CHICAGO — Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay shot knowing glances at each other, then went to work on the drive that got the Los Angeles Rams one step away from the Super Bowl.Stafford and the Rams survived an incredible throw by Caleb Williams that forced overtime, beating the Chicago Bears 20-17 on Sunday night to advance to the NFC championship game.Harrison Mevis kicked a 42-yard field goal in OT after Kam Curl intercepted a deep pass by Williams on the Bears’ first possession of the extra period. Stafford glanced at his coach prior to the winning drive, then completed three passes for first downs — including a 16-yarder to Puka Nacua to get the Rams into field-goal range.“I looked right at Sean, he looked right at me,” Stafford said. “And I’m like, ‘Here we go.’ That’s what it’s all about. What an unbelievable job by our defense today, getting us the ball over and over again. Whether it be fourth-down stops or turnovers, they were clutch and timely.”So was Mevis.The “Thiccer Kicker,” as he’s known, ended the Bears’ season. Teammates mobbed him while a crowd that was rocking earlier watched in near silence at the conclusion of a cold, snowy night.The Rams (14-5) will visit NFC West rival Seattle next Sunday in their first trip to the conference championship game since the 2021 team won the Super Bowl. The Seahawks beat San Francisco 41-6 on Saturday.“It was like, all right, the football gods are smiling on us,” McVay said. “The weather had calmed down. There wasn’t a lot of wind right there. … I was really happy for him, and I was very confident that he would make that.”Los Angeles led 17-10 in the final minute of regulation and the Bears faced fourth-and-4 from the 14-yard line when Williams backpedaled to avoid the pass rush and heaved the ball to Cole Kmet for the tying touchdown with 18 seconds left. Although officially a 14-yard pass, the ball traveled 51.2 yards in the air, according to the NFL’s Next Gen …
