Rams Try to Cool Green Bay : Pro football: Packers say that they will take L.A. seriously despite their looming Central Division showdown with Vikings.

One of the hottest teams in football plays in a cold, cold place.

Today, with temperatures expected to be in the 20s or lower, the Green Bay Packers will put their five-game winning streak and a chance to earn their first playoff berth in 10 years on the line at Lambeau Field against the Rams, who will definitely be home for the holidays.

A victory would establish the first Packer six-game winning streak since Vince Lombardi’s 1965 team did it on its way to the first of three consecutive NFL titles. A Packer victory would also clinch the Rams’ third consecutive season of double-digit defeats.

A Packer defeat, with a potential NFC Central title-deciding matchup against the Minnesota Vikings only a week away, would nearly end Green Bay’s playoff hopes.

The Packers (8-6) say that they will not overlook the roller-coaster Rams (5-9).

“If we don’t get by the Rams, everything we’ve strived for is down the tubes,” said Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, a first-year starter with the third-best completion percentage in the league.

“Everyone but this football team underestimates the Rams. Look at them on film and look at the teams that they’ve played and who they’ve lost to. Every game they lost, besides the New Orleans game this past week, has been close and against great football teams.

“Obviously Minnesota is a very good football team, and that will be an important game for us. But without a win this week, it doesn’t even matter . . . probably everything we’ve hoped for will be gone.”

First-year coach Mike Holmgren, who was the only other candidate the Rams interviewed before hiring Chuck Knox, concedes the tenuous nature of the Packers’ run for the playoffs.

Even if they win their final two games, they need help, especially if the Vikings win today against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And Holmgren, who was a six-year assistant with the San Francisco 49ers, says there are virtually no similarities between his team’s streak and the 49ers’ annual blitz through December and into postseason play.

“I think any comparisons with the 49ers would be kind of laughable at this point,” Holmgren said. “Any time we charged with the 49ers, we had a lot of horses, and we were charging that way.

“Here, while we have a streak going, we’re moving. I don’t say we’re charging. “

The Packers, 4-12 last season, were 3-3 after six games, then beat the Philadelphia Eagles on Nov. 15, 27-24, to start their dash and haven’t stop winning.

“You know, to be quite honest, I am a little surprised,” Holmgren said. “When we came in, not unlike Chuck’s situation in Los Angeles, you know you’ve got a long road ahead of you, there’s a lot of rebuilding to do. And ours was no different.

“That’s how we started out. But we’ve managed to put together a little streak here and the guys are believing in themselves. And they’re really playing pretty solid football at this point.”

Holmgren imported the 49ers’ short-passing offense, got Favre into the lineup when veteran starter Don Majkowski suffered an ankle injury in Week 2, and turned Sterling Sharpe loose.

Favre, acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons last off-season, has thrown 413 passes, exactly the same as Ram quarterback Jim Everett, but has 19 more completions, has thrown five fewer interceptions and is 8-4 as a starter.

Sharpe leads the league with 94 receptions, with 1,306 receiving yards, and with 11 touchdowns receiving.

“He’s one of the best in the business,” Ram cornerback Darryl Henley said. “He’s underrated because they haven’t won as much as the guy on the ‘Niners.”

“It’s that same type of offense with Holmgren there. You can’t play them exactly like you do the ‘Niners, but a lot of the philosophy is the same--slants, short passes, backs out of the backfield, hitting the tight end . . . “

Ram Notes

Coach Chuck Knox says his team is prepared for the possibility of severe weather at Lambeau Field. “I think you always have to have an alternate game plan for real bad weather,” Knox said.

One other adjustment the Rams might make is getting more carries for backup tailback Anthony Thompson, who played at Indiana in the cold weather, and limit Cleveland Gary’s playing time. Gary has fumbled six times the last six weeks. . . . Linebacker Johnny Holland, the leading tackler on the Packers, will not play because of a herniated disk in his neck.