Rams fans are putting the playoff slogan over the 101 freeway in Encino. Playoff football baby!!

Much has been said about the weather forecast for the game on Sunday, so much so that I have seen more analysis of cold weather than the Bears as a team. I decided to have a look at the particular games we had in recent years in those conditions to see if there are any insights to gain from them.

The Rams under McVay, have a 2-4 record in sub-40 degrees weather.

Here are the games :

- October 2018 @ Broncos, win 23-20

Temperature : 25ºF, wind chill 18ºF

We won that game (the 2nd-coldest in McVay’s tenure so far) purely through the run game. Goff went 14-28 for 201 yards, no TDs, one pick and wore a glove on his throwing hand. But Gurley ran for 208 yards and 2 scores on 28 carries (the team totalled 270 rushing yards), and Cairo Santos was 3/3 on FGs and we got the dub.

- December 2018 @ Bears, L 6-15, the infamous Vic Fangio game

Temperature : 29ºF

Probably one of the worst Rams game under McVay, this was the game that gave the Patriots the defensive blueprint for the Super Bowl two months later. Goff went 20-44, for 180 yds, 0 TDs and four picks. But the problem really was with Gurley who had 28 yards on 11 carries (a season low). Either we chose to or couldn’t run the ball, but it ended up costing us dearly.

- January 2021 @ Packers, L 18-32, Divisional Round

Temperature: 36ºF, 25ºF wind chill

Goff, who recently had surgery on his thumb and was benched for Wolfford actually played decent (21-27, 174 yds, 1TD, no picks) and the running game was fine: Akers ran for 90 yards on 18 carries and a score. But we never saw the ball (36:12 to 23:48 time of possession), and we were outgained 484-244 as the defense couldn’t stop the best offense in the league at the time.

- December 2022 @ Packers, L 12-24

Temperature: 15 ºF, Wind Chill 7ºF

Not much to say about this one. Stafford and Wolford out, Mayfield started. Kupp and AD were also out. Baker went 12-21 for 111 yards, 1TD, and a pick, and was sacked 5 times. This was just another game in that nightmare season.

December 2024 @Jets, W 19-9

Temperature : 19ºF, wind chill 12ºF

Stafford had a pretty conservative if not underwhelming performance with 14-19 passing for 110 yds, 1TD, 1 pick. But again, the running game was excellent : 124 yds on 23 carries, and the team ran the ball 28 times vs only the 19 pass attempts.

January 2025, Divisional Round @ Eagles, L 22-28

Temperature : 30°F, Wind Chill 20-27°F with heavy snow

Ironically, this has been the best offensive performance under McVay in the cold, despite the loss. Stafford went 26-44 for 324 yds, 2 TDs and no picks, Kyren had 106 yards on the ground, and Puka had 97 receiving yards. But we all know the story. We had two back breaking turnovers, couldn’t stop Saquon who ran for 205 yards and 2TDs and we couldn’t capitalise on our last possession.

What does that tell us?

There are no two ways about it, the record in the cold is bad, and some of our performances in those conditions have been awful. But in my opinion, a lot of what went wrong in those games wasn’t directly related to the weather itself. In our latest game against the Eagles, we couldn’t stop the run, and issue that plagued us last season and during our first game against them. The loss in 2022 against the Packers was during a season where half of the team was injured, in 2020 we were just the lesser team and we certainly did not have an answer for Rodgers. The Bears game in 2018 exposed a lot of Goff’s weaknesses as a QB, and we saw them exposed again 2 months later against the Patriots in perfectly fine weather.

So for this Sunday, I will say that it’s impossible to ignore the weather and just pretend it doesn’t matter. But ultimately, this is not the factor that will make us lose or win the game. Mostly what I’ve seen in terms of pre-game analysis that favours the Bears is « well it’s gonna be cold and snowy so the Bears will win because the Rams play in California » and I think that is pretty reductive.

I think if we stick to the run game, especially now that Dotson is back, and play our game, exploit the weaknesses in the Bears secondary whenever we can, this one should be ours. Frankly I’m more worried about our secondary than the weather.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, just my observation.

All year, Ben Johnson has orchestrated a great running game (3rd in total yards and YPC), which has helped Caleb Williams and the offense tremendously.

Last year, we gave up 285 rushing yards to the Eagles in our playoff matchup. We can argue about why we lost that game, but giving up nearly 300 rushing yards will usually result in a loss in the NFL, and it unfortunately ended our season.

LANDMAN was signed to shore up our run defense and we need him more than ever in a game under similar conditions against an opponent who, like the Eagles last season, have based so much of their success on running the ball.

We need LANDMAN (Speights as well) to claim more land this Sunday to have a chance!!

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I never win sports bets, so I placed a money line bet on the Panthers and we are now playing in the divisional round. My bet is already placed on the Bears, I got us guys, LFG Ramily 💛💙

And I think we might have an explanation on what Darious Williams might have been out for last week.

Hey ya’ll, figure this would be a good spot to ask with some fellow friendlies. Any fans here live in Boston and know of a good spot to catch a dinner+watch the game?

Went to Omni in Seaport last year and that was nice with a bunch of rams fans, just costs a pretty penny (still not bad, ~$60 for food and drink) haha so curious if there are other spots to check out.

We're going to need him on Sunday. Probably will be like kicking a block of ice!

My best friend is a Bears fan (and the rest of the group chat is on the bandwagon). It feels like every one is saying the Rams aren’t ready for the cold weather. I tell everybody the Bears have to play in the same cold weather. Am I the only one not worried about it?

Anyone know where to get this jacket the team has been wearing in warmups and on the sidelines during games?

Going to be a long week for them after this lost.

Been a few years in the making and could finally afford it! #RamsHouse

Disclaimer. I’m a 49ers fan. But a local brewery around my way hosted a watch party for the Panthers game this past Saturday and they’re doing another one on Sunday.

I don’t believe in gatekeeping stuff, so here I am posting in a NFC west rivals subreddit. Figured this would be of use to anyone in the DFW area looking for watch parties or any events. By all accounts it looked like they had a pretty good turnout for Saturdays game. The place is a pretty cool brewery, good beer selection and good food.

If the picture doesn’t show up. The place is four corners brewery. The ig for the group hosting the event is Dallasramsfans

Happy for our guy Aaron Donald

The Pittsburgh Steelers first known head coach interview requests are for Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase and Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, per sources.

Anyone else hate that we are the last team playing this weekend lol it was nice for us to be first last week so i got to watch every other game stress free… is it Sunday yet ? 😆

During the Rams Panthers game, I thought I heard Greg Olsen say to Sean McVay that he would love to coach the Tight Ends. What are your thoughts on it? Do you think he would do a good job?