Matthew Stafford, the Super Bowl MVP who has an arm as big as his body, is no stranger to problems. Stafford’s road to this fateful game wasn’t shin-dark. From his dome-bomber days in Detroit to his California reboot, Stafford has shown he is resilient under the right conditions. In 2024, he gave up 3,762 yards, and 20 TDs on 65.8% completions and had the Rams go 9-3 over their last 12 contests. Broken bones at key receivers such as Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp didn’t get him out of whack—in fact, they only served to illustrate how resilient he was. Yet all those summery wins can seem remote when he takes to the snowy, frigid grass of Philadelphia.

Former Eagles fullback Jon Ritchie did not mince words on the Rams’ opportunities under Philadelphia’s icy tentacles. He said that the weather will make a difference… “[Eagles are] used to it, it will not affect their game negatively. I can’t say that with certainty for the Rams. This Rams team is a fair-weather team. It’s hard to play when it’s cold. It hurts more and they’re not used to that,” Ritchie joked. He was direct and to the point about the fight ahead of Stafford and his men. It’s not a place at Lincoln Financial Field, it’s a secret weapon that the Eagles hold like the 12th man on the field.

It’s the Divisional Round against the Philadelphia Eagles that puts Stafford up against his greatest enemy: the weather. Stafford’s numbers under these conditions are a QB’s worst nightmare—a 1-8 record, 54.6% completion percentage, 76.0 passer rating. Be it weather or snow or bitter cold, it drains his game of its magic. As the Rams travel to slick Lincoln Financial Field, Stafford isn’t fighting only the Eagles: he’s fighting time itself and a good deal of that record comes from the Detroit Lions, a team that was never very good overall, especially in divisional games against the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, both teams used to playing in the cold and snow. The terrible overall form of those years certainly influenced Stafford’s stats and records.

Stafford has fared better with the Los Angeles Rams since arriving on the scene, and his record in frigid environments is now 4-3. His last two contests, against the Baltimore Ravens and Green Bay Packers (both in rain), and other contests vs the New York Giants in the snow, the New York Jets in the cold, and the San Francisco 49ers in the rain, are proof that Stafford has settled in better. These games showcase an improved Rams squad that can weather any storm that’s thrown its way, as opposed to what he was doing in Detroit.

The weather and the woes for Matthew Stafford and Co.

There’ll be snow in the field and temperatures dropping to an unimaginably frigid 16°F (-9°C) by night. They aren’t just numbers on a chart: they’re Stafford’s Achilles’ heel. He had the bleak numbers: 14 TDs, 11 interceptions, and an awful track record of fumbles in games against bad weather played out there. Cold hands, slippery footballs, and disrupted timing have blighted his play, with every throw a struggle.

But instead of facing the elements, Stafford embraces them. The Eagles do. Their bad-weather game history reads like a novel from a football dream. The NFL Championship Game of 1948, for instance. It was played in a snowstorm that was so bad it got called “Philly Blizzard.” The winning touchdown, during the fourth quarter, was run in by Steve Van Buren, who scampered through the snow to get a 7-0 win over the Chicago Cardinals. For the Eagles, snow was not the problem. And that is why they won.

Or we can look at the 2004 NFC Championship Game between the Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons. The temperatures? 12°F (-11°C)! Michael Vick, the dynamic, wily quarterback, had just 136 yards passing and 26 rushing from an Eagles’ defense that looked accustomed to the cold. And the 27-10 Eagles triumph propelled them into their first Super Bowl in decades—and once again showed that the elements are better friend than enemies for this tough team.

Compare that to the Rams, whose warm Los Angeles weather never tests their grit on the field. There aren’t many snow games and the tricks—slippery boards, frozen hands, unpredictable ball movement—are an arduous process to master. The Philadelphia snowstorm is a more cruel cosmic accident than a weather prediction for Stafford, a quarterback who grew up with domes and sunshine. The Rams’ running game, their soul under Stafford, could be crippled by mistakes and bad calls on a snowy field.

When the day of the game rolls around, we know the plot. Will Matthew Stafford buck the odds and write his history in the snow? Are the Rams up to something that has condemned them in the past? Or will the Eagles be bolstered?