Both the Rams and Seahawks have played in two NFC Championship Games each since 2010 — and they’re each 2-0. Something will have to give today. But first, let’s recap those four prior games…
Jan. 2019: The no-call heard around the world
The 2018 NFC Championship Game was a battle of two of the sport’s best offensive minds in Sean Payton, the longtime Saints coach seeking his second Super Bowl title with Drew Brees, and Sean McVay, the second-year Rams coach who had injected life into both the team and the career of former No. 1 overall pick Jared Goff. The game lived up to the hype, tied 20-20 inside the two-minute warning with the Saints driving into Rams territory. On third-and-10 from L.A.’s 13-yard line, Brees threw one toward slot receiver Tommylee Lewis, only for Lewis to get decked by hard-charging Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman. However, no flag was thrown on what seemed like clear pass interference, enraging Brees, Payton and the many Saints fans inside the Superdome.
New Orleans settled for a field goal, which the Rams later matched, sending the game into overtime. After the Rams picked off Brees on another controversial play in overtime, Goff led L.A. into field-goal range, and Greg Zuerlein hit a 57-yarder to send the Rams to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1999 season, when they lost to the Patriots.
Payton soon received a call from the NFL league office, and Robey-Coleman was later fined for his hit on Lewis, both admissions of guilt from the league that a flag should have been thrown. The NFL even briefly experimented with making pass interference calls reviewable the following season as a result of the play.