The wildfires in and around the Los Angeles area have forced the rescheduling and postponement of numerous sporting and entertainment activities.
One of those events turned out to be the NFL Wild Card Playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Minnesota Vikings, which was originally scheduled to take place at SoFI Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The game was slated to be played on Monday, Jan. 13. The contest will still hold that date, but the location of the game has been changed to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The NFL announced the decision of the venue change between the two NFC teams on Jan. 9.

“In the interest of public safety, Monday’s Vikings-Rams Wild Card game has been moved from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood to State Farm Stadium, the home of the Cardinals,” the NFL announced.
The matchup between the Rams and the Vikings is the second time the two teams have squared off against one another. The Rams got the best of Sam Darnold and the Vikings, recording a 30-20 win at SoFi Stadium.
After allowing Minnesota to score 14 points in the first quarter, the defense of the Rams tightened up and held the Vikings to just six points the rest of the game to pull out the victory.
So now, the Rams, the NFC West Division winners will have to play the Vikings, the NFC North runner-up, without its normal home-field advantage. The Rams won their last five games before falling to Seattle in the regular season finale while resting most of their offensive starters.
After losing to the Rams in that Week 8 contest, the Vikings reeled off nine straight games before getting waxed by the Detroit Lions to end the regular season. As a result of that defeat, Minnesota surrendered the NFC North crown to the Lions and dropped to the fifth seed.
The Rams are seeded fourth in the NFC playoff bracket. Ahead of their playoff game against Minnesota, Rams head coach Sean McVay shared his thoughts with those who have been affected by the wildfires.
“Obviously, our thoughts and prayers are with everybody who has been affected by these fires,” McVay said. “It’s one of those deals that almost doesn’t feel real, but it certainly is real to the people that are affected. Praying that as many people [as possible] are okay. You just see the amount of people that are affected and it’s one of those deals that gives you perspective.”
In that earlier game against Minnesota, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford had one of his best games of the season, throwing four touchdowns and nearly 300 passing yards (279).

“I think he’s played so long that he does a great job of bringing his best in the most important moments while just playing within himself. I thought he did a couple of things that were unbelievable and then there were a couple of examples of being able to do a great job of playing the quarterback position and distributing the football,” McVay said.
For his part, Stafford said the Vikings are a different ballclub than when the Rams tangled with them in Week 8.
“I think they’re playing different ball. We’re playing different ball,” Stafford said. “You kind of evolve as the season goes on. If you look at the tape, certain things look similar and certain things look different. I think the biggest thing is just personnel watching your guys go up against their guys and how that looks. Scheme-wise, I know there are going to be different wrinkles.”
Aside from talking football and the Vikings, Stafford said he and his family have been affected by the wildfires.
“We’ve lost power where I am for a couple days,” Stafford said. “At some point Tuesday or Wednesday, we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. We’ve been lucky in that regard, that power is the worst thing that has happened to us. It’s a tough thing to watch on the news, to be around and to see driving around. It’s really sad to see what’s going on.”

Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com
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