{"id":2999,"date":"2026-01-17T20:38:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/the-rams-are-focused-on-playing-60-minutes-of-fun-in-chicago\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T20:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T12:47:14","slug":"the-rams-are-focused-on-playing-60-minutes-of-fun-in-chicago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/17\/the-rams-are-focused-on-playing-60-minutes-of-fun-in-chicago\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rams are focused on playing &#8217;60 minutes of fun&#8217; in Chicago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Sarah Barshop<span class=\"timestamp \">Jan 17, 2026, 06:00 AM ET<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">Shut up<\/p>\n<ul>Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. He then moved to Houston to join the Texans. He came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated.<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>LOS ANGELES &#8211; After the Los Angeles Rams lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3, Sean McVay addressed his team in the visitors&#8217; locker room at Lincoln Financial Field.<\/p>\n<p>The Rams lost 33-26 after leading 26-7 early in the third quarter. And after that game, wide receiver Davante Adams said McVay told the team that &#8220;they&#8217;re going to find out who we are because of a loss like this.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We showed a lot of what it takes to be one of the top teams in this league,&#8221; he said of McVay&#8217;s message. &#8220;But it doesn&#8217;t happen just because you got guys. You have to play like that in the fourth division.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That Sunday 3rd loss is far from the only time the Rams have lost a game they have seemed in command of. In Week 16, the Rams were on their way to beating the Seattle Seahawks and leading the NFC, but LA went from a 30-14 lead in the fourth quarter to a 38-37 overtime loss.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>But it&#8217;s because of that loss that McVay believes the Rams were able to come back in the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers in the wild card round of the playoffs \u2014 and hold them to a 34-31 win and advance.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What was the difference one day? We found a way, didn&#8217;t we?&#8221; McVay said. &#8220;Here&#8217;s what I can say: The enemy has a voice, and that&#8217;s when we think our scars can be our strength.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In last weekend&#8217;s game against the Panthers, the Rams scored the first two goals and went on a 14-0 run early in the second quarter.<\/p>\n<p>What I was proud of was that we found a way to finish,&#8221; said McVay. &#8220;There were some situations where we were leaning on and got the lead, and we couldn&#8217;t sustain that momentum and make those critical games the difference.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That was a good decision the other day, although I think we can play a lot better and I expect us to play a lot better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Rams outside linebacker Jared Verse pointed to what he learned from that loss to the Eagles, saying, &#8220;I thought we were complacent, especially after the start of the third quarter.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Defensive end Kobie Turner said &#8220;momentum is a real thing,&#8221; pointing to how Carolina was able to score just before halftime to take a 17-14 lead.<\/p>\n<p>Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is no stranger to a fourth-quarter comeback, sending Los Angeles into the playoffs with a game-winning touchdown pass with 38 seconds left at Carolina.<\/p>\n<div data-behavior=\"video_scroll\" class=\"contentItem__content contentItem__content--media-card contentItem__content--fullWidth contentItem__content--inline\">\n<figure data-video=\"watch,640,360,47619934\" data-cerebro-id=\"696910d57533d27985a719c1\" data-title=\"Stephen A.: Rams-Bears will come down to the wire\" class=\"media-wrapper_image video\" data-source=\"espn\" data-contributing-partner=\"wsc\"><picture class=\"media-wrapper_image\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fmedia%2Fmotion%2F2026%2F0115%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673.jpg&amp;w=640&amp;h=360&amp;cquality=80&amp;format=jpg\" media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fmedia%2Fmotion%2F2026%2F0115%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673.jpg&amp;w=335&amp;cquality=80, https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fmedia%2Fmotion%2F2026%2F0115%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673%2F1d1028d538a54c5fb9bdc2149f78b98e673.jpg&amp;w=670&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><span class=\"video-play-button\" data-id=\"47619934\">play<\/span><figcaption class=\"media-caption\">\n<p>1:27<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"contentItem__contentWrapper\">\n<p>Stephen A.: Rams-Bears will come down to the wire<\/p>\n<p class=\"contentItem__subhead\">Stephen A. Smith explains why the Rams vs. the Bears will be a close game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Stafford&#8217;s four game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime of a playoff game are double that of any other Rams quarterback in the Super Bowl era (since 1966), according to an ESPN study. Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner had two in that span.<\/p>\n<p>Stafford said that while the &#8220;emotion&#8221; of getting back into the game and having the opportunity to come back can be &#8220;great,&#8221; there&#8217;s also the problem of &#8220;having to go out there and do it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I feel like you never come out of the game until the clock runs out or it&#8217;s obvious we&#8217;re not going to have enough time,&#8221; Stafford said. &#8220;But when there&#8217;s time on the clock, I feel good about it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Getting out and performing could be even more key considering the team the Rams face against the Chicago Bears in the divisional round on Sunday (6:30 pm ET, NBC\/Peacock). Bears quarterback Caleb Williams led his team in scoring with seven games this season, tying him with Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix for the most in the NFL this season, according to ESPN Research.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They&#8217;re going to keep going,&#8221; Verse said of the Chicago powerhouse. &#8220;It doesn&#8217;t matter if they are at the bottom, it doesn&#8217;t matter if they are at the top, they will keep pushing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline float-r inline-track\">\n<h2 class=\"img-title\">Pigskin Props<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"imageLoaded\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/FIRE-Games\/Pigskin-Props-2025\/promo-16x9.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Make your Super Bowl LX prop selection for FREE! Create a group and invite your friends and family to play. <b>FREE to play<\/b><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In the wild card round, the Bears scored 25 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Green Bay Packers, marking the largest comeback in postseason history, according to ESPN Research.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In a way, I feel like this game is poetic,&#8221; said Turner. &#8220;Having a team that&#8217;s really good at shutting down and finding a way to come out and win and that&#8217;s been one of the things we&#8217;ve struggled with this year. And it&#8217;s like, if we&#8217;re the team that I believe we are, if we&#8217;re the team this whole organization believes we are, we&#8217;re going to find a way to be able to shut it down and that&#8217;s going to put us in the next four.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But if we get into that situation [with a lead]ok, how do we apply all these things we have learned and done? &#8230; Now how do we use that as motivation to be able to go and do what we want to do? &#8220;<\/p>\n<p>But while the Rams know their division opponents have successfully come back late in games, McVay said the focus is on playing &#8220;a good 60 minutes.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And while the coach said &#8220;you can take confidence&#8221; in the Rams&#8217; comeback against the Panthers, McVay also said Los Angeles will fight for that &#8220;consistent execution&#8221; against the Bears on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Maybe this week is the week,&#8221; McVay said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sarah BarshopJan 17, 2026, 06:00 AM ET Shut up Sarah Barshop covers the Los Angeles Rams for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2016 to cover the Green Bay Packers for ESPN Milwaukee. He then moved to Houston to join the Texans. He came to ESPN after working as a writer and editor for Sports Illustrated. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3000,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3001,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2999\/revisions\/3001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insightresearcher.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}