Los Angeles Rams (13-5) at Chicago (12-6)

Sunday, 6:30 p.m. EST, NBC.

NFL odds: Rams by 3 1/2.

Against the spread: Rams 12-6; Bears 10-7-1.

Series record: Bears lead 55-39-3.

Last meeting: Bears beat Rams 24-18 at Chicago on Sept. 29, 2024.

Last week: Rams won at Carolina 34-31; Bears beat Green Bay 31-27.

Rams offense: overall (1), rush (7), pass (1), scoring (1).

Rams defense: overall (17), rush (12), pass (19), scoring (10).

Bears offense: overall (6), rush (3), pass (10), scoring (9)

Bears defense: overall (29), overall (27), pass (22), scoring (23)

Turnover differential: Rams plus-11; Bears plus-22.

Rams player to watch

DB Quentin Lake returned after missing the last seven games of the regular season because of an elbow injury. The long layoff clearly hindered him at times, but Lake had six tackles and broke up two passes as the only Rams defender to play every snap in the wild-card victory over the Panthers. Lake will have to be on top of his game to help contain the Bears.

Bears player to watch

QB Caleb Williams. Williams once again delivered down the stretch as Chicago rallied from 18 down to beat the Packers in his playoff debut. Now, he'll try to join Sid Luckman (1941), Jim McMahon (1985) and Rex Grossman (2006) as the only Bears quarterbacks to win multiple playoff games in a single season. Chicago outscored Green Bay 25-6 in the fourth quarter last week on the way to its seventh comeback win. Williams, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 draft, threw for a franchise playoff-record 361 yards and two late touchdowns, including a go-ahead 25-yarder to DJ Moore with 1:43 remaining. During the regular season, the former USC star a club record with 3,942 yards passing to go with 27 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Key matchup

Rams LBs Jared Verse and Byron Young against Bears LT Theo Benedet. The Rams have two Pro Bowl outside linebackers who figure to be a threat to the left side no matter how they're moved around. Young had 12 sacks during the regular season and Verse finished with 7 1/2. Benedet figures to fill in for Ozzy Trapilo, who suffered a season-ending injury against Green Bay after emerging as the starting left tackle during his rookie season.

Key injuries

Rams: QB Matthew Stafford is good to go after spraining the index finger on his throwing hand while following through and making contact with a Panthers defender. … RG Kevin Dotson is on track to return after missing the past three games because of an ankle injury, giving the offensive line its best and most consistent player back. … CB Ahkello Witherspoon was put on injured reserve and is out for the season after reinjuring his shoulder blade against Carolina. Darious Williams or Josh Wallace could replace him.

Bears: The Bears lost LB T.J. Edwards (broken left fibula) and LT Ozzy Trapilo (knee) to season-ending injuries last week. Edwards was carted off the field in the second quarter, and Trapilo hopped to the sideline on Chicago’s go-ahead drive near the end of the game. ... CB C.J. Gardner-Johnson (concussion), who missed last week's game, would have been a full participant Wednesday had the Bears practiced rather than conducted a walkthrough.

Series notes

The Bears dropped three straight against the Rams before beating them in Week 4 last season, though Los Angeles was missing injured star receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. ... This is the third playoff game between the Rams and Bears. The 1985 Bears won 24-0 in the NFC championship game, holding Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson to 46 yards rushing on 17 carries, on the way to capturing the franchise's lone Super Bowl title. The Rams defeated the Bears in the divisional round in 1950 before losing the NFL championship game to the Cleveland Browns.

Stats and stuff

The Rams are in the divisional round for the fifth time in seven postseason appearances under coach Sean McVay. They are 2-2 in divisional games, having defeated the Cowboys after the 2018 season and the Buccaneers after the 2021 season en route to Super Bowl appearances, but lost at the Packers after the 2020 season and at the Eagles last season. … Stafford has thrown multiple touchdown passes in each of his eight playoff games for LA, with 18 touchdown passes to four interceptions in that span. If he throws for two or more scores against Chicago, Stafford would tie Aaron Rodgers (9) for the longest streak of postseason games with multiple touchdown passes in NFL history. … Stafford’s game-winning drive against Carolina was his fourth in the postseason and 54th overall. … WR Puka Nacua had 10 receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown against the Panthers, producing his fifth game this season with double-digit catches and 100 yards. It was Nacua’s second postseason 100-yard performance. … The Rams finished with 411 total yards in the wild-card win, their seventh game this season with at least 30 points and 400 yards. … McVay has faced 15 different teams in his 15 playoff games as Rams head coach. A win would guarantee his first repeat opponent against either the Seahawks or 49ers in the NFC championship game. … Chicago is coming off its first playoff win in 15 years. The Bears had lost three straight postseason games since the 2010 team beat Seattle in a divisional game. ... Chicago rallied from 18 down against Green Bay, the biggest postseason comeback in franchise history. It was also the largest playoff comeback in the NFL since the 2022 Jacksonville Jaguars rallied to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-30 in a wild-card game after trailing 27-0. ... The Bears had a league-leading 103 points in the fourth quarter and overtime from Weeks 9 to 18 during the regular season. ... Chicago led the league in interceptions (23), takeaways (33) and turnover differential (plus-22) while committing a league-low 11 turnovers. The Bears were the first team to lead the NFL in takeaways and commit the fewest turnovers since San Francisco in 2011.

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