WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. -- As the Los Angeles Rams depart sunny Southern California for chilly Chicago, the team isn’t worried about the weather.
Despite expected “feels like” temperatures reaching close to zero as wind blasts off Lake Michigan, something about it feels right for quarterback Matthew Stafford.
After all, the NFL postseason takes place during the coldest months of the year.
“There's something to it,” Stafford said. “That feels right when football's outdoors, you're playing it late in the year, it's cold, it means a lot. I'm embracing it. I know our team is as well.”
Stafford, who threw for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Rams’ 34-31 wild-card victory over the Carolina Panthers, is used to the cold weather. Mostly during his 12 years with the Detroit Lions, he’s played at Soldier Field 12 times.
But the 37-year-old hasn’t always excelled as he holds a mere 5-7 record at the over 100-year-old venue. The last time Stafford was there, he threw an interception and was sacked three times as the Chicago Bears gashed the Rams, 24-18.
In recent cold-weather games, Stafford and the Rams have similarly been mediocre. In two contests last season, they beat the New York Jets 19-9, but lost 28-22 in the playoffs to the Philadelphia Eagles.
But coach Sean McVay said the weather wasn’t a problem in either of those contests. This week, he doesn’t plan on preparing his team all too differently than usual.
“We're not going to sit here and waste our emotional energy on things that we can't control,” McVay said. “I don't have a weather machine.”
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Instead, McVay wants his squad to focus on mental toughness by feeding off the adrenaline that they can harness on the field. He also noted that many of his players have experience in frosty conditions.
While there are some kinks to know about chilly contests — like how the ball is more slick — it’s still the same game, McVay said.
“(The ball) feels like a rock,” McVay said. “Other than that, let’s freaking roll.”
Stafford said he has extra clothing that he brought from Detroit to keep himself warm, but nothing “skin tight or anything like that.”
He’s excited to get after it.
“It is what it is,” said quarterback Matthew Stafford. “We don't care what the weather is here or what it is there. We just go play.”
