The NFC West rivalry will be decided at the NFC Championship, where No. 5 Los Angeles will travel to face top-seeded Seattle for a berth in Super Bowl LX at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara.<\/p>\n
These teams have been razor-close all season. This meeting will only be the second-ever NFL playoff encounter in which both regular-season games between the clubs were decided by fewer than three points (the other was Bills vs. Browns in 1949). Across their two matchups this year the Rams edged Seattle by a single point (58\u201357) and by one yard overall (830\u2013829). In Week 11 at SoFi Stadium the Rams harassed Seahawks QB Sam Darnold into a career-high four interceptions and led 21\u201319. But in Week 16 at Lumen Field Seattle rallied from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit, capped by a Darnold-to-Eric Saubert two-point conversion, and prevailed 38\u201337 in overtime. Two days after that game the Rams fired special teams coordinator Chris Blackburn following a 58-yard punt-return touchdown by Rashid Shahid that helped fuel the Seattle comeback.<\/p>\n
A 12-person CBS Sports staff panel made its prediction on which team will represent the NFC in Super Bowl LX; 75% of the panel picked the same winner. The panelists were: Pete Prisco, John Breech, Jared Dubin, Garrett Podell, Tyler Sullivan, Joel Corry, Kyle Stackpole, Zach Pereles, JP Acosta, Mike Renner, Jordan Dajani and Brian Diard.<\/p>\n
Rams (8 votes)
\n– John Breech: Believes the Seahawks\u2019 defense is elite but recalls Matthew Stafford\u2019s 457-yard, three-TD performance against Seattle without Davante Adams \u2014 predicts Rams 30, Seahawks 23.
\n– Jared Dubin: Thinks the teams are very close but sides with the superior QB \u2014 Rams 23, Seahawks 20.
\n– Garrett Podell: Points to Darnold\u2019s turnover struggles versus the Rams and backs Los Angeles \u2014 Rams 27, Seahawks 24.
\n– Mike Renner: Cites the Rams\u2019 consistent offense and greater trust in Stafford in big games \u2014 Rams 31, Seahawks 24.
\n– Brian Diard: Sticks with a preseason Rams Super Bowl pick and notes Seattle will be missing RB Zach Charbonnet \u2014 Rams 27, Seahawks 20.
\n– Jordan Dajani: Remains confident in his preseason Rams pick, noting Los Angeles still produced 581 yards and 37 points in the Week 16 loss \u2014 Rams 30, Seahawks 27.
\n– JP Acosta: Flags the return of RG Kevin Dotson and believes a ground game could give the Rams an edge \u2014 Rams 28, Seahawks 24.
\n– Zach Pereles: Acknowledges Seattle\u2019s advantages but trusts Stafford and Puka Nacua in a tight finish \u2014 Rams 28, Seahawks 27.<\/p>\n
Seahawks (4 votes)
\n– Pete Prisco: Calls Seattle\u2019s defense the best remaining unit and favors the home team \u2014 Seahawks 23, Rams 17.
\n– Tyler Sullivan: Highlights Seattle\u2019s dominant defense and home-field edge, while questioning Sean McVay\u2019s steadiness \u2014 Seahawks 30, Rams 20.
\n– Joel Corry: Notes Seattle\u2019s defense has improved since the Week 16 thriller \u2014 Seahawks 23, Rams 20.
\n– Kyle Stackpole: Sees Los Angeles as diminished since blowing the 16-point lead and expects Seattle to exploit those flaws \u2014 Seahawks 20, Rams 17.<\/p>\n
Fan Take: This game matters because it pits two evenly matched NFC West rivals whose playoff meeting could hinge on a single play, underscoring how thin the margin is between victory and defeat in today\u2019s NFL. A Seattle or Rams win not only decides a Super Bowl representative but also reinforces how pivotal coaching adjustments, turnovers and special teams can be in shaping postseason outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NFC West rivalry will be decided at the NFC Championship, where No. 5 Los Angeles will travel to face top-seeded Seattle for a berth in Super Bowl LX at Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara. These teams have been razor-close all season. This meeting will only be the second-ever NFL playoff encounter in which both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[860],"class_list":{"0":"post-38824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}