Sarah Barshop@sarahbarshop
Matthew Stafford said he could have played better, but “playoff football is about winning.”

“Played great, threw for a bunch of yards last year in the snow and we lost, so that s— sucks. So I’m happy to have played a little bit worse today and going home with a win.”

Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
Cobie Durant said last week that his mentality on defense was, “Get the ball back for Matthew Stafford.”

Filthy throw that an MVP makes in a gotta-have-it moment pic.twitter.com/EjBeetX68M

— Stu Jackson (@StuJRams) January 19, 2026

…

Jourdan Rodrigue@JourdanRodrigue
Asked Matthew Stafford about the throw he made to Davante Adams in OT (and Adams’ catch):

Zooey wrote:

I don’t understand McVay’s play-calling sometimes. Under these conditions, with a clear superiority in the ground game over the Bears’ defense, he…throws 75% of the time? WTF?

InvaderRam wrote:

that was infuriating. i don’t know why he kept trying to throw it so much. maybe what the defense was giving them?

canadaram wrote:

McVay insisting on passing despite the conditions

That was a running commentary (so to speak) in chat. Where’s the run game, where’s the run game. It’s a running commentary (so to speak) in twitter. Maybe the post-game articles will come up with something to explain it, other than it just being McVay mishandling playcalling.

And Stafford was way off in that game. Plus, lucky thing that unlike the Rams, the Bears defenders don’t know how to catch the ball. Nacua, under these conditions, was not his usual dominant self, though he came through a number of times (he caught only 50%).

But here’s what I saw that I didn’t expect. Remember earlier in the season when the Rams defense included good secondary play? Well as much as this group can do that, it did it. The secondary was tighter this game than in the last few games.

In the end what won it for the Rams (IMO) were 2 things. The INTs, and Stafford, in spite of a rough game, being steady eddy when it counted. No matter what happened (sacked 4 times, less than 50% completions) he bounced back up and engineered enough scoring drives to win it. It was clear this was not the Rams usual offensive dominance, cause it was in snow and wind and cold on the road…so the game came down to them toughing it out to do just enough to win. For that to happen Stafford had to be unflappable and just keep slugging away. He did it. Remember this is a comeback overtime win for him (comebacks count against ties).

It might sound odd, but I am glad Caleb Williams came through with huge plays. I am glad he was everything he was advertized to be. Including that impossible tying TD at the close of regulation. First, because it was fun to see–in spite of it coming at the Rams expense. But also because this way, the Rams beat them in spite of a good showing by Williams. He wasn’t like Stroud falling apart for the Texans. No, Williams was everything he was supposed to be, but the Rams toughed out a win nevertheless.

…

Cobie Durant is the first @RamsNFL player to have 2️⃣ INTs in a playoff game since 2002

LARvsCHI on NBC
Stream on #NFLPlus + Peacockpic.twitter.com/LUOWPK4bwb

— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) January 19, 2026

.@RamsNFL @ChicagoBears @Kyrenwilliams23 behind excellent blocks from Parkinson & McClendon jr for go ahead TD. #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/GirRtYtBNr

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) January 19, 2026

Just checked stats on the AFC game.

Texans still in it even though Stroud has 4 INTs. Houston also lost a fumble. 5 giveways for the boys from Texas.

Stroud has less than 50% on completions.

The Pats fumbled 4 times and lost 2. Maye has 1 INT. So that’s 3 for them.

Maye was sacked 5 times. So with him, it’s 1 INT, 2 lost fumbles, and 5 sacks. 95 yards passing at the end of the 3rd.

Neither team can run the ball.

Wyatt Miller@wymill07
Designed run success rates on both sides of the ball (via nflverse data):

Offense:
Rams: 50.5% (1st)
Bears: 47.1% (3rd)

Defense:
Rams: 38.7% (7th)
Bears: 44.2% (26th)

In a cold-weather game, establishing the run is key. Statistically, the Rams have a slight edge in that area.

zn wrote:

InvaderRam wrote:

zn wrote:

That play is at 2:01 in this vid. The difference is, AW had his hands on the ball too before the receiver fell, so it was a contested catch before AW grabbed control of it when they went down. In the Bills game, Cooks went down with the ball, uncontested, and then it got taken out of his hands.

i don’t know. they look almost identical to me.

I actually changed my mind when I saw the vid Zooey put up.

Update:

In the history of the NFL has anyone ever had the ball for this long and it be ruled a catch?

no

it was and never will be a catch. pic.twitter.com/lTDnqFcbVr

— Gavin McHugh (@gavinmchughh) January 18, 2026

Zooey wrote:

The 49ers are a really good football team, and they are going to be a problem next year. A big problem.

Rams too.

Seattle too.

If anything this level of competitive rivalry might force McVay to be less complacent about some things, like not coming out of camp with problems on special teams, and not relying exclusively on inexpensive veterans at CB while also drafting poorly at CB.

Rams made real efforts to address all the weaknesses that got exposed in last year’s Eagles playoff game. Run defense, OL (especially center), not really having a 2nd receiver, slow starts, not scoring in the 1st quarter (they were 30th last year). Now time for a new set of “fixes.” That;s whether they keep winning in this postseason or not. Even if they win it all, the danger represented by both SF and Seattle won’t allow complacent thinking, and stuff like “hey let’s draft a small fast guy at receiver in round 2, that would be a nice luxury.”

Zooey wrote:

Okay. Here we go.

Thanks. All I can see is that it’s a contested catch while Cooks is going down cause the DB has a hand on it, which means the DB ripping it away makes it an INT.

The Witherspoon example was much more clearcut. But this one seems like it’s still a viable INT call.

Now find the clip of Caesar instructing his infrantry how to handle a flank attack from Pompey’s cavalry at the Battle of Pharsalus. The clip where Caesar says “I say, enh, outnumbered outshumbered.” Except not in English (“in mea sententia, enh, numero superati shumero superati”).

Zooey wrote:

That’s what it looked like to me, too, except for the one angle they showed only once in which it looked like maybe the ball was slipping around before Cooks hit the turf.

I will watch this till the end of time saying Cooks had total control of the ball when he hit the ground pic.twitter.com/OtTzcho12k

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 18, 2026

Here is the full video.

Sean McDermott is not happy with how the Brandin Cooks play was called or handled @WKBW pic.twitter.com/HVu1rvzQw5

— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) January 18, 2026

wv wrote:

If SF is to lose, I would just as soon they get smoked like a sausage in a refinery conflagration.

w
v

Ah but, it’s now 24 to 6. SF has begun its slow but unstoppable comeback of precisely the kind it cannot hope to do against the Rams next week.

Zooey wrote:

Meanwhile, the 49ers haven’t overcome the time zone difference.

Yeah, so far, it’s the 2018 49er team that showed up.

They need a better temporal coordinator.