Back in 2020, the then-Detroit Lions Matthew Stafford pulled off something heroic. In their game against the Green Bay Packers on December 13, Stafford had a 6-yard scramble in the fourth quarter with seven minutes remaining in the game and he injured his ribs in that. That forced him to exit the game. An X-ray later revealed that he had torn his rib cartilage. Despite that, he did not stop.

In the very next week, despite his questionable game status, Stafford was active in the game against the Tennessee Titans. Stafford said that for him, the biggest factor in deciding whether he would play is whether he can throw and whether he thinks his body will be able to handle an entire game.

“Don’t want it to be one of those things where you go out there and do something weird early and you’re out after the first series of the game or something,” Stafford had said. “Not to say, take a big hit and who knows what could happen. But [I] want to feel good enough to be able to start the game and hopefully be able to finish it as well. Play at a high level.” Now, after 16 seasons in the NFL and amid retirement talks swirling, it seems that the high level still motivates him. His wife Kelly Stafford’s latest revelation can attest to that.

Kelly revealed on The Morning After with Kelly Stafford & Hank podcast that the Rams signal-caller suffered four cracked ribs during a 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 15. Yet he decided to go out and play in the Philadelphia Eagles game. “People don’t realize just how tough he [Matthew] is because he doesn’t really tell anyone what’s going on. he got hit in San Fran, looked over, I remember watching it, looked over the sidelines, said something and that night came home and was like yeah I think I cracked my ribs,” Kelly said.

“And he did. He cracked four ribs but just didn’t really let anyone in to know really much about it, continued his everyday process like nothing was wrong would come home and be miserable,” Kelly continued. So Stafford entered the game with the determination of a fighting soldier. With that injury, Stafford tossed 26 of 44 passes for 324 yards and a 7.36 yards per throw average while scoring 2 touchdowns at a 97.2 passer rating.

Stafford kicked off the game by delivering a precise pass to Higbee which he turned into a 4-yard touchdown for the Rams. Under Saquon Barkley’s leadership, the Eagles returned to dominate the match. The Philadelphia Eagles won the game 28-22 through Barkley’s 205 rushing yards and multiple touchdowns. Post-game, Stafford, visibly fatigued, addressed the media with candor, But Kelly mentioned that he had aggravated the injury against the Eagles on Sunday and acknowledged after the game that he’d been dealing with a rib injury “for some time.” But even with the injury, Stafford did what he was supposed to in that game against the Niners.

The rain-hit and low-scoring game was a defensive slugfest. So it came down to which QB would commit fewer mistakes. Stafford’s experience made the difference between the two signal-callers. The 36-year-old attempted only 27 passes. Among those, he completed 16 for 160 yards and set up four field goals for kicker Joshua Karty. Not pretty, we have to say, but enough to get the job done.

“It was a tough one. Obviously, some weather conditions, kind of middle of the game. But obviously we didn’t start great. I hit two 49ers in the chest early on, not good. Laughs But you got to keep being resilient and bounce back. Our defense did a hell of a job keeping us in it early. And then you kind of got that feeling the second half, it was going to be one of those games, you know, it wasn’t going to be a light-the-scoreboard-up [game]. It was going to be really good defense, running game, and then who can make a play here or there? And then you see Puka making a great catch over the top that set us up for some points. It was great,” said Stafford post the 49ers match.

With the possibility of his retirement going on the ground, the Super Bowl-winning head coach, all-time winningest coach (for Rams) who had secured his 80th career victory with a win over the Minnesota Vikings back in October ’24 had a few syllables to usher in cahoots with the glimmer of Stafford.

HC on Stafford’s future with the Rams

When it was time for Head Coach Sean McVay to share his opinion on the probability of Stafford returning next season, the 38-year-old just outright refused and instead, he praised his QB for playing through a rib injury he suffered in the first half.

“I’m not really interested in talking about anything as it relates to next year,” the head coach said about Stafford’s future. “Right now, I’m just appreciative of this team.” But talking about his team, he stated: “I just didn’t see it go any other way than us earning a couple more opportunities to play, and that’s tough because you don’t get that. I think you saw. There were some times where some uncharacteristic things in terms of the ball handling.” “We had two turnovers that probably don’t necessarily occur in different elements. A couple of drops. You could see when Saquon got to the second level, it was similar to the first game, but there were some different layers in our defense. He was able to pull away but you know, but they had to play in it too, we had to play in it.”

McVay also got very emotional and said: “Man, I’m damn proud to be associated with this football team. I didn’t see it going any other way than us winning that game 29-28 (on the final drive). And I think this game in a lot of ways epitomized the resilience, the grit, and the ability to overcome adversity. Just had a couple of things that we couldn’t overcome

He further laid his love: “I love this group, I love this coaching staff, I love these players and I also understand and appreciate how difficult it is to be in positions like this where you got the game in hand, I felt like we had total control towards the latter part of that game, momentum was in our favor, and we had an opportunity to win that game and we just came up short.” From being the youngest coach to being their guide to glory, he led the Rams to victory in Super Bowl 56 and having made it to the playoffs six times, it breaks our heart to see him lose yet another season after coming this close to a victory.