It wasn’t always pretty, but the Rams came away with a 37-20 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday to clinch the NFC’s No. 5 seed, setting up a rematch with the No. 4 Panthers next weekend.
Los Angeles had a 16-6 lead after a bit of a slow start on offense. But the Cardinals used a 14-point surge in the third quarter to go up 20-16 with 3:51 left in the period.
But the Rams responded well from there, with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Colby Parkinson giving L.A. a 23-20 advantage. Then Stafford hit Tight end Tyler Higbee for a 22-yard score early in the fourth quarter. The Rams scored a third straight touchdown when Stafford hit Parkinson again for a 1-yard score to go up by 17.
Seeking his first MVP award, Stafford finished 25-of-40 for 259 yards with four touchdowns — a nice bounce-back performance after Monday night’s loss to Atlanta. Stafford will finish as the NFL’s passing yards leader for the first time, as he overtook Dak Prescott to finish with 4,707.
Stafford also moved into No. 6 all-time in career completions and No. 7 all-time in career touchdown passes. He became the third player in league history to have multiple touchdown passes in 15 games in a single season.
Puka Nacua finished the game with 10 catches for 76 yards with a touchdown, giving him the league lead with 129 catches in 16 games. Cardinals tight end Trey McBride entered Week 18 tied atop the leaderboard in receptions with Nacua, but caught seven passes for 65 yards.
The Rams steadily pressured Cardinals QB Jacoby Brissett through the contest, finishing with six sacks. Brissett was 22-of-31 for 243 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
Los Angeles finishes the season 12-5, which puts the team at second place in the NFC West with a better common-games record than San Francisco and No. 5 in the conference. The Rams will be on the road to face the Panthers in the wild card round, as Carolina clinched the NFC South on Sunday with the Falcons’ win over the Saints.
The Cardinals end the 2025 season at 3-14 with plenty of questions surrounding their roster and coaching staff for the upcoming offseason.
Cardinals Clips
So far, the Rams are on track to capture the NFC’s No. 5 seed.
Though things have not necessarily been fluid, Los Angeles leads Arizona 16-6 at halftime of Week 18.
Rams receiver Puka Nacua scored the only touchdown of the first half with 1:22 left in the second quarter when he made a one-handed, fourth-and-goal catch in the end zone. Nacua entered the game six behind Ja’Marr Chase for the league lead in receptions and now has tied that mark.
Nacua’s touchdown capped an 18-play drive, which was the longest for the Rams all season.
The Rams got back on the board after Ahkello Witherspoon picked off a deep pass from Jacoby Brissett, engineering a two-minute drive to score a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford entered the contest 104 yards behind Dak Prescott for the league lead and has now surpassed it. Stafford was 15-of-23 for 137 yards with a touchdown in the first half. Stafford will now finish as the league’s passing leader for the first time in his 17-year career.
Los Angeles’ defense heavily pressured Brissett throughout the first half, with the quarterback going 8-of-13 for 92 yards with an interception.
Tight end Trey McBride also had 119 receptions entering Week 18 and so far has three for 40 yards.
On the injury front, Rams receiver Jordan Whittington is questionable to return with a knee injury. Cardinals linebacker Channing Tindall is questionable to return with a knee injury while cornerback Will Johnson has been ruled out with a knee injury.
The Rams will receive the second-half kickoff. If they win, they will be the NFC’s No. 5 seed and head to Charlotte to play the Panthers in the Wild Card round.
Davante Adams’ return will have to come in the postseason.
Adams is officially inactive for the Rams’ regular-season finale against the Cardinals on Sunday. Adams was listed as questionable after being listed as limited in practice on Thursday and Friday.
Adams’ 2025 season will come to an end with 60 receptions for 789 yards with 14 touchdowns.
Rams rookie tight end Terrance Ferguson is also inactive for the contest after being a late addition to the injury report with a hamstring issue.
But Los Angeles will have left tackle Alaric Jackson back, as he’s active for the contest after being listed as questionable. Running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum are also active after being listed as questionable.
After Seattle’s victory over San Francisco on Saturday night, L.A. will be the NFC’s No. 5 seed if the club defeats Arizona.
Running back Jarquez Hunter, cornerback Josh Wallace, cornerback Darious Williams, offensive lineman Kevin Dotson, and quarterback Stetson Bennett are also inactive for Los Angeles.
For the Cardinals, cornerback Max Melton, cornerback Kalen King, tight end Rivaldo Fairweather, linebacker Austin Keys, offensive lineman Evan Brown, defensive lineman P.J. Mustipher, and kicker Joshua Karty are inactive.
The Cardinals began playing in 1920. In 2025, they could have the first 14-loss season in franchise history.
They’ve lost 13 games for the third time in the last four seasons, and they’ve missed the playoffs for a fourth straight year.
But, no, they’ve never lost 14 games.
This year, the Cardinals started 2-0. Since then, they’ve gone 1-13.
Before 1961, the NFL didn’t play 14 games. The schedule moved to 16 games in 1978 and to 17 in 2021.
Since moving from St. Louis in 1988, the Cardinals have 20 seasons with double-digit losses.
Rams head coach Sean McVay said all week that his plan is to play the team’s starters against the Cardinals and that the result of Saturday’s Seahawks-49ers game was not going to factor into how he handled things on Sunday.
Sportsbooks appeared to have some doubts that he’d follow through with that, however. The line for the game in Los Angeles had the Rams favored by -7.5 or -8.5 points for most of the week, but there’s been a significant change on Sunday.
The Rams are now favored by two touchdowns and the impetus for the move is likely the result of Saturday night’s game. The Seahawks win makes them the No. 1 seed and it means the Rams can be the No. 5 seed by beating Arizona.
Green Bay is locked into the No. 7 seed and the 49ers will get the No. 5 seed if the Rams can’t take care of business against Arizona.
Marvin Harrison Jr. had already been ruled out for Sunday’s season finale against the Rams. But the Cardinals have now made a move to free Harrison’s roster spot.
Arizona has placed Harrison on injured reserve, the team announced on Friday.
Harrison has been dealing with a heel injury on one leg for several weeks then was hobbled by a foot injury by the other. Darren Urban of the team’s website notes Harrison was having clear issues just walking in the locker room earlier this week.
“I thought he did some good things [this season],” head coach Jonathan Gannon said, via Urban. “We moved him around the formation. He scored points for us. He got open, caught it. I don’t think he’s hit his ceiling, and I look forward to the future with that.”
Harrison ends his second season having caught 41 passes for 608 yards with four touchdowns in 12 games with 10 starts. He had 62 receptions for 885 yards with eight TDs in 17 games as a rookie in 2024.
Though they can be just the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the NFC, the Rams are planning to play their starters against the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.
Receiver Davante Adams could be among those starters on the field, as he’s one of several players Los Angeles will list as questionable.
Via multiple reporters, head coach Sean McVay said on Friday that Adams, running back Kyren Williams, running back Blake Corum, left tackle Alaric Jackson, and linebacker Omar Speights are all questionable.
Adams has not played since aggravating his already-injured hamstring in the Rams’ Dec. 14 victory over the Lions. Adams nevertheless leads the league with 14 touchdown receptions. He’s caught a total of 60 passes for 789 yards in 14 games this year.
Williams and Corum are both dealing with ankle injuries. Jackson has a knee injury. Speights also has an ankle injury.
Additionally, McVay noted tight end Tyler Higbee is set to be activated off of injured reserve after being sidelined since mid-November with an ankle injury. The veteran TE has 20 catches for 190 yards with two touchdowns in 2025.
L.A. has lost its last two games in disappointing fashion after moving to 11-3 with a Week 15 win over Detroit.
Rams wide receiver Davante Adams returned to practice on Thursday, getting in limited work. He is not expected to play in Week 18 as he works his way back from a hamstring injury.
“It’s more of just to make sure that we’re able to get him a full workload,” coach Sean McVay said Wednesday, via Stu Jackson of the team website. “He’s going to be able to do some different things in a more controlled setting, but just with the position he plays, being able to open up, want to make sure that we’re getting everything ready to roll and being smart with him.”
Adams has missed two games since aggravating the injury in the Week 15 win over the Lions.
He has 60 receptions for 789 yards and a league-best 14 touchdowns this season.
The Rams opened the 21-day practice window for safety Quentin Lake (elbow). Lake hasn’t played since Week 11 but could return for the postseason.
Wide receiver Xavier Smith (chest) was a full participant a day after a limited session.
The rest of the team’s report remained the same.
Running back Blake Corum (ankle), offensive lineman Kevin Dotson (ankle) and cornerback Josh Wallace (ankle) sat out practice again on Thursday.
Defensive end Braden Fiske (ankle), left tackle Alric Jackson (knee), safety Jaylen McCollough (hip), inside linebacker Omar Speights (ankle) and running back Kyren Williams (ankle) remained limited.
Cardinals wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.'s second NFL season is over.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters on Wednesday that Harrison will not play against the Rans in Sunday’s regular season finale. It will be the fifth game that Harrison misses this season.
Harrison missed two games after having an appendectomy and two more with a heel injury. He returned to play in Weeks 15 and 16, but was limited to 19 games by the heel last week.
The 2024 first-round pick had 41 catches for 608 yards and four touchdowns this season. Injuries contributed to that, but his production even when healthy hasn’t been where most expected it to be based on how productive he was at Ohio State.
Harrison’s bid to change that seems likely to unfold with a new quarterback next season, but any word on who that might be will have to wait until the offseason is officially underway in Arizona.
Cardinals defensive lineman Calais Campbell said in August that he’d “be very surprised” if the 2025 wasn’t his final season in the NFL, but he isn’t making any announcements ahead of the final game of the regular season.
Campbell’s 18th season will end with Sunday’s game against the Rams, but he isn’t ruling out a 19th year at this point. He said he wants to take some time after the season to decompress and that he doesn’t “know if I’m going to retire or not because I don’t know how my body is going to feel” after that process.
“The last few years I’ve been through this process I’ve known pretty quickly that I’ve wanted to play again,” Campbell said, via the team’s website. “It didn’t take me that long — within a month or so, I knew I wanted to play football again. We’ll see. I hope to know quickly if I don’t want to play football again. The biggest thing is if I do want to play football again, I give myself the opportunities to play football again. I try to always sign my work and play at a level that they want me back. Even if I decide not to play again, I want to have the ability to say no, rather than them saying, ‘See you later.’”
Campbell spent his first nine NFL seasons with the Cardinals and returned to the team on a one-year deal this year. He has started every game and recorded 41 tackles and 6.5 sacks in his second Arizona stint. That production should create interest from the Cardinals and/or others and it doesn’t sound like it will be long before Campbell reveals whether he’ll be back on the field in 2026.
