Rams to host Cardinals in wild card round of NFL playoffs

The Los Angeles Rams (13-4) won the NFC West division on Sunday and will host the Arizona Cardinals (11-6) on Monday Night Football next week in the wild card round. The game will be televised on ESPN at 5:15 PM PT.

With the Rams losing to the San Francisco 49ers (10-7) on Sunday, they dropped from the number two seed to the number four seed. The Cardinals could have won the NFC West with a win over the Seattle Seahawks, but fell 38-30 and dropped their sixth game of the season. Arizona instead took the five seed, which means they are headed to SoFi Stadium.

The Rams lost to the Cardinals 37-20 in Week 4, then beat them on Monday Night Football, 30-23, in Week 14. Sean McVay is 7-1 all-time against Kliff Kingsbury.

But Sean McVay’s perfect 45-0 record at halftime got its first blemish on Sunday and LA isn’t going into the playoffs on the note that they hoped they would be. So are the Cardinals, having lost four of their last five contests and blowing a sizeable lead in the NFC West.

If the Rams had beaten the 49ers on Sunday, they would be hosting the New Orleans Saints instead of the Cardinals. But Matthew Stafford was picked off in overtime by Ambry Thomas and that ended LA’s bid to be the two-seed.

Series History

Rams lead head-to-head series, 47-39-2 (1-0 in playoffs)

History: The Cleveland Rams played the Chicago Cardinals on October 3, 1937, marking the first head-to-head meeting in the series. Chicago won 6-0. But other than St. Louis’s dark period from 2004 to 2016 or so, the Rams have done well or dominated their games against the Cardinals.

Playoffs history: The LA Rams beat the St. Louis Cardinals 35-23 in 1975.

Last meeting: Rams 30, Cardinals 23

Kyler Murray went 32-49 for 383 yards, but was picked off twice and failed to score a touchdown. James Conner was held to 31 yards on 13 carries, but had nine catches for 94 yards. Matthew Stafford had three touchdowns and no interceptions, with Cooper Kupp gaining 123 yards on 13 catches.

In Week 4, the Cardinals won 37-20 and Cooper Kupp failed to gain at least 90 yards in the only game all season.