Super Bowl 60 awaits on February 8 at Levi's Stadium, but the NFL's main event will come this weekend, believes Your Site NFL's Jeff Reinebold.
The Seattle Seahawks host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game as the NFC West rivals prepare to meet for the third time this season, with a shot at the Lombardi Trophy at stake.
Los Angeles clinched a 21-19 victory when the teams met in Week 11, before Seattle edged a 38-37 overtime thriller in Week 16. It sets up the ultimate decider.
Sean McVay's Rams were forced to dig deep as they survived a Caleb Williams miracle to beat the Chicago Bears at a snow-dusted Soldier Field on Sunday. It would follow up a fine-margin win over the Carolina Panthers in raising question marks over the performance levels of a team that had threatened to runaway from the rest of the league at times during the regular-season.
"I interviewed McVay around the London game and he said, 'I've taken two teams to the Super Bowl, but I love this one. The thing I love about this team is their resiliency, their mental toughness'," said Your Site NFL's Neil Reynolds.
"But there's something not quite right when you compare the mid-season Rams to the team you want to see right now at this most important stage of the season."
McVay publicly criticised his own play-calling following Sunday's win in Chicago, unhappy with his feel for the 'flow' of the game as the Rams managed just a single field goal across both the second and third quarter.
"What did he say at the end of his press conference after the game? He said, 'I can't wait to dive into this tape.'," said Your Site NFL's Jeff Reinebold.
"I bet you my next pay check that on that plane home, he's already gotten into the tape of the game because that loss to Seattle, the last time they played when they had the big lead and they blew it in the fourth quarter, think that doesn't sit with him?
"I think the Rams are gonna play really, really well against them. That game is gonna be something. I'm anxious to see the Seahawks and the Rams, that might be better than the Super Bowl."
"The Seahawks are playing their best football right now. That's a very difficult place to play."
Seattle arrive as the hottest team in football having stormed to the NFC's No 1 seed with a 14-3 record before blowing away the San Francisco 49ers with a 41-6 win in front of a raucous home crowd on Saturday night.
Rashid Shaheed set the tone with a 95-yard return touchdown on the opening kickoff of the game, before Kenneth Walker rushed for three touchdowns and Mike Macdonald's No 1-ranked scoring defense forced three turnovers in a dominant performance over their division foes.
Sam Darnold has barely been called into action while throwing for just 124 yards, his one touchdown pass going to NFL receiving champion Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who topped the league with 1,793 yards through the air this season.
"I think the winner of that game will be favoured for the Super Bowl," said Reynolds. "I certainly believe that. The Rams won the first game with Seattle missing a 60-yard field goal at the end of the game, so it went right down to the wire. And Seattle won the second game with a two-point conversion to win it in overtime.
"So it's gone back and forth, this is going to be really good. I believe Seattle are a better version of themselves than they were a few weeks back. So they're a favourite."
Watch the Denver Broncos face the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game and the Los Angeles Rams against the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, live on Your Site NFL from 7.30pm on Sunday January 25.
