Rams path to Super Bowl 61 runs through Seattle

SAN FRANCISCO — For two weeks and one magical Bay Area night for the Seahawks, the Rams had to stomach the bitter reality that it should have been them, not their NFC West rivals, thrashing the Patriots in Super Bowl LX  Sunday.

They have 12 months to redeem themselves, including a critical offseason in which they make the necessary improvements to make sure it is they and not the Seahawks, 49ers, Bears, or any other NFC foe taking the field in Super Bowl LXI at Sofi Stadium.

And ultimately hoisting their third Vince Lombardi trophy in triumph.

Part of which will be remembering the importance of being at their best when only their best will suffice. That was an elusive dynamic for the Rams in two losses to the Seahawks, when special teams mishaps cost them big time in a Week 16 setback in Seattle and again in the NFC Championship game.

Both of which denied the Rams a spot in the Super Bowl, a game their safety, Quentin Lake, could not bear to watch.

“The two teams that were in there were deserving to be there,” Lake said Monday morning in San Francisco, where he was part of the Los Angeles contingency taking the reins from the Bay Area for Super Bowl hoisting duties.

The Seahawks, in particular, reaffirmed the notion that big games are more often given away than taken.

“You cannot hide that fact,” Lake said. “And at the end of the day, when it comes to playoff football, when it comes to the Super Bowl, it’s who doesn’t make the most mistakes.”

The gap the Rams have to close can be measured in inches, not feet. And in some ways, it’s more about mindset rather than talent.

As in no longer assuming Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold will inevitably crack, as he did so many other times earlier in his career. Specifically in some nightmarish games against the Rams in which they lured him into five interceptions in two wins over Darnold in 2024 and the first meeting against in 2025.

That version of Darnold may still be lurking somewhere, but the Rams can no longer presume he is breakable to their pressure. Darnold exorcized all those ghosts during the Seahawks march to their Super Bowl triumph.

He wasn’t necessarily spectacular, but he didn’t need to be. That was his biggest takeaway of all, and it should be a warning to the Rams and everyone else. Darnold will always have some gunslinger in him, and that aggressiveness will inevitably get him in trouble sometimes.

But he also showed caution and discipline, something that had always been lacking. It’s the willingness to be content taking what the defense gives him, rather than pushing the issue and opening himself up to big mistakes.

The Rams can’t count on Darnold turning back into a pumpkin.

And really, this more about them than anyone they take the field against.

They are every bit as talented as the Seahawks, and their brainpower, led by coach Sean McVay, is just as capable.

They are better at quarterback, where Matthew Stafford just put together an MVP season and even at 37-years-old can sling the football as well as anyone in the game.

They are just as good at wide receiver, where Puka Nacua and Jaxson Smith-Njigba are virtually equals, if not a bit different in their styles.

The Seahawks are better on defense, albeit marginally.

The two teams are close in almost every regard, with the Rams holding edges in some key departments.

The Rams need an upgrade at cornerback, a position that hurt them at times last season. They could use a speedy receiver able to stretch the field and create more space for Nacua and fellow wide receiver Davante Adams to operate.

But with $46.7 million in cap space and two first-round picks in the NFL draft, the Rams are well positioned to make the necessary improvements.

Again, this is a game of inches, not feet.

That made what happened Sunday night at Levi’s Stadium all the more frustrating for the Rams to watch, and bitterly explained Adams’ tears and Stafford’s cracked, emotional voice in the moments after their loss to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game.

The Rams understood what they let slip through their hands on that frigid night in the Pacific Northwest. And the frustrating series of fumbles they committed going all the way back to their regular-season loss to the Seahawks. The self-inflicted wounds they suffered, driven primarily by special teams gaffes that handed the edge in two critical games to the Seahawks, meant the conference championship ran through Seattle, not Los Angeles.

That proved to be the difference between the Seahawks partying Sunday night in the Bay Area rather than the Rams.

“As a player, you always think, when you don’t make it, what if?” said Lake. “What if I did this better? What if I made this play or this didn’t happen? But you can’t hang your head on it too long.

There are no guarantees in football. We understand that. But it was impossible to watch Super Bowl LX and not grasp that the Rams would have preyed on the Patriots flaws.

And unless you missed how the Rams and Seahawks opened as the co-favorites to win Super Bowl LXI next year in Los Angeles at +950, according to odds from DraftKings Sportsbook. T

But what’s done is done.

 Now the Rams must get to work making sure they don’t let that happen again.