Rams outlast Bears to advance
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From Gary Klein: On a snowy, windy Sunday night, the Rams rode Matthew Stafford’s hot-at-the-right time arm, the Rams’ secondary’s hot-at-naysayers attitude, and kicker Harrison Mevis warm-and-fuzzy homecoming for a 20-17 overtime victory over the Chicago Bears in the NFC divisional playoffs before a crowd of 60,253 at Soldier Field.
Mevis, who grew up two hours from the stadium, won it with a 42-yard field goal that sent the Rams to the NFC championship game.
“Hell of a deal right there,” McVay said of his team’s resilience.
Kyren Williams rushed for two touchdowns and the defense intercepted three passes as the Rams advanced to play the top-seeded Seahawks next Sunday at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The Rams split their two NFC West games with the Seahawks, who advanced to the conference title game with a 41-6 rout of the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday.
In Week 11 at SoFi Stadium, the Rams won, 21-19. Five weeks later at Seattle, the Rams lost, 38-37, in overtime.
“There’s no way the football gods would rather have it be than for us to go back up there in Seattle,” receiver Puka Nacua said, adding, “to get a chance to right our wrong.”
Photos: Rams defeat Chicago Bears in NFC divisional playoffs
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NFL playoffs schedule
All times Pacific
Divisional round
NFC
No. 5 Rams 20, No. 2 Chicago 17 (OT) (summary)
No. 1 Seattle 41, No. 6 San Francisco 6 (summary)
AFC
No. 1 Denver 33, No. 6 Buffalo 30 (OT) (summary)
No. 2 New England 28, No. 5 Houston 16 (summary)
Conference championships
Sunday
AFC
Noon
No. 2 New England at No. 1 Denver (CBS, Paramount+)
NFC
3:30 p.m.
No. 5 Rams at No. 1 Seattle (FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes)
Super Bowl
Sunday, Feb. 8, 3:30 p.m., NBC, Peacock
Lakers beat the Raptors
From Broderick Turner: The Lakers were as whole as they have been in a while Sunday, giving coach JJ Redick more weapons at his disposal at a time when their schedule has picked up the pace.
They got Luka Doncic (left groin soreness), center Deandre Ayton (left knee soreness) and backup center Jaxson Hayes (left hamstring tendinopathy) back in the fold for Sunday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors at Crypto.com Arena. Only Austin Reaves (left calf strain) remained sidelined.
The Lakers are a sound basketball team when healthy and they are really good when Doncic, LeBron James and Ayton all score at least 20 points in a game like they did in a 110-93 victory in which they held the Raptors to a season-low in points.
The Lakers entered the game having lost five of their last six games and had surrendered over 130 points in their last two losses.
“This is a very tough time of year for everybody in the NBA right now,” said Redick after his team improved to 25-16 at the halfway mark of their 82-game schedule. “...There are a number of teams that have rotation players, starter-level players, all-star level players like us that are out of the lineup or in and out of the lineup.”
No. 3 UCLA routs Maryland
From Steve Galluzzo: Two days after UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close put her players through one of their most grueling practices all season, the team responded with a gritty effort, doing a lot of the little things right to produce a big 97-67 victory over No. 12 Maryland on Sunday afternoon before 8,721 fans at Pauley Pavilion.
The third-ranked Bruins (17-1 overall, 7-0 Big Ten) used a balanced attack. Gabriela Jaquez set the pace with 22 points (making 10 of 13 shots) while Charlisse Leger-Walker added 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
“The story of this game was really our depth and our selflessness,” Close said. “Lauren Betts was spectacular today. It won’t show on the stat sheet but the way she handled double and triple teams, we got so many threes. I celebrate the way we won. We made winning plays, from boxing out, to forcing an extra rotation … the list goes on and on.”
USC women end losing streak
From Kara Alexander: The USC women’s basketball team ended a four-game losing streak by dominating Purdue 83-57 at Galen Center on Sunday.
The Trojans’ ability to force 21 turnovers helped fuel their decisive transition offense.
“We turned them over a bunch, which always helps us to play in transition. I think we’re incredibly good at transition,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I did think there was a pop in their step, just a conscious effort to kind of push tempo and push pace.”
USC guard Kennedy Smith returned to the court after missing three games while recovering from a lower leg injury.
Can true starting pitching return?
From Bill Shaikin: The independent minor leagues are baseball’s laboratories.
Pitch clocks? The robot umpires coming to the major leagues this year? The home run derby used to settle ties, as seen in last year’s All-Star Game? All first tested in an independent league.
Some concepts are hits. Some are flops.
The experiment to watch this year is almost spiritual in nature: Can professional baseball make starting pitching great again?
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1937 — Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker and Cy Young are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the second year of voting.
1952 — The PGA approves the participation of Black men in golf tournaments.
1972 — Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers becomes the youngest player elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame at 36. Yogi Berra and Early Wynn are also elected.
1974 — UCLA’s 88-game winning streak is snapped when Notre Dame overcomes an 11-point deficit in the final 3:32 to win 71-70. With 29 seconds remaining, Dwight Clay’s jump shot from the right corner gives the Irish the lead.
1992 — John Cook is the first golfer in PGA history to chip in on two consecutive holes to win a playoff after he edges Gene Sauers in the Bob Hope Classic.
2000 — Michael Jordan, who led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships as a player, returns to the NBA, joining the Washington Wizards as part owner and President of Basketball Operations.
2004 — Colorado’s Milan Hejduk scores on a penalty shot 59 seconds into overtime to give the Avalanche a 5-4 victory over Tampa Bay. It’s the third time an NHL game ended on a penalty shot in overtime.
2005 — LeBron James becomes the youngest player (20 years, 20 days) in NBA history to record a triple-double, with 27 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Cleveland’s 107-101 win over Portland.
2006 — Irina Slutskaya wins her seventh European figure skating title, breaking the record she shared with Katarina Witt and Sonja Henie.
2008 — Bode Miller wins the downhill at the traditional Hahnenkamm World Cup races to become the most successful American skier ever with 28 World Cup wins, overtaking Phil Mahre.
2012 — Serena Williams moves into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova for her 500th career match win.
2013 — Lance Armstrong admits to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories.
2014 — Peyton Manning passes for 400 yards and two touchdowns to lead Denver to a 26-16 victory over New England and send the Broncos to their first trip to the Super Bowl in 15 years.
2014 — Russell Wilson throws a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth down and Seattle’s top-ranked defense forces two late turnovers, lifting the Seahawks into their second Super Bowl with a 23-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
2015 — Lindsey Vonn wins a super-G for her record 63rd World Cup victory. The American breaks Annemarie Moser-Proell’s 35-year-old record of 62 World Cup wins with a flawless run down the Olympia delle Tofane course at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, finishing by a huge 0.85 ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria.
2017 — Six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is beaten 7-6 (8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 by wild-card entry Denis Istomin in a second-round match. No. 2-ranked Djokovic had won five of the six previous titles at Melbourne Park and six overall, and had never dropped a set in six previous meetings against Istomin.
2020 — AFC Championship, Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Chiefs beat Tennessee Titans, 35-24.
2020 — NFC Championship, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, California: San Francisco 49ers beat Green Bay Packers, 37-20.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time...
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.
