Rams overcome Caleb Williams’ insane tying TD pass to beat Bears
CHICAGO- Rams coach Sean McVay grew his beard beyond its typical five o’clock shadow, apparently to keep his face warm.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford put on his neoprene underwear. Some Rams players put cayenne pepper in their socks to keep their feet warm.
It worked.
On a snowy and windy Sunday evening, the Rams rode the hot arm of Stafford, the hot attitude of opponents in the Rams secondary and the warm and fuzzy homecoming of kicker Harrison Mevis to a 20-17 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Playoffs before a crowd of 60,253 at Soldier Field.
Mevis, who grew up two hours from the stadium, won it with a 42-yard field goal that sent the Rams to the NFC championship game.
“Hell of a deal here,” McVay said of his team’s resiliency.
Kyren Williams rushed for two touchdowns and the defense intercepted three passes as the Rams advanced to face the top-seeded Seahawks next Sunday at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The Rams split their two NFC West games with the Seahawks, who advanced to the conference title game with a 41-6 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.
In Week 11 at SoFi Stadium, the Rams won 21-19. Five weeks later in Seattle, the Rams lost 38-37 in overtime.
“The football gods wouldn’t rather we go back there to Seattle,” wide receiver Puka Nacua said, adding “for a chance to right our wrongs.”
Rams running back Kyren Williams passes Chicago Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson to score on a five-yard run in the fourth quarter Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
It took a while, but things finally worked out for McVay at Soldier Field, in what had been a personal house of horrors.
In 2018, then-Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and his players flummoxed the Rams and sent them to a 15-6 loss. Last season, the Bears won just five games, including a 24-18 victory over the Rams.
But the Rams exorcised those demons and also proved — after losing in the 2020 playoffs to Green Bay and last season to Philadelphia — that they can win a division game on the road in frigid conditions.
The Rams were coming off a 34-31 victory over the Carolina Panthers, a victory that followed a familiar script: The Rams led early, allowed the opponent to get back into the game with lulls and costly mistakes, then pulled out a victory.
McVay said he aims for his team to play “a full 60 minutes” of complementary football through offense, defense and special teams.
“Maybe this week is the good week,” McVay said.
It wasn’t, but with a game temperature of 18 degrees and a wind chill of 6, the Rams just needed to outlast a Bears team that pulled off one of their signature fourth-quarter miracles when Caleb Williams connected with tight end Cole Kmet for a spectacular touchdown with less than 30 seconds left in regulation.
The Rams did it by overcoming “bad coaching on my part,” McVay said of his play for much of the game.
They did so with two interceptions by cornerback Cobie Durant and several fourth-down stops by the defense in regulation. They did so with a Kam Curl interception in overtime that gave Stafford a chance to set up Mevis’ game-winning kick.
The score was tied 10-10 at halftime and remained that way until Kyren Williams rushed for his second touchdown with just under nine minutes to play.
The Bears drove to the Rams’ two-yard line with just over three minutes left, but the defense stopped running back D’Andre Swift on third down, and linebacker Omar Speights broke up Caleb Williams’ fourth-down pass.
The Rams, though. failed to run out the clock and the Bears got the ball back at midfield with 1:50 left.
On fourth down from the Rams’ 14, Caleb Williams escaped pressure by running backwards out of the pocket, then turned and threw a touchdown pass to Kmet that traveled nearly 50 yards.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams comes out of the pocket in overtime against the Rams on Sunday.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
The Bears scored the extra point to tie the score and send the game to overtime, then won the toss and elected to kick, and the Rams scored three points.
Curl’s interception repelled a threat, sending the crowd into silence.
“They knew what it was,” Curl said. “Giving the ball back to Matthew Stafford – it’s over – everyone knows that.”
Stafford, who suffered a sprained right index finger against the Panthers, was inconsistent for much of the night. He completed 20 of 42 passes for 252 yards, with no touchdowns. But he also didn’t have a pass intercepted or lose a fumble.
And then, of course, there was the last ride.
After Curl’s interception, Stafford looked at McVay and McVay looked at Stafford. Stafford pointed his finger at his coach as if to say, “Okay, here we go.” »
Stafford completed passes to Colby Parkinson, Adams and Nacua before two passes fell incomplete and Mevis won the game.
Was Mevis, who was signed in November, surprised the Bears didn’t call a timeout to ice him?
“We were already freezing from the cold,” Mevis joked.
In the third week of the season, the Rams lost at Philadelphia when the Eagles blocked two Joshua Karty field goal attempts, including one on the final play of regulation that they returned for a touchdown.
Mevis changed the scenario.
“That’s why they brought me in,” he said, “to help this team win, and we did that.”
Harrison Mevis scores a 42-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Rams to a 20-17 victory over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Divisional Playoffs Sunday at Soldier Field.
(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)
With another winning drive from Stafford.
So add another mantle to Stafford, snatcher of souls and stealer of hearts: Snowpiercer.
“Obviously I can be better, but playoff football is about winning the football game,” he said before referencing last season’s playoff loss to Philadelphia. “I played well, I threw for several yards last year in the snow and we lost, so [stuff] it’s rubbish.
“So I’m happy to have played a little worse… and to go home with a victory. I’ll take that.”
Until Seattle.
