1 minute to go, GB down by 3. They missed a 4th quarter FG and that screwed them.

Edit. Then INT. SF wins.

IMO? This wasn’t their year, and they had flaws they need to fix in the off-season. Special teams, the secondary, the pass rush, no real 2nd back (and Wms. is looking like he gets dinged a couple of times a year.) It just wasn’t their year. I don’t see this as a missed opportunity. They would have lost sooner or later in the post-season this year. I can take pride in the fact that with all their flaws they were driving in the last minutes to take the lead against Detroit and only an especially bad non-call kept them out of range to kick what could have been a game winning FG (if they made the kick). Another difference showed up right then. In the super bowl, the Bengals had a chance to come back and the Rams defense denied it. This time, the Lions ripped off 2 decisive 1st downs and could then kneel and kill the clock.

It doesn’t matter if the other opponents looked formidable or not, the Rams were winning in spite of huge flaws. Remember how after the bye there were games when they couldn’t shut down a weak opponent in the 4th quarter, like Washington and NYG?

So what the Rams showed me after the bye was a great team whose flaws were huge. It wasn’t their year. But then that same team can fix those flaws in the off-season and what was great about them in 2023 will still be great, so even with flaws in 23 you can see the 24 monster they can become.

As much as I love and admire the 23 team, I just think they would have lost in the post-season sooner or later. This was not the 79 super bowl team that really deserved to be in it in spite of a slow start. In 23, I just think that if not against SF or Baltimore then against Tampa or GB, their exploitable flaws woulda done them in. But at the same time you can see this same team fixing a lot of things in 24 and becoming great.

Also, in terms of GB taking SF to the wire, I just think the GB team is better than people think. They have a story very much like the Rams. In the first half of the season they looked like what they were, the youngest team in the league. In the second half of the season they picked up and were stronger than people expected. They were 9-8 overall, but in the last 8 games were 6-2. (Like the Rams, a very young 3-6 team that grew up in the final 8 games).

Lions lead Bux 31-17 in the last 7 minutes of the 4th.

The rest of the USA quite rightly sees this as the “battle of the 2 recent ex-Rams starting qbs.” That narrative dominates everything.

As a rule, Americans just plain know that everything is about the Rams.

😎

If you’re wondering who or what I am satirizing, it’s my own inner homer.

…

Oh and btw some team called the chefs just beat a team called the bulls.

Apparently Dolly Parton or someone like that is dating one of the players on one of those teams.

That’s all I know.

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The #Bills attempted a fake punt with Damar Hamlin early in the 4th quarter while trailing by 3, and it failed.

A momentum swing.pic.twitter.com/Mo2wiMaXNc

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 22, 2024

Most Pass TD in Conference Championship Games in the Super Bowl era:

1. Tom Brady – 21 (14 games)
2. Patrick Mahomes – 14 (5 games)
3. Joe Montana – 13 (7 games)#ChiefsKingdom @NFLResearch

— Tony Holzman-Escareno (@FrontOfficeNFL) January 22, 2024

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Mahomes to Kelce is now the most prolific post season TD combo in NFL history. 16 and counting https://t.co/HyRpXEeg7b

— trey wingo (@wingoz) January 22, 2024

Here’s the list of QB to take two different franchises to Championship Games this century:

Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Brett Favre
Kurt Warner
Jared Goff

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) January 21, 2024