The Rams are going to the Super Bowl. This is the same outfit that finished 4-12 in 2016, Jeff Fisher's last season with the team, and has gone 24-8 under Sean McVay. (If you haven't heard, he's 32 years old and already has a coaching tree that has his assistants landing head-coaching gigs.) Los Angeles outlasted New Orleans, 26-23 in overtime and now they're headed to Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII, which you can stream right here on CBSSports.com. But here's the thing: The Rams shouldn't have won the NFC Championship Game. Sean McVay wasn't aggressive when he should've been To repeat: The Rams shouldn't have beaten the Saints. Not after McVay, considered one of the NFL's most innovative coaches, turtled up on the offense's penultimate drive of regulation. Trailing 20-17 with five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, L.A. faced fourth-and-goal from the Saints' 1-yard line. McVay opted to kick. To kick! For some history, here's CBSSports.com's Jared Dubin: "In the last two years on fourth-and-2 or less, on the opponent's side of the field, the Rams have attempted three pass, six runs and 13 field goals. The results: Four first downs, three touchdowns, an interception and a fumble on the nine plays they went for it." There is no explaining this decision as the right one. Yes, the Rams eventually won, but we'll get to the other reason they shouldn't have. First, this: On the ensuing drive, the Saints marched down the field, thanks in large part to this 43-yard catch by Ted Ginn that gave New Orleans the ball at the L.A. 13-yard line: Worth noting: Had Lamarcus Joyner not tried to catch the ball, and instead attempted to break up the pass, it's almost certainly an incompletion. It did happen and, it turns out, it didn't matter. Because things got weird. The NFL has an officiating problem Three plays after Ginn's big grab, on third down, Brees threw down the sidelines for TommyLee Lewis, who was promptly blown up by Nickell Robey-Coleman before the ball got there. And we can't overstate that enough: And the freeze frame: And the confirmation from former official and CBS Sports analyst Gene Steratore: If pass interference is called, the game is over. The Saints can run the clock down to almost zero and kick the game-winner. But because Drew Brees threw incomplete on the first play after the two-minute warning (and two plays before the no-call against Lewis), not only did it stop the clock, it allowed the Rams to keep one of their timeouts. That would come back to haunt them moments later. After the Saints settled for a field goal to take the 23-20 lead, the Rams had 1:41 to get in field goal range. Turns out, L.A. only needed 1:22 before Greg Zuerlein striped a 48-yarder. Again, disregarding the blown call against Lewis, if Brees completes the first-down pass, this isn't an issue. But New Orleans still had a chance at redemption; it won the coin toss, received the ball first in overtime, and Brees and the offense had driven to the 40-yard line before disaster struck. First, minimally, in the form of a six-yard loss by Mark Ingram. Then, monumentally on the next play: Oh boy. That was Dante Fowler applying the pressure, whom the Rams traded for midway through the season to beef up the rushing attack. And it's fair to say that third-round pick was worth it for just this one play, the one that effectively catapulted the Rams to the Super Bowl. Four plays and 15 yards later, Zuerlein again took the field, and this time smoked a 57-yard game-winner that looked to be good from 70. WOW. At the end of the day, this was about blown chances, missed opportunities and, frankly, some pretty terrible officiating. Which brings us to this: The NFL admits they messed up As you might imagine, Saints coach Sean Payton was beside himself after the game. He told reporters during his postgame press conference that he just got off the phone with the league office and "they blew the call." And not only was the hit on Lewis clear and obvious pass interference, there was also a helmet-to-helmet infraction. Payton said the league told him, "I don't know if there was ever a more obvious pass interference call." "It's tough to get over it," Payton said. "We'll probably never get over it." Poor officiating has been a recurring theme this season, though it's a theme every season. And while the NFL has taken strides to simplify things like what it means to actually catch a football, there's a ton of work to do. Why New York can't overrule a call on the field in real time remains a mystery to us. If the argument is: "We don't want to drag out the games," we'll ask this: Is that preferable to this? Because, sure, the game is over but folks will be talking about how the refs screwed the Saints out of a trip to the Super Bowl from now till the end of time. If you're the Saints and their fans, we'd have to imagine that this is considerably tougher to take than last year's Minneapolis Miracle. For the Rams, it will be their fourth Super Bowl appearance. Relive the entire NFC Championship Game in our live blog below.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Rams are headed to Atlanta for Super Bowl LIII after beating the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship on Sunday, 26-23. It was a close game that went to overtime, and one that was marred by poor decision-making (for both teams) and poor officiating. New Orleans got out to an early 13-0 lead thanks to a pair of field goals and a touchdown, but the Rams quickly responded before the end of the first half, making it 13-10 going into halftime. Much of the game was a battle for field position, and the Rams frequently had to work with less as the Saints largely won that battle. But even working with that field position, the Rams kept battling back. Down three points and starting from their own 9-yard line, they drove down the field late in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 20 points apiece, giving the ball back to the Saints with five minutes left in the game. They managed to kick a field goal for the lead, but they also did a horrible job of managing the clock, and instead of giving the Rams the ball back with under a minute to go, they only took about 12 seconds off following the two-minute warning. That allowed the Rams to come back and kick a field goal to force overtime. To be fair to the Saints, there was also an incredibly bad call by the referees, who missed one of the most blatant examples pass interference I’ve personally ever seen. If they get that call, they probably kneel it out and kick a field goal as time expires. Instead, they went to overtime. In overtime, the Saints received and Brees had a pass tipped at the line before it was intercepted by John Johnson. The Rams then moved into field goal range, right on the cusp of it, and had a 57-yard attempt for Greg Zuerlein. He made it, and the Rams are going to the Super Bowl. Related Sean McVay will be the youngest coach in Super Bowl history Brees finished the game with 249 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. The Saints rushed for just 48 yards as a team, with Aaron Donald, Dante Fowler and Ndamukong Suh coming up big on the defensive line. Goff finished the game with 297 yards, a touchdown and a pick. Brandin Cooks caught seven passes for 107 yards, while Todd Gurley had just four carries for 10 yards, compared to 16 carries for 44 yards for C.J. Anderson. Below, you can see the live blog from Sunday’s game in reverse order, including highlights and analysis. Rams 26, Saints 23, FINAL: The Saints start overtime from their own 26-yard line. Brees goes incomplete deep to Arnold, and the Rams are called for pass interference (make-up call? ), giving the Saints 14 yards. On 1st-and-10 from the New Orleans 40, Donald blows up an Ingram run for a loss of 6 yards. Brees then has a pass tipped at the line and it’s intercepted by John Johnson! Wow! The Rams drive, and Zuerlein has to attempt a 57-yard field goal. ... It’s good! The Rams win! Saints 23, Rams 23, 0:15, 4Q: The Lutz kickoff goes for a touchback. On first down, Goff throws incomplete to Reynolds. Second down, Goff goes to Reynolds again, this time it’s caught for 19 yards. Another pass goes to Everett, but it’s incomplete. They’re at the New Orleans 49-yard line after a 7-yard completion to Cooks. On third down, Goff hits Woods for 16 yards and they’re on the New Orleans 30-yard line. The Rams spend their last timeout. Goff hits Gurley for 3 yards, then throws incomplete. They bring in Zuerlein for a 48-yard try with 19 seconds left. The Saints take a timeout prior to the snap. But if they were trying to ice it, no dice. The field goal is good and we have a tie game. The Saints kneel it out and we’re going to overtime. The Saints will receive the overtime kickoff! Saints 23, Rams 20, 1:41, 4Q: The Rams save a timeout when Brees goes incomplete to Thomas on first down instead of a run for some reason. Then the Saints have to take a timeout to avoid a delay-of-game penalty. The Saints run it for no gain and the Rams burn a timeout. On third down the Saints ... try for another pass? What a terrible decision for Sean Payton! There was definitely a missed pass interference, but still. The 31-yard field goal, though, is good, and the Rams are getting the ball back with far more time on the clock — 1:41 — than they had any right to expect to have. Saints 20, Rams 20, 1:58, 4Q: Zuerlein’s kickoff is off, and the Saints start on the 30-yard line. Brees hits Carr for 5 yards, Ingram for 3 yards, then Kamara for 8 yards to convert the third down. Ingram loses 2 yards on a run after Donald blows up the play, then Brees does what Brees does best and hits Ginn for a 43-yard reception, which takes us to the two-minute warning. Saints 20, Rams 20, 5:03, 4Q: It’s a quick 3-and-out for the Rams after a holding call on Terron Armstead pushes them back 10 yards on first down. Brees throws two incomplete passes and Kamara has a short run, leading to a Morstead punt to the Los Angeles 9-yard line. From there, Goff hits Everett for a 39-yard reception, Anderson picks up 5 yards on a run, then Goff hits Reynolds for a 33-yard reception. That puts them in field goal range, and after getting to the 1-yard line, they are called for delay of game. They settle for a 24-yard field goal from Zuerlein to tie it. Saints 20, Rams 17, 12:22, 4Q: Brees hits Smith for 10 yards, then Thomas for 9 yards. Ingram rushes for a 6-yard gain, and then with Hill in the game at quarterback, they fumble the handoff to Kamara, who manages to jump on it for no gain.<doc-sep>In a battle of old versus new, experience versus youth, past versus future, Patriots versus Chiefs, old reliable won out. With a 37-31 overtime win over Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the Patriots -- the greatest superpower the AFC has ever known -- are going back to the Super Bowl for a third straight season, where they'll seek their third championship in five years. You can stream the game right here on CBSSports.com. Their reign isn't over quite yet. Even in a so-called down season, the Patriots are the best the AFC has to offer. And only a fool would bet against them in the Super Bowl, where they'll face the Rams, another young team that threatens the Patriots' stranglehold over the NFL. They just survived arguably the toughest test of their reign. The Chiefs pushed the Patriots to the brink, but the Patriots found a way to overcome their strongest would-be usurper yet. After an uneventful, methodical (by design, from the Patriots' perspective) first half, the game awakened in the second half. Before halftime, only 14 points were scored -- all by the Patriots. After halftime, 54 points were scored. But the first half mattered. It mattered because it's when the Patriots built themselves a 14-point lead, a cushion against the unstoppable machine known as Mahomes. They needed every point to hold off Mahomes in the end. It's what got them into overtime. Fittingly, to gain an early lead over the high-flying Chiefs, the Patriots turned back the clock. While the rest of the league -- with the Chiefs at the forefront of the revolution -- has adopted exotic passing attacks that has moved the NFL into an era of peak passing football, the Patriots zagged by adopting a run-heavy offense that has turned Rob Gronkowski, the most explosive tight end in NFL history, into a blocker and Brady into a handoffer, check-downer, and third-down passer. Their method of attack worked. The Patriots came out with the perfect game-plan and executed it just as perfectly. They played keep-away from the Chiefs with a run-heavy approach -- mainly with rookie Sony Michel, who rushed for 113 yards and two touchdowns -- that milked the clock, dumped the ball off with James White (49 receiving yards), converted key third downs (13 of 19), and ran some more clock (43:59 to 20:53 in time of possession). They started the game with a 15-play, 80-yard touchdown drive that took more than half of the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the Patriots had outgained the Chiefs 119 to minus-11. They ended the first half with an eight-play, 90-yard drive that both reached the end zone and left no time for the Chiefs to score any points of their own. At halftime, the Patriots led 14-0, owned a 245 to 32 advantage in yards, and a 12-plus minute advantage in time of possession. Mahomes was a measly 4 of 8 for 65 yards and one missed touchdown. The Chiefs had run 16 total plays. The Patriots had picked up 16 first downs. The game was unfolding exactly how Belichick had foreseen. He'd drawn up the perfect plan. And his players were executing it perfectly. But it doesn't matter how good a coach or a game-plan is, because at some point, Mahomes will break through. There's slowing him down, but there's no entirely stopping him. Sure enough, he came out firing in the second half. On the Chiefs' first series of the third quarter, they faced an early third-and-2 from their own 34-yard line. Two plays later, the Chiefs breached the end zone after Mahomes went deep to Sammy Watkins for a 54-yard gain and hit Travis Kelce over the middle for a 12-yard touchdown. The Patriots continued to bother him in the pocket, though, and added a field goal to take another two-score lead. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Patriots led 17-7, but Mahomes was in the process of mounting a dangerous drive in a way that only Mahomes is capable of pulling off. The drive ended with Mahomes bringing the Chiefs to within three points in vintage Mahomes fashion: outside the pocket with an accurate laser that both led Damien Williams away from the trailing linebacker and kept him in bounds. With 14:51 remaining, the Patriots led only 17-14. The teams exchanged stops. And then it happened. The moment of controversy that seemingly mars every playoff game. Trying to field a bouncing punt, Julian Edelman let the ball deflect off his hand. The Chiefs recovered the muffed punt, but an automatic review followed. Edelman claimed he never touched the ball. You be the judge. It's nearly impossible to tell. The officials overturned the call on the field despite the lack of evidence available. It didn't matter, though. Two plays later, Brady targeted Edelman over the middle. This time, the ball definitely did deflect off Edelman's hands. Daniel Sorensen picked it off. The Chiefs got the takeaway deep in Patriots' territory after all. And they had a four-point lead thanks to a perfectly timed screen via Andy Reid, who for all of his faults in late-game clock management remains the league's best play-caller and offensive schemer. If not for Belichick, he'd probably have his Super Bowl already. Now, they just needed to hold off Brady in a situation countless teams have succumbed to over the past 20 or so years. Sure enough, Brady delivered. After spending pretty much the entire game handing the ball off, Brady hit Chris Hogan, who made an unreal catch that withstood a challenge, for a key first down. With under four minutes to play, the Patriots faced a fourth-and-inches from the 10-yard line. Brady checked into a handoff to Michel. Michel ran through a gaping hole. The Patriots led by three. The stage was set for Mahomes to begin writing his own playoff history. An illegal contact penalty gave the Chiefs a first down. A pass-interference penalty brought the ball to the Patriots 40-yard line. One play later, Jonathan Jones dropped an interception in the end zone.<doc-sep>This one belonged to the Saints, until it didn’t. Thanks to one badly missed call and an interception in the overtime period, it will be the Los Angeles Rams who go to Super Bowl LIII after winning the NFC Championship Game in extra time, ending the Saints’ magical run. Here are the highlights from the game.<doc-sep>
The New England Patriots will go on to Super Bowl LIII, where they will face the Los Angeles Rams after beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship on Sunday, 37-31. It was an extremely close game that went to overtime after four lead changes in the fourth quarter (not counting when the Chiefs tied it to send it to overtime). Patrick Mahomes did not get to touch the ball in overtime, as the Patriots received the opening kickoff and managed to score a touchdown after converting a 3rd-and-10 three separate times on the drive. Tom Brady threw two picks, but in the end he could not be denied, tossing a touchdown and throwing for 348 yards. He was assisted by Sony Michel, who rushed for 113 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Mahomes was excellent despite his running game being lacking, with 295 yards and three touchdowns. Sammy Watkins caught 4 passes for 114 yards, while Julian Edelman caught 7 passes for 96 yards. The Patriots had a fast start, and took a 14-0 lead into halftime, largely thanks to an improved pass rush that sacked Patrick Mahomes three times for a loss of 43 yards through two quarters. That same pass rush didn’t get to Mahomes once in their regular season meeting. Kansas City, though, made plenty of adjustments and quickly got themselves back in the game. They limited the New England offense, forced a turnover, and despite some bad calls going against them, took the lead midway through the fourth quarter. But the Patriots once again drove down the field, and Tom Brady led them to a touchdown to take a three-point lead with under four minutes to go. Kansas City, though, responded with a big play to Sammy Watkins that set up a touchdown and another lead change, leaving two minutes on the clock for Brady and the Patriots to work. That’s a scary amount of time to leave on the clock for Brady, and of course, he immediately threw for 20 yards, then 11 yards, and got the Patriots deep into Chiefs territory. They scored, making it a three-point game with the Chiefs trailing. And, of course, the Chiefs took their 30 seconds and turned it into a field goal to tie it and send it into overtime, where Brady marched his team down the field for a touchdown. Below, you can read our live blog, with highlights and analysis from the game. Patriots 37, Chiefs 31, FINAL: The Patriots win the toss and receive the overtime kickoff. Brady hits Hogan for 10 yards and a quick first down. Burkhead goes for no gain, and then Brady misses Edelman, making it a 3rd-and-10. They convert with a 20-yard pass to Edelman. Two more incomplete passes for Brady, and he finds Edelman again on third down for the first down. Two more incomplete passes, and another 3rd-and-10 for New England ... and it’s another Brady pass for a first down, this one 15 yards to Gronkowski. Burkhead goes up the middle for 10 yards, then 3 yards and then 2 yards ... for the touchdown! Mahomes doesn’t get to touch the ball in overtime. Wow! Patriots 31, Chiefs 31, 0:08, 4Q: The Chiefs take over at their own 31-yard line with 32 seconds remaining. Mahomes hits Ware for 21 yards, and they burn their final timeout. Mahomes then hits Robinson for 27 yards, and the Chiefs get some assistance because the Patriots were offsides, stopping the clock and giving them some time to talk it over. Mahomes throws incomplete deep, just to avoid disaster, and the Chiefs will bring out Butker for the field goal attempt. It’s a 39-yard attempt, and it’s good! The game is tied at 31, with 8 seconds on the clock, likely heading to overtime! I REPEAT THIS GAME IS NOT OVER pic.twitter.com/iYXiGIc2hc — The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 21, 2019 Patriots 31, Chiefs 28, 0:39, 4Q: Patterson fields the kickoff and takes it to the New England 35-yard line, which also brings us to the two-minute warning. Brady hits Edelman for 20 yards, and then Hogan for 11 yards, already into field goal range, though they trail by four. Another big pass is under review, initially called a catch, but overturned by the referees. Then Brady has a pass intercepted, but Dee Ford is called for offisdes, making it a 3rd-and-5 for the Patriots with 47 seconds remaining. Brady goes deep to Gronkowski, and it’s complete for 25 yards.