NFC Championship Game Preview Capsule
Los Angeles Rams (14-5) at Seattle Seahawks (15-3)
Sunday, 6:30 p.m. ET
Seattle, Lumen Field
NFC Championship Game appearances: Seahawks 4 (3-0), Rams 12 (5-6)
Series History: The Rams are 2-0 against the Seahawks in playoff games. They won in Seattle, 27-20, in the wild-card round in the 2004 season and again during the 2020 wild-card round (30-20).
FanDuel Odds: Seahawks -2.5, Total 46.5
Sean McVay celebrates his 40th birthday Saturday before leading the Rams into Seattle in search of his 11th playoff victory, which would be one more than Don Shula, currently the youngest to win 10 games in league history.
The Rams are the No. 5 seed in the NFC largely because of their No. 1-ranked scoring offense. They didn’t always look the part last week at frigid Chicago, but they averaged an NFL-leading 30.5 points per game in 2025.
Seattle, which split two regular-season games with the Rams by three total points, led the NFL in scoring defense and allowed just over 17 points per game.
In the Seahawks’ 38-37 overtime win over the Rams earlier this season, they fell behind by 16 points before Sam Darnold caught fire and led a comeback. Darnold is expected to play through an oblique strain, but this isn’t likely the defense he would choose to face with a Super Bowl trip on the line.
In a playoff game last year with Minnesota, Darnold was sacked nine times and committed a pair of turnovers, one of which was returned for a touchdown, in a 27-9 defeat in Inglewood, Calif.
In Week 11 this season, Darnold threw four interceptions in a 21-19 loss to the host Rams, though he nearly rallied Seattle to a victory before Jason Myers’ 61-yard field-goal attempt as time expired faded wide right.
On Dec. 18 in Seattle, Darnold was sacked four times and threw a pair of picks before the epic rally and victory.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford already has a Super Bowl ring. He led the NFL with 4,707 passing yards and 46 touchdown passes this season, and he didn’t have Davante Adams in L.A.’s last meeting with Seattle. Adams led the NFL with 14 touchdown receptions. Puka Nacua led the NFL with a career-high 129 receptions and ranked second with 1,715 receiving yards in 2025.
Seahawks wide receiver Cooper Kupp, Super Bowl LVI Most Valuable Player with the Rams, is only the third player in the past 16 years to win the award and face his former team. Santonio Holmes (2010 with the New York Jets against Pittsburgh) and Von Miller (2024 with Buffalo against Denver) were the previous two.
