If forecast holds, LA Rams face sweater weather in Lambeau

The cold weather has been a hot topic so far this week for the LA Rams. If the forecast for Lambeau Field holds, the Rams will miss sub-freezing temperatures

The LA Rams are a warm-weather team. But they will be playing on one of the coldest football fields in the nation when they travel to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Folks, it gets cold at Lambeau Field. Not just sub-freezing cold, but sub-zero cold. In fact, some of the coldest games in NFL history were played at Lambeau Field.

Legends of the game sprang from the ‘Ice Bowl’ during the 1967 NFL Championship Game where the Green Bay Packers hosted the Dallas Cowboys with a game-time temperature of -13 degrees Fahrenheit and a balmy wind chill temperature of -36 degrees. The halftime show was canceled when 11 members of the performing band were rushed to the hospital to treat their extremities for frostbite.

No Ice Bowl awaits the Rams

Thankfully, no Ice Bowl conditions await the Rams this Saturday at Green Bay Wisconsin. In fact, the latest and greatest weather forecast from Weather Underground.com expects Green Bay to be under cloudy skies at game time of 3:35 pm CT with a temperature just above the freezing make at 33 degrees and winds out of the NorthWest at 13 miles per hour.

By halftime, the winds will diminish from 5-7 mph out of the NW under mostly cloudy skies, and temperatures at the freezing mark of 32 degrees. By the end of the game, the clouds and wind will persist, but the evening temperature will fall to around 30 degrees.  While these are not ideal conditions to play in for a warm-weather team like the Rams, the worst that the team will face is some minor discomfort due to chilly conditions.

Rams not great in cold weather

If you haven’t read the history of the LA Rams in cold weather, nor that of Jared Goff’s cold weather struggles, you will. Media coverage of the NFL Divisional rounds will attack the game from every angle, every contributing factor. And the narrative will lull Packers fans into extreme confidence and Rams fans into despair.

For the record, the Rams last played a cold-weather game at Lambeau Field when the temperature for that December 20, 1992 game was just eight degrees, and the wind drove that down to a -15 degree effect. The Rams lost that game 28-13. Yes, nobody who played in that game remains on an NFL roster. But there it is, proof positive that a Rams team from the last millennia struggled in the cold, so these Rams must as well.

Neither was Goff

Perhaps a more logical comparison are those that aim specifically at LA Rams quarterback Jared Goff and his performance in cold weather. Again, they are not stellar performances. His first sub-freezing game was played in 25 degrees against the Denver Broncos on October 14, 2018, which the Rams won by a score of 23-20. The second cold weather contest Goff faced that year was a Sunday Night game on December 9, 2018, with a game-time temperature of 29 degrees against the Chicago Bears where the Rams lost by a score of 15-6.

In that first game against Denver, RB Todd Gurley crushed the Broncos with 28 carries for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Goff was 14 of 28 passes for 201 yards, no touchdowns, and one interception. In the second outing, the Rams were playing to lock in the top-seed spot in the NFC and ran into a red hot Chicago Bears team. Goff was horrid in that game, passing just 20 of 44 times for 180 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions.  Yes, some have cited these two games to suggest that the LA Rams will be decimated by the Packers.

Packers defense is adequate, but not good

Those two regular-season games from 2018 have, to no great surprise, buoyed bold claims that the Packers’ modestly performing defense will ‘destroy Jared Goff’. Um, no. The 2018 Chicago Bears was top-ranked against the run, and third in total defense and in net takeaways.  The 2020 Green Bay Packers defense is not among the Top-Five in any category. What the Packers defense falls into in the adequate category. They are good enough to protect leads built by a standout offense.

The Rams offense, similarly, is adequate to put up points which their defense can hold to be enough to win games. The Packers’ offense and the Rams’ defense are elite. But the Packers’ defense and the Rams’ offense are adequate. So what breaks this stalemate? Well, it was revealed when the Rams needed to defeat a solid New England Patriots defense. A strong commitment by these Rams to run the ball.

Stopping Goff no longer stops the Rams offense

The Rams offense has proven on several occasions that they can route the offense through the rushing ability of rookie running back Cam Akers, much like they did with Todd Gurley.  So the Rams win games against the New England Patriots, Arizona Cardinals, and Seattle Seahawks with only modest success in the passing game.

The Rams can run the ball effectively once more. And the Packers are not very documented as stopping a rushing attack this season.  With an effective running game, the LA Rams will be fairly insulated against any negative effects from the weather, much like Todd Gurley’s 208 yards in 2018 helped the Rams to defeat the Denver Broncos on a cold day of football.

Rams running game can unlock another win

An effective Rams running game unlocks the play-action distraction of the passing game. That allows receivers to get open. An effective running game chews up the clock and keeps the Packers’ offense on the sidelines. Finally, an effective running game allows the Rams’ high-octane defense to remain rested and refreshed the entire game.

In the off-season, the Rams fortified their run offense and run defense. The team added NT A’Shawn Robinson and OLB Leonard Floyd, both defenders boasting great run defense. And the team added rookie running back Cam Akers with the first pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. That is why we pointed out long before the Rams were heading north for a Divisional Round game that the team is now built to win in cold weather. And they are.

Great road dog is on the scent

The Rams are a good road underdog. They have already won a game in Seattle that few expected them to compete in. But they aren’t done just yet. Despite all the chatter about the Rams facing the worst of mother nature, the current outlook is no worse than sweater weather. The team is constructed to compete in the worst of elements this season.

That bodes well for the Rams, who will be forced to chose a starting quarterback from a starter with just two weeks of healing on a surgically repaired throwing hand, a backup quarterback just days out of the hospital for a neck-stinger, and a recently signed third backup who has been with the team two weeks.

Look for the Rams to run the ball. And if they do so effectively, look for the Rams to win.