"It wasn't just the Chicago Bears who had a pattern this season. The Rams had one too. Whereas Chicago stacked storybook endings, the Rams failed to finish what they started with disturbing regularity. Five losses. Five fizzles. Remember the unsatisfying finale to "The Sopranos"? Swelling crescendo ... then abrupt cut to black? That was the Rams. Out of gas. Out of answers. Said defensive star Jared Verse: "All our losses were self-inflicted.""
"Two weeks into the playoffs and the Rams have turned a corner. Suddenly, they close out games. Sure, there were blemishes to their 20-17 overtime victory at Chicago on Sunday night, just as their three-point win at Carolina had its wild-card warts. The point is, when the Rams needed to land the knockout blow, they delivered. That's just where they want to be heading into the NFC championship game at Seattle, where last month they frittered away a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter and wound up losing in overtime."
""We don't think about that last game too much," Rams safety Kam Curl said. "[Seattle] got lucky and won it in the end. I feel like we're the better team." He then conceded, "It's going to be a dogfight." In football vernacular, Curl was a dawg Sunday night, coming up with a huge interception of Caleb Williams in overtime and setting up the winning field-goal drive. That turned back the almost-supernatural heroics of the Bears, who won games with fourth-quarter comebacks seven times this season, more than any other team. And the touchdown by Williams at the end of regulation, when he dr"
The Rams defeated Caleb Williams and the Bears 20-17 in overtime and demonstrated ability to deliver in clutch moments. The team entered the postseason with a pattern of failing to finish games, including five self-inflicted losses and a blown 16-point fourth-quarter lead against Seattle. Two weeks into the playoffs the Rams shifted their late-game fortunes, closing out tight contests despite blemishes. Safety Kam Curl's overtime interception set up the winning field-goal drive. The Rams will travel to Seattle for the NFC championship aiming to avenge the prior overtime loss and finish strong.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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