Just like in the AFC, the top two teams in the NFC will battle for the conference championship. And the reason the game is being played in Louisiana is because of the Saints regular season win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 9. The Rams were undefeated up to that point and fell behind big before a furious second half rally tied the game. Both teams ended the regular season with identical 13-3 records, outclassing the rest of the conference. The Saints had the tougher time in the Divisional Round, squeaking by the Eagles with the help of a late interception. The Rams were favored in that first matchup and played every game this season as the favorite. That changed when the opening line at BookMaker.eu had the Saints as 3.5-point chalk.
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NFC Championship Game at a Glance
Los Angeles Rams at New Orleans Saints
Date and Time: Sunday, January 20, 2019, 3:05 p.m. ET
Location: Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, LA
Rams at Saints TV Coverage: FOX
Opening NFL Odds at BookMaker.eu
Los Angeles Rams +3.5
New Orleans Saints -3.5
Over/Under 56.5
This will be the Rams 10th visit to the NFC Championship Game, but it’s their first since the 2001 season, and they haven’t had a lot of success in this game. They played in four conference title games in a span of five years from 1974 to 1978 losing each time. They finally broke through following the 1979 season and played in the team’s first Super Bowl, losing to the Steelers.
The team enjoyed its greatest postseason success in St. Louis winning two NFC titles in a three-year span with the “Greatest Show on Turf” team that included Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and Torry Holt. But that run stopped following a Super Bowl loss to the Pats, only to be rekindled by Sean McVay and his new cast of characters like Jared Goff, Todd Gurley and Robert Woods.
And the team built off its success from last season with its 13 wins matching the Super Bowl winning team from 1999 and falling just one win shy of the franchise record set by the 2001 squad. The Rams were so good this season that they were favored in every game and played against a double-digit line six times going 4-2 ATS in those games.
Hitting a bump in the road near the end of the regular season, the Rams lost consecutive regular season game for the first time under McVay, falling to Chicago in Week 14 and Philadelphia in Week15, a slide that cost them the No. 1 seed in the conference. But they got things worked out to close the year, beating Arizona and San Francisco, covering the double-digit spread in each game to secure a first-round bye. They ended the season with a 7-8-1 ATS record.
Continuing their heater, the Rams pounded the ball on the ground against the Cowboys for 273 yards, covering the 7.5-point line with a 30-22 victory. Two of their three losses this season came on the road against top teams in the conference. There was that shootout against the Saints where the Rams battled back from a 35-14 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter only to watch the Saints score the final 10 points. And the mess in Chicago turned some heads when the Rams were held without a touchdown.
The Rams hold a special place in Saints history. The teams met for the first and only time in the postseason at the Superdome in 2000 with New Orleans winning its first-ever playoff game, 31-28. There isn’t a lot of postseason history with the Saints and less before the arrival of Sean Payton and Drew Brees. The franchise was born in 1967 and it took 21 seasons before qualifying for the playoffs. And it took another 13 years before winning a game. In their first season under the coach/quarterback duo the Saints reached the NFC title game, bowing to the Bears. Three years later they beat the Vikings in overtime to advance to the Super Bowl, and for a while all the memories of those losing seasons were put to rest.
The Saints wanted and needed home field advantage. They play a different game on the fast track of the Superdome. Their two lowest scoring games came in the final three road contests with a 10-point outing at Dallas and a 12-point showing against Carolina. The Saints hadn’t played a meaningful game since before the season ended and they overcame a sluggish start to beat Philly in the Divisional Round. This has the makings of a classic and if it’s anything like the first matchup, fans are in for a treat.
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