The Seattle Seahawks take on the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship with, obviously, a spot in Super Bowl LX on the line. Seattle gets to host the game by virtue of being the top seed in the conference, so the question, as always in a Pacific Northwest winter, is, will it rain?
After all, a slippery ball on a slippery ball won't be to the advantage of either team, but the Rams have played in worse during this season's playoffs. In the Divisional Round, LA traveled to Chicago to play the Bears in the bitterly cold and snow. Head coach Sean McVay's team survived.
Meanwhile, at Lumen Field, the Seahawks absolutely destroyed the San Francisco 49ers 41-6 on a dry field with little wind. Maybe those are the perfect conditions for head coach Mike Macdonald's team to dominate its opponent. Let's hope so.
No rain should fall in the NFC Championship when the Seattle Seahawks play the Los Angeles Rams
Those are the exact conditions that will occur in the NFC Championship game. Kickoff is 3:30 pm PT, and at that point, it is expected to be partly cloudy and 42 degrees. According to the Weather Channel, there is no more than a nine percent chance of precipitation during the game, and the wind won't get past 2 mph.
Those are the near-perfect conditions for a football game, but especially in Seattle, when it can be quite drizzly in the winter. Neither team will have any issues with the weather conditions, so the game will simply come down to which squad executes better.
Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold needs to not play as he did against the Rams in Week 11 when he tossed four interceptions, but more like he did in the fourth quarter and overtime of Week 16 when he led Seattle to a come-from-behind victory over the Rams 38-37. If he plays as he did for a quarter of that game, Seattle is likely unbeatable.
The Seahawks' defense, however, needs to be as good as it was in Week 11 when it limited the Los Angeles Rams to fewer than 300 total yards. If Darnold plays a clean game and Seattle plays defense as it did in Week 11, the game will not be close, and 12s can begin making their plans on hotels and flights to Santa Clara, CA, on February 8 for Super Bowl LX.