Rams vs. Seahawks: Three must-know storylines for Sunday's NFC Championship Game

The game most expected to see has arrived in the NFC.

Two division rivals and participants in a pair of regular-season thrillers will face off with a Super Bowl trip on the line. For the Rams, it would mean a return to the game they reached and won in the 2021 season. For the Seahawks, it would represent the culmination of a collective effort to leave past accomplishments behind in pursuit of a greater future.

Those seeking a frame of reference will turn back to Weeks 11 and 16, but the Seahawks and Rams couldn't have played more differently between the two clashes. A turnover-filled struggle for the Seahawks produced a narrow, torturous loss to the Rams in Los Angeles, and a frantic, seemingly unstoppable comeback effort was necessary for Seattle to earn revenge over L.A. in their rematch.

Game 3 has arrived. It's just the third instance in NFL history of teams that split a regular-season series with a combined margin of one point or fewer meeting in a conference championship game. In both previous instances, the winner prevailed by double digits. The vibes here, however, suggest it might end up being much closer on Sunday night.

Here are three must-know storylines for the 2026 NFC Championship Game.

Three must-know storylines

1) Pressure is the name of the game

Seattle's elite defense is built on statistical anomalies, with none being more impressive than the fashion in which the Seahawks generate pressure. Seattle owns the fourth-highest pressure rate (38.9 percent of dropbacks) in the NFL despite blitzing at the eighth-lowest frequency (23.1 percent of snaps). The Seahawks also lack a single player in the top 25 in total pressures (but they boast five players with 40-plus pressures), rarely rely on base defense -- usually living in Nickel or Dime -- and have a stifling coverage unit regardless of man or zone (Seattle is the only team to rank in the top five in yards per play allowed in both styles). The Seahawks are preparing to face a quarterback in Matthew Stafford who owns the lowest passer rating under pressure (24.8) of any signal-caller participating in the 2025 playoffs, which bodes well for Seattle's chances of limiting the NFL's No. 1 scoring offense. On the other sideline, Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold -- the NFL's leader in giveaways (20) -- crumbles under pressure. Eleven of his 20 giveaways came under pressure (six interceptions, five fumbles lost) in 2025, while 7.2 percent of his dropbacks under pressure resulted in a giveaway. The solution to this NFC Championship Game, then, is simple for both teams: get after the quarterback. Darnold has established a reputation for wilting in big games, especially against the Rams, owning a 1-3 record against Los Angeles since Chris Shula took over as defensive coordinator in 2024. He's responsible for eight giveaways versus L.A. in that span, the most by any QB versus any single opponent (including playoffs). Stafford remains a bit more unpredictable in this matchup, posting both his season-high and season-low marks in passing yards against Seattle (130 in Week 11; 457 in Week 16). He delivered a sparkling performance in the latter contest, which ended in heartbreaking defeat, but has struggled in two playoff games as evidenced above and also carries an 0-3 record with the Rams when facing the No. 1 scoring defense on the road. Which version of Stafford will the Rams get Sunday? And might Seattle's pass rush wreck it either way?

2) Will Seahawks survive without Charbonnet?

While Seattle's run to the NFC Championship Game will always initially point to the excellence of its defense, the running game has also played an essential role. It began around Week 10 but truly took a leap from Week 16 onward: Seattle has averaged 172.3 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns per game in that span while gaining 9.5 first downs via runs, revealing a strength that is suddenly a defining trait of offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak's offense. Much of that production was built on the two-headed attack of Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet, but the Seahawks will take the field Sunday with half of that duo missing after Charbonnet suffered an ACL injury in the Divisional Round win over San Francisco. Can Walker handle a larger share of backfield snaps and effectively replace Charbonnet? He accounted for 100-plus scrimmage yards in each of his last three games against the Rams, including a 164-yard showing in the Week 16 win. But the challenge only increases with Walker as the only backfield threat remaining for Seattle. If the Seahawks can't establish the ground game, that will shift the onus onto Darnold, potentially backing Seattle into a corner they don't want to encounter, which makes Walker's role that much more important with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

3) What matters more: Experience or a hot streak?

Sunday's contest features two of the four youngest active head coaches in the NFL in Sean McVay and Mike Macdonald. They share that similarity but have traveled vastly different roads to this juncture. McVay has 92 wins to his name since being hired in 2017, has already tied Don Shula for the most playoff wins recorded by a coach under 45 years old (10), has already guided his team to two Super Bowl appearances (one win) and will be coaching in his 16th career playoff game Sunday. Macdonald, on the other hand, is in just his second season at the helm in Seattle and coached in his first playoff game last week. He's traveled a postseason road as an assistant, but this is his first rodeo amid deep playoff pressure, and the stakes will be incredibly high when he leads his team onto the field in Seattle this weekend. If his team wins, he'll become the fourth-youngest coach to take his team to a Super Bowl -- a historical category dominated by McVay. What might be more important, though, is the current trajectory of each team. Seattle is playing elite football and has been since Thanksgiving, stringing together eight straight victories to reach the conference title game. Their defense seems to be peaking at the perfect time. But will Macdonald's defensive ingenuity and his team's white-hot streak be worth more than McVay's (and Stafford's) experience? Or will McVay prove to be the experienced foil for the upstart Macdonald and his Seahawks?

Rams' Championship Game injury report

Seahawks' Championship Game injury report

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