The Rams have lost four games this season, three resulting in part from special teams breakdowns.
In the aftermath of their defeat by the Seattle Seahawks, coach Sean McVay made a significant move.
Chase Blackburn, the Rams’ special teams coordinator for the last three seasons, has been fired, a team official said Saturday.
Assistant Ben Kotwica remains on the staff.
Earlier this month, Blackburn said, “The job of a special teams coach is to be able to adapt and overcome on all things.”
That proved a challenge for a team that features a high-powered offense, and an at-times dominating defense.
On Thursday night in Seattle, the Rams led by 16 points in the fourth quarter when they allowed Rashid Shaheed to return a punt 58 yards for a touchdown. The play sparked the Seahawks’ comeback that sent the Rams to a 38-37 overtime defeat.
The loss dropped the Rams’ record to 11-4, and knocked them out of the No. 1 seed in the NFC and first place in the NFC West.
The breakdown was the latest in a series of special teams issues that have plagued the Rams.
In September at Philadelphia, the Eagles blocked two field-goal attempts by Joshua Karty, returning the second for a winning touchdown on the final play of regulation.
Two weeks later, in a 26-23 overtime defeat by the San Francisco 49ers, Karty missed a long field-goal attempt and had an extra-point attempt blocked. Karty’s kickoff in overtime did not reach the landing zone, giving the 49ers the ball at the 40-yard line.
Before their Week 10 game against the 49ers, the Rams signed kicker Harrison Mevis to replace Karty and signed veteran snapper Jake McQuaide to replace Alex Ward.
The kicking game solidified. Mevis made all eight of his field-goal attempts, including three against the Seahawks, before he missed a 48-yard attempt with just over two minutes left in regulation.
The Rams, who clinched a playoff spot, play the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 29 in Atlanta and then conclude the regular season at home against the Arizona Cardinals.
Once again, Bill Plaschke has literally jinxed another Southern California sports team with his proclamation questions regarding the Rams:
Who’s going to beat them?
Who’s going to stop the unstoppable offense?
Who’s going to score on the persistent defense?
Who’s going to outwit the coaching genius?
I have the answers, and it’s not just Seattle. It’s their special teams, their defensive backs and it’s coach Sean McVay’s play-calling. Well, maybe the referees … but that’s for another day.
Thanks again for the poison-pen article, Bill.
Gary Grayson Ventura
Just four days after Bill Plaschke promised that the Rams would win the Super Bowl, the team blew a big lead and lost in a stinker to the Seahawks. Like my mother told me when I was a kid: Be honest, respect others, and bet against Plaschke — you’ll win every time!
Jack Wolf Westwood
Can we quit the Rams praise now? They can’t tackle anyone that gets past the line of scrimmage. Coach Sean McKay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula went into a shell as the Rams lost the game to the Seahawks and any chance of a long playoff run.
Russell Hosaka Torrance
How many more times do we need to see Emmanuel Forbes chasing a receiver because of a blown coverage or missing an assignment and giving up a big play. The secondary is the weak link in the Rams defense and he’s absolutely a broken link. Chris Shula, please put someone else back there. The mascot Rampage would be a better choice than Forbes.
Bill Plaschke’s Rams encomium is puzzling. During the course of the game I watched, Detroit moved through the Rams defense like Sherman through Georgia. This was, at best, park football. The first team that exploits the Rams defense as the Lions did and consistently moves the ball on offense will defeat the Rams.
Skip Nevell Eugene, Ore.
Just when the Rams thought that they solved their kicking situation, they lost another game because of a missed field goal. After the game, they must have been kicking themselves.
Jeff Hershow Woodland Hills
It looks like the Bills are going to win the Super Bowl, because Plaschke wrote, “The Bills? Not ever.”
The NFL fined the Rams receiver $25,000 for remarks he made about NFL officiating, according to NFL Media.
Nacua caught 12 passes for a career-best 225 yards and two touchdowns against the Seahawks.
During a livestream on Tuesday, with YouTubers N3on and Adin Ross, Nacua said, “The refs are the worst.”
Nacua did not stop there.
“These guys are lawyers, and like, really, they want to be on TV, too, bro,” Nacua said. “You don’t think he’s texting his friends in the group chat like, ‘Yo, you guys just saw me on “Sunday Night Football.” Like, that wasn’t [pass interference], but I called it.’”
After the loss to the Seahawks, Nacua appeared to double down.
“Can you say I was wrong,” he posted to X. “Appreciate you stripes for your contribution. Lol”
The post was quickly deleted.
“Just a moment of frustration after a tough, intense game like that, just thinking of the opportunities that I could have done better to take it out of their hands,” Nacua told reporters in the locker room. “Just a moment of frustration.”
Coach Sean McVay said during his postgame news conference that he had not seen Nacua’s post to X.
In regard to Nacua’s criticism of officials during the livestream, McVay said, “Yeah, we don’t want to do that.”
It was a tumultuous week for Nacua, who apologized Thursday for making a antisemitic gesture during the same livestream, saying he didn’t know that the gesture was considered offensive.
“Can you say I was wrong,” he wrote on X. “Appreciate you stripes for your contribution. Lol”
The post was quickly deleted. The questions about Nacua’s judgment remained.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua criticized referees immediately after the Rams’ overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night before deleting the post on X.
Nacua, 24, is in line for a monster contract extension in the upcoming offseason, as the Rams view their record-breaking receiver as a cornerstone. But here he was basically repeating a mistake he made only two days earlier, which can’t be what any team wants from its most popular player.
Are the Rams really about to entrust him with the responsibility of projecting their virtues?
Ironically, the most controversial aspect of his recent livestream appearance could be the most defensible. Hours before the Rams played the Seahawks, Nacua offered an explanation for the antisemitic gesture he made on Adin Ross’ and N3on’s show.
“At the time,” Nacua posted on Instagram, “I had no idea this act was antisemitic in nature and perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people.”
The story was believable. The offensive hand movements were part of a touchdown celebration Ross encouraged Nacua to perform if he scored against the Seahawks.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 38-37 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Thursday night.
Ross is Jewish. Earlier in the livestream he wished his viewers a Happy Hanukkah, which prompted Nacua to share that he accepted a friend’s invitation to attend Shabbat last week.
When Nacua was informed of the undertone of the celebration he practiced with Ross, he apologized. He reached the end zone twice on Thursday and didn’t perform the dance either time.
“I know this guy’s heart and for anybody that was offended, terribly sorry about that,”Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I know he feels that same exact way.”
The guess here is that he won’t ever make the gesture again.
Less certain is whether Nacua will be able to continue building his personal brand without becoming a distraction to his team.
The Rams should be concerned.
In a short week, the Rams were forced to bar Ross and N3on from entering their building.
Later that afternoon, their most visible player joined the streamers in their vehicle and traveled to a club, where he claimed that referees purposely made egregious calls because they wanted TV airtime.
This is a brave new world for athletes and the teams that employ them. Younger audiences want their heroes to be open, whether they are athletes or entertainers. For stars such as Nacua, the challenge is to strike a balance between being accessible and protective of their teams.
Nacua failed to do that this week.
“Coach (McVay) has just echoed that he’s always in continuous support of me, disappointed in some of the actions that just distracted my teammates and that’s something that I know I’ll learn from and I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, especially in a short week, so we had talked about that and he’s right there behind me,” Nacua said.
Nacua nonetheless voiced his displeasure with referees again on Thursday, posting to X minutes after the Seahawks won the game by scoring a two-point conversion in overtime.
What inspired the message, Nacua said, was “just a moment of frustration after a tough, intense game like that, just thinking of the opportunities that I could have done better to take it out of their hands.”
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua, right, celebrates next to teammate Jordan Whittington after making a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks on Thursday.
(Soobum Im / Getty Images)
Whatever that meant.
McVay declined to comment about Nacua’s post, saying he was first informed of its existence when he was asked about it in his postgame news conference.
“I have to have more information before I answer any of those kinds of questions,” McVay said.
However, McVay said of Nacua’s comments about referees on the livestream, “Yeah, we don’t want to do that.”
Being asked about an unpleasant subject in the wake of a crushing defeat made McVay testy. Asked if the fallout from Nacua’s livestream was a distraction, McVay snapped, “Did you think his play showed that he was distracted?”
Nacua caught 12 passes for 225 yards.
But McVay caught himself and apologized.
“I love this team,” he said. “And, man, when you put out as much as our group does and you care so much about something and you come up short, it’s incredibly disappointing.”
Such presence of mind explains why McVay is the voice of the Rams. As competitive as he is, as intense as he can be, he knows how to keep his impulses from compromising his team’s long-term objectives.
Nacua has to figure out how to do that. By next season, he won’t be an underpaid star on his original rookie contract. He will have a deal that reflects his stature as a player, and with that comes responsibility. Recent days raised questions about whether he is capable.
SEATTLE — In a matter of minutes, the home of the Seattle Seahawks went from a painfully quiet Lumen “Library” to a rollicking madhouse that sent seismologists scrambling for their ground-motion sensors.
Call it the Sheesh-Quake Game.
In a historic comeback, the Seahawks dug their way out of a 16-point, fourth-quarter ditch to beat the Rams in overtime, 38-37.
Oh, the visitors will agonize over some of the bizarre calls, some deserving of further explanation from the NFL. An ineligible-man-downfield call that wiped out a Rams touchdown when they were a yard away from the end zone? That had people scratching their heads. Then there was that do-or-die two-point conversion that seemingly fell incomplete… but later was reversed. More on that in a moment.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 38-37 loss to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on Thursday night.
When the Rams wincingly rewind the video of the collapse, they’ll be peering through the cracks in their fingers.
You’ve heard of a no-look pass? This was a no-look finish.
As soothing wins go, this was a warm bubble bath for the Seahawks, who secured a playoff berth and assumed the driver’s seat in the race for the NFC’s No. 1 seed.
“You hear people late in the year have losses, and you hear people come up here and say, like, ‘Man, this is going to be a good thing for us,’” said Seahawks receiver Cooper Kupp, a onetime Rams hero. “It’s much better to be up here right now saying this is going to be a good thing for us.”
Kupp atoned for his first-half fumble with a successful two-point conversion in the fourth quarter — the first of three in a row for the Seahawks — and a 21-yard reception on the winning drive in overtime.
“If you find a way to get a win when you do turn the ball over three times, you do end up down 16 points, or whatever it was, in the fourth quarter, just finding ways to win games when the odds are against you and things aren’t going right — finding a way to fight back — it’s going to be a good thing for us,” Kupp said. “A good thing for us to draw on.”
The Rams are sifting through the debris of a different lesson. It was a reminder that this charmed season, with Matthew Stafford in line to win his first Most Valuable Player honor, can come crashing down at any moment. There’s no more smooth glide path to Santa Clara for the Super Bowl.
As good as it was for most of the game, picking off Sam Darnold twice and sacking him four times, the Rams defense failed to hold up when it counted most. Shades of the three-point loss at Carolina.
Darnold will have a story to tell. He exorcised a lot of demons. The Rams sacked him nine times in the playoffs last season when Darnold was playing for Minnesota, and intercepted six of his passes in two games this season.
“It’s not great when you have interceptions and turnovers, you want to limit that,” said Darnold, the former USC star. “But all you can do is fight back. For us, I was just going to continue to plug away.”
Darnold came through when it counted, completing five passes on the winning drive, then finding the obscure tight end Eric Saubert — his fourth option — wide open in the end zone on the triumphant conversion.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold looks to pass against the Rams in the first half Thursday.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
The second of the three conversions was the game’s most controversial moment. The Seahawks needed it to forge a 30-30 tie with a little more than six minutes remaining in regulation.
Darnold fired a quick screen pass to his left, trying to get the ball to Zach Charbonnet. Rams defender Jared Verse jumped the route and knocked down the pass. Everyone thought the play was dead, including Charbonnet, who casually jogged across the goal line and picked up the ball as it lay in the end zone.
That proved critical because officials — after what seemed like an eternity — ruled that Darnold had thrown a backward pass and the ball was live when Charbonnet picked it up. Therefore, a fumble recovery and successful conversion, tying the game.
Asked later if it felt like a backward pass, Darnold had a half-smile and said, “Um, yeah. It felt like I threw it kind of right on the side. I’m glad Charbs picked it up, and that turned out to be a game-changing play.”
Was that designed to be a backward pass?
“It just happened to be backwards,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily talked about. We were just trying to get it in down there on the goal line.”
The Seahawks were lined up to kick off when officials announced that, upon review, the previous play was successful. Suddenly, the most improbable of come-from-victories was within reach.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, when the home team was trailing, 30-14, the Amazon Prime crew had to do some vamping to keep viewers engaged. Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit told some Kurt Warner stories from the “Greatest Show on Turf” days. Hey, it had to be more interesting than this game.
Michaels delivered an obscure stat: When leading by 15 points or more in the fourth quarter, the Rams were 323-1.
Informed of that, Seahawks running back Cam Akers — once shown the door by the Rams — had a wry response.
“Now, they’ve lost two,” he said.
Celebration in one locker room. Silence in another.
The Rams were on the verge of enduring a quick turnaround, a distracting Puka Nacua controversy, and a flight delay but they could not hold onto the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold’s two-point conversion pass to tight end Eric Saubert sent the Rams to a 38-37 overtime defeat on Thursday night before 68,853 at Lumen Field.
After Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford connected with Nacua for a 41-yard touchdown pass, Darnold’s four-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Smith-Njigba pulled the Seahawks to within two points.
Darnold finished the Rams with the pass to Saubert.
The loss dropped the Rams record to 11-4, knocked them out of first place in the NFC West and put a major roadblock in their pursuit of home-field advantage for the playoffs.
The division race remains tight, with the Seahawks (12-3) now in first place and the San Francisco 49ers (10-4) still in the mix.
The Rams conclude the season with a Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons in Atlanta and a home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Seahawks finish with road games at Carolina and San Francisco.
The 49ers play the Colts at Indianapolis and then home games against the Chicago Bears and the Seahawks.
Stafford completed 29 of 49 passes for 457 yards and three touchdowns. Nacua caught 12 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns. Kam Curl, Josh Wallace and Kobie Turner forced turnovers for the Rams, but it wasn’t enough
The Rams, who clinched a playoff spot last Sunday with a victory over the Detroit Lions, played Thursday without injured star receiver Davante Adams.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes during the second half against the Seahawks on Thursday night.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
Nacua, rookie Konata Mumpfield and Xavier Smith tried to make up the difference.
Nacua entered the game mired in controversy after making critical comments about referees and performing an antisemetic gesture during a livestream. The third-year receiver apologized in an Instagram post Thursday, and the Rams and NFL released statements denouncing the gesture.
“Coach has just echoed that he’s always in continuous support of me, disappointed in some of the actions that just distracted my teammates and that’s something that I know I’ll learn from,” said Nacua, who eclipsed 180 yards receiving for the third game in a row. “And I don’t want to be a distraction in any week, especially in a short week, so we had talked about that and he’s right there behind me.”
Turner, linebacker Nate Landman and defensive tackle Poona Ford had sacks for the Rams.
The Rams led 13-7 at halftime on Stafford’s short touchdown pass to rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson and the first two of Harrison Mevis’ three field goals.
Near the end of the second quarter, Curl forced former Rams receiver Cooper Kupp to fumble the ball out of the end zone for a touchback, preserving the lead.
Early in the third quarter, Kenneth Walker III scored on a long touchdown run for the Seahawks, but Mevis’ third field goal put the Rams back in front, 16-14.
On the ensuing possession, Wallace picked off a pass for his first career interception and returned it 56 yards to set up Blake Corum’s one-yard touchdown run for a 23-14 lead.
The Rams scored early in the fourth quarter when Nacua broke free for a 58-yard reception, and Nacua then scored on a short pass for a 30-14 lead. Turner’s first career interception on Seattle’s ensuing possession seemingly sealed the victory.
But Rashid Shaheed returned a punt 58 yards for a touchdown and Kupp caught a two-point conversion pass to pull the Seahawks to within eight points with about eight minutes left.
Darnold’s 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end A.J. Barner pulled the Seahawks even, and after it appeared that a two-point conversion pass failed, officials ruled that Darnold’s pass was behind the line of scrimmage when it tipped off Jared Verse and was recovered in the end zone by Zach Charbonnet for two points, tying the score.
The Rams had a chance to take the lead with just over two minutes left, but Mevis missed a 48-yard, field-goal attempt, his first miss of the season.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua apologized for performing a gesture “antisemitic in nature” during a livestream, stating he originally had no idea it “perpetuated harmful stereotypes against Jewish people.”
“I deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my actions as I do not stand for any form of racism, bigotry or hate of another group of people,” Nacua wrote in a post on Instagram.
Nacua made the gesture while appearing on a livestream with Adin Ross and N3on. The livestreamers suggested he perform the gesture the next time he celebrated after scoring a touchdown.
“There is no place in this world for Antisemitism as well as other forms of prejudice or hostility towards the Jewish people and people of any religion, ethnicity, or race,” the Rams said in a statement.
The NFL also released a statement: “The NFL strongly condemns all forms of discrimination and derogatory behavior directed towards any group or individual. The continuing rise of antisemitism must be addressed across the world, and the NFL will continue to stand with our partners in this fight. Hatred has no place in our sport or society.”
Nacua’s gesture came on the same livestream in which he also criticized NFL referees, calling them “the worst” and claiming many probably get a thrill making bad calls on national television during games.
After an amazing comeback against a really strong New England team last Sunday, the Bills are emboldened and Josh Allen is on an MVP pace. Cleveland relies on its stout defense, but that unit didn’t show up in Week 15 against Chicago, surrendering 31 points. Buffalo, which is 7-2 outside the division, wins this going away.
Who’s going to stop the unstoppable offense? Who’s going to score on the persistent defense? Who’s going to outwit the coaching genius?
Who can possibly halt the Rams on their thunderous march toward a Super Bowl championship?
After yet another jaw-dropping Sunday afternoon at a raucous SoFi Stadium, the answer was clear.
Nobody.
Nobody can spar with the Rams. Nobody can run with the Rams. Nobody can compete with the Rams.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went right for the Rams in their 41-34 victory over the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
Nobody is talented enough or deep enough or smart enough to keep the Rams from winning their second Super Bowl championship in five years.
Nobody. It’s over. It’s done. The Rams are going to win it all, and before you cry jinx, understand that this is just putting into words what many already are thinking.
The Rams’ second-half domination of the Detroit Lions in a 41-34 win should again make the rest of the league realize that nobody else has a chance.
The Seahawks? Please. The 49ers? No way. The Eagles? They’ve been grounded. The Bears? Is that some kind of a joke?
The Patriots? Not yet. The Broncos? Not yet. The Bills? Not ever.
The Rams trailed by 10 points at one juncture Sunday and then blew the Lions’ doors off in the second half to clinch a playoff berth for the seventh time in nine seasons under Sean McVay, setting them up for the easiest ride in sports.
With a win in Seattle on Thursday night — and, yes, they should beat a team that just barely survived Old Man Rivers — the Rams essentially will clinch the NFC’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
That means they have to win only two games at SoFi to advance to a Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. That means they can win a championship without leaving California, three games played in the sort of perfect climate that gets the best out of their precision attack.
And as Sunday proved once again, they’re good enough to win three essentially home playoff games against anybody.
“I love this team,” McVay said.
There’s a lot to love.
They have an MVP quarterback, the league’s most versatile two-headed running attack, an interior defense that gets stronger under pressure, and the one weapon that no team can match.
Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is tackled by Detroit cornerback Amik Robertson during the second half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Is he unbelievable or what? He is Cooper Kupp in his prime, only faster and stronger. He caught a career-high 181 yards’ worth of passes on yet another day when he could not be covered and barely could be tackled.
“He’s unbelievable,” McVay said. “He’s so tough, a couple of times he just drags guys with him … he epitomizes everything we want to be about … he’s like Pac-Man, he just eats up yards and catches.”
Pac-Man? The Rams even score on their old-school references.
In all, it was another Sunday of totally fun football.
They outscored the league’s highest-scoring team 20-0 at one point, they outrushed the league’s toughest backfield 159-70, they racked up 519 total yards against a team once thought destined for a championship.
And they did it with barely a smile. With the exception of Nacua repeatedly banging his fist to his chest — can you blame him? — the Rams are steady and steadfast and just so scary.
”All we want to do is go to work and find a way to be better,” said Matthew Stafford, who likely answered the crowd’s chants by clinching the MVP award with 368 yards and two touchdown passes. “It’s a fun group right now but we understand there’s more out there for us.”
Lots, lots, lots more.
This year a similar column appeared in this space regarding the Dodgers. By the first round of the playoffs, one just knew that they were going to run the table.
“Guys just kept competing, staying in the moment,” McVay said.
This moment belongs to them. One knew it Sunday by the end of the first half, which featured a Stafford interception and a struggling secondary and Jared Goff’s vengeful greatness and a 10-point Lions lead.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford passes in the first half of a 41-34 win over the Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Then the Rams drove the ball nearly half of the field in 30 seconds in a push featuring Stafford and Nacua at their best. Stafford connected with Nacua on a brilliant 37-yard pass in the final moments that led to a Harrison Mevis 37-yard field goal to close the gap to seven.
“Right before that I told the guys, ‘Let’s go steal three,’” Stafford said.
Turns out, they stole a game.
“One of the key and critical sequences,” McVay said of that late first-half hammer, which led to a dazzling third quarter that finished the flustered Lions.
“We never panic,” Blake Corum said. “Because we know … what we have to bring to the table.”
What they’ve increasingly been bringing is a running attack that perfectly complements the awesome passing attack, as evidenced Sunday by Corum and Kyren Williams combining for 149 yards and three touchdowns.
The Lions’ more vaunted backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery? Seventy yards and one score.
“We push each other to the limit,” Corum said of Williams.
Rams running back Kyren Williams stiff-arms Detroit Lions safety Erick Hallett II during the first half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Potentially disturbing was how one noted Ram may have pushed past his limits, as receiver Davante Adams limped off the field early in the fourth quarter after apparently reinjuring his troublesome hamstring.
To lose him for the playoffs would be devastating, as he frees up space for Nacua and is almost an automatic touchdown from the five-yard line and closer.
Then again he’ll have a month to heal. And the Rams still have a bruising array of tight ends led Sunday by the touchdown-hot Colby Parkinson, who caught 75 yards’ worth of passes and two scores, including one inexplicable touchdown in which he clearly was down at the one-yard line.
The Rams got lucky there. But even if the right call was made, they would have scored on the next couple of plays. The way the Rams attacked, they could have been scoring all night.
“You knew that it was going to be that kind of game where there was some good back-and-forth,” McVay said. “You needed to be able to know that points were going to be really important for us, and our guys delivered in a big way.”
Just wait. By the time this season is done, McVay’s guys will have delivered a trophy representing something much bigger.
The only questions now: Can they hold onto the No. 1 seed in the NFC and have home-field advantage for the entire postseason. And will receiver Davante Adams be fit for the stretch run?
The Rams clinched a playoff spot on Sunday with a 41-34 victory over the Detroit Lions before 74,701 at SoFi Stadium in a game that featured Adams’ fourth-quarter departure because of a left hamstring injury.
Matthew Stafford outdueled Jared Goff, Puka Nacua continued his torrid receiving pace and the Rams defense shut down the Lions in the second half as the Rams improved their record to 11-3 and ensured their seventh playoff appearance under ninth-year coach Sean McVay.
It was a huge victory for a Rams team that will be tested again Thursday night when they play the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle.
The Seahawks (11-3) defeated Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday in Seattle, setting up the Thursday night showdown. The Rams currently hold the tie-breaker over the Seahawks because of their Nov. 16 victory over the Seahawks at SoFi Stadium.
Can they capture home field throughout the playoffs for the first time?
They advanced to the Super Bowl in the 2018 and the 2021 seasons without the benefit of playing every playoff game at home.
The Rams finish the regular season with games against the Seahawks, a road trip to Atlanta and a home game against the Arizona Cardinals.
As expected, the victory over the Lions (8-6) did not come easy.
The Rams overcame an early interception and 10-point deficit late in the second quarter.
Adams, who has been nursing a hamstring issue, left the field for the locker room and did not return to the game after appearing to suffer an injury early in the fourth quarter.
McVay said Adams’ injury “didn’t look good” and wasn’t sure if Adams would be able to play against the Seahawks.
Stafford came alive in the second half, leading three consecutive scoring drives in the third quarter to give the Rams a 34-24 lead.
Stafford kept alive his drive for the NFL most valuable player award by completing 24 of 38 for 368 yards and two touchdowns, with an interception.
Nacua, coming off a performance against the Arizona Cardinals that earned him NFC offensive player of the week honors, caught nine passes for 181 yards. Adams caught four passes for 71 yards.
Tight end Colby Parkinson caught two touchdown passes, Kyren Williams rushed for two touchdowns and Blake Corum also scored on the ground.
Defensive lineman Kobie Turner had a key sack for a defense that gave up three touchdown passes and several big plays in the first half, but neutralized Goff for most of the second.
Goff and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown started fast and helped the Lions take a 24-17 lead.
Stafford had a hand in that, throwing a ball into the waiting arms of Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson, who returned the interception 58 yards. On the next play, Goff found St. Brown for a touchdown.
Williams’ two short touchdown runs gave the Rams the lead midway through the second quarter. But Goff connected with St. Brown for a short touchdown and then hit Jameson Williams with a 31-yard scoring pass to put the Lions ahead, 24-14.
The Rams cut the deficit to seven points when Harrison Mevis closed the first half with a field goal.
The Rams opened the second half with another field goal to cut the Lions’ lead to four points.
The defense then forced the Lions to go three and out, forcing them to punt for the first time.
Stafford put the Rams ahead with a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Colby Parkinson to give the Rams a 27-24 lead.
Turner’s sack of Goff helped set up another punt, and it took Stafford only 52 seconds to engineer another touchdown. He connected with Nacua for a 39-yard gain, and Blake Corum extended the lead with an 11-yard touchdown run.
The Lions kicked a field goal midway through the fourth quarter to trim the Rams’ lead to seven points, but Stafford’s second touchdown pass to Parkinson gave the Rams a 14-point lead with just under five minutes left.
David Montgomery’s short touchdown run late in the fourth quarter cut the lead back to seven.
Goff completed 25 of 41 passes for 338 yards and three touchdowns. St. Brown caught 13 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns.
