DATE IN SPORTS
1951 — The Indianapolis Olympians beat the Rochester Royals 75-73 in six overtimes, the longest game in NBA history.
1976 — Ted Turner, a millionaire communications executive and internationally known yachtsman, buys the Atlanta Braves for a reported $10-to-12 million.
1980 — The Rams, behind three field goals by Frank Corral, beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 9-0 to win the NFC Championship. This is the first conference championship game in NFL history without a touchdown being scored.
1980 — The Pittsburgh Steelers advance to their fourth Super Bowl appearance since 1974 by eliminating the Houston Oilers for the second consecutive year with a 27-13 triumph in the AFC title game.
1981 — John Tonelli ties a New York Islanders record with five goals in a 6-3 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Nassau Coliseum. Mike Bossy gets an assist on all six goals to set an Islanders record. Tonelli scores once in the first period, once in the second and three times in the third.
1985 — Dan Marino passes for a record 421 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Miami Dolphins to a 45-28 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC championship game.
1985 — The San Francisco 49ers holds the Chicago Bears to 186 yards and sacks quarterback Steve Fuller nine times to win the NFC Championship 23-0.
1994 — Nancy Kerrigan is attacked after practice at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Detroit. Shane Stant clubs Kerrigan on the knee and flees the scene. Later that evening, Scott Davis wins the men’s U.S. Figure Skating title.
1995 — Lenny Wilkens becomes the winningest coach in NBA history as the Atlanta Hawks post a 112-90 victory over the Washington Bullets. Wilkens, with his 939th win, surpasses Red Auerbach’s record. Wilkens reaches the record in his 22nd year as an NBA coach, including four as a player-coach.
2005 — For the first time in NBA history, a player leads his team in scoring without making a field goal. Detroit’s Richard Hamilton scores 14 points despite missing all 10 of his field goal attempts in a 101-79 loss to Memphis.
2011 — Miami of Ohio caps a historic season with a 35-21 win over Middle Tennessee in the GoDaddy.com Bowl. The RedHawks (10-4) are the first team in Football Bowl Subdivision history to win 10 games one season after losing 10. Miami finished a dismal 1-11 in 2009.
2014 — Patrick Maher of Division III Grinnell College breaks the NCAA record with 37 assists in a 164-144 victory over College of Faith.
2014 — Jameis Winston throws a 13-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left and No. 1 Florida State defeats No. 2 Auburn 34-31 to win the last BCS national championship game.
2015 — Patrik Elias has a goal and two assists to reach 1,000, NHL points, and the New Jersey Devils beat the struggling Buffalo Sabres 4-1. The goal is the 399th for Elias.
2016 — Ken Griffey Jr. is elected to the baseball Hall of Fame with the highest voting percentage ever, and Mike Piazza makes it in his fourth year on the ballot. Griffey is on 437 of 440 votes in his first appearance on the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot. His 99.3 percentage tops Tom Seaver’s 98.84 in 1992.
2018 — Jon Gruden returns to the NFL as Oakland Raiders head coach after nearly a decade of broadcasting.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com, and follow me on Twitter at @latimeshouston. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.