Packers Too Slick for Rams : Pro football: Green Bay, still in the hunt for a wild-card playoff berth, runs rings around L.A. for a 28-13 victory.

The Green Bay Packers, fighting for their tenuous playoff lives, skated circles around the Rams on the fuzzy green and brown ice rink that passed for a football field here Sunday.

The Rams, who are one week away from a long hibernation, stayed as warm as they could, actually moved the ball well and had plenty of chances to stay in this game.

Instead, they slipped and skidded all over Lambeau Field when it counted, losing by 28-13 before 57,796 amid temperatures that dropped into the single-digits.

With a kickoff temperature of eight degrees and a windchill factor of minus-15, it was the coldest Ram game in 28 years. The loss lowered their record to 5-10, and the weather did not do much for their collective mood.

“I don’t like the cold,” said tailback Cleveland Gary, a Florida native. “I hate it. But I don’t think we should blame it on the cold.

“The effort was there. We drove the football at will. We drove the football like I’ve never driven a football before, under the circumstances. It’s just that when we got inside the (scoring) area, we didn’t score.”

The victory extended Green Bay’s winning streak to six and kept the Packers (9-6) in the playoff hunt. But they still need a victory over the NFC Central champion Minnesota Vikings Sunday and a loss by either the Washington Redskins or the Philadelphia Eagles to gain a NFC wild-card playoff berth.

Sunday, the fancy stepping was handled by Packer cornerback Terrell Buckley, who had two interceptions--one of which he returned 33 yards for a touchdown--and receiver Sterling Sharpe, who caught eight passes, two for touchdowns, all during the first half.

Buckley and Sharpe left trails of fallen Rams in their wake, together sparking the Packers to a 28-point second quarter, erasing a 10-0 Ram lead.

“It’s great to win at home in a game that really means something,” rookie Packer Coach Mike Holmgren said.

The Rams got inside the Packers’ 25-yard line fives times after the first quarter, but scored only six points.

In those five chances, quarterback Jim Everett was intercepted once, the Rams handed it over on downs twice during the fourth quarter, and they settled for two Tony Zendejas field goals in the others.

“I don’t think the cold affected (the game),” Ram Coach Chuck Knox said. “In fact, it was nice down there, it really was.

“I can’t remember a game, though, where we had as many opportunities to put some points on the board offensively and didn’t get it done.”

During the fourth quarter, the Rams had two chances to make the game competitive, at least.

But both tight end Jim Price and wide receiver Jeff Chadwick dropped short fourth-down passes that would have been touchdowns, ending any hopes and sending the Rams’ thoughts to their last game of the year, Sunday at home against the Atlanta Falcons.

“That’s been the story around here for a little while now,” cornerback Darryl Henley said.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating. Tired of it. But all you can do is just keep fighting.”

The Rams veered from their normal pattern of falling behind early when linebacker Roman Phifer recovered a Darrell Thompson fumble on the second play of the game, giving the Rams the ball at the Packer 31.

Everett made the score 7-0 with a snap pass to Flipper Anderson cutting in front of cornerback Buckley for 16 yards.

Later, the Rams looked as if they would go ahead by 14-0 when running back David Lang ran the Rams’ longest play of the season, a 71-yard sweep down the left sideline.

Buckley saved a touchdown by tackling Lang at the three-yard line. A penalty pushed it to the one-yard line, where three Ram rushes went for no yards. Zendejas’ field goal made the score 10-0 early in the second quarter.

Then the Packers got going, they didn’t stop until halftime. Green Bay took the kickoff and drove 61 yards in nine plays, scoring on a two-yard run by Thompson.

Three plays into the Rams’ next possession, Packer safety Chuck Cecil blitzed on third and five, causing Everett to float a pass toward rookie receiver Todd Kinchen, who was outpositioned by Buckley.

“I was caught off guard by what happened, but that happens when you have a rookie receiver in,” said Everett, who had three interceptions.

Buckley made the interception near the left sideline, headed left, then made a huge backward move toward the center of the field, weaving through a mass of Rams, eventually slipping down the right sideline into the end zone for a touchdown.

“It was great to get into the open field,” Buckley said. “I love that. Maybe I should move to wide receiver.”

Next, it was Sharpe’s turn to bedazzle the Rams, who realized too late that they had the wrong kind of shoes for the conditions. Lining up for the most part in a tight slot position, Sharpe used the hard conditions to catch five passes from quarterback Brett Favre in the final three minutes of the half for two scores and 75 yards.

“They just wanted to put him five yards out, just turn around and have everybody try to break on him,” Ram safety Anthony Newman said.

“And when you try to tackle him, you’re sliding and slipping and he’s just going in all kinds of directions.

“He just used his athletic ability to beat us in those conditions. It was like playing on an ice-skating rink.”

Ram Notes

Tailback Cleveland Gary gained 48 yards in 16 carries Sunday, giving him 1,029 rushing yards for the season and making him the Rams’ first 1,000-yard rusher since Greg Bell in 1989. . . . Packer Sterling Sharpe’s eight catches give him 102 for the season, making him the sixth receiver ever to get as many as 100 and putting him well within range of Art Monk’s record of 106 for the Washington Redskins in 1984.

Receiving Line

Players with 100 or more receptions in a season.

Year Player, Team Rec. 1984 Art Monk, Washington 106 1992 Sterling Sharpe, Green Bay 102 1964 Charley Hennigan, Houston 101 1990 Jerry Rice, San Francisco 100 1991 Haywood Jeffires, Houston 100 1966 Lionel Taylor, Denver 100