Streaking Rams need to play with blinders on

But it’s uncomfortably early for anyone in the organization to be thinking about Santa Clara in February.

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AT THE MOMENT, Matthew Stafford — who has thrown 27 touchdown passes without a pick — is playing as well as anyone who has ever played the position.

(ERIC THAYER Los Angeles Times)

The Rams need to play with blinders on. Yes, they've secured the NFC’s No. 1 seed for the moment, but they have a one-game lead over the Eagles, who beat them earlier this season and therefore have the tiebreaker, There’s no wiggle room.

The glide path is far different than 2021, when the Rams wound up winning the Super Bowl on their home field. That season, they went 0-3 in November games.

This bears a closer resemblance to 2018, Sean McVay’s second season, when the last game before Thanksgiving was an instant classic at the Coliseum, Jared Goff and the Rams beating Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, 54-51.

There’s no ignoring that we're watching something special in Stafford, who takes the snap, scans the field and delivers a laser with remarkable reliability. He processes with the speed of AL.

It was 10 years ago at Levi's Stadium that Denver's Peyton Manning, quarterbacking his second franchise, won his second Super Bowl ring and decided to retire.