Rams opened 4.5-point road favorites vs. Bears amid cold and historical trend

Cbssports reports the Los Angeles Rams opened as a 4.5-point road favorite over the Chicago Bears, a spread that — if it holds — would mark the first time in NFL history a road playoff team has been favored by four points or more in two different games during the same postseason. The Rams were also favored by 10.5 points in the wild-card win over the Panthers, making them the largest road favorite in the Super Bowl era in that round.

The point spread has since moved toward the Bears; as of Thursday the Rams were favored by 3.5 at DraftKings, though some markets still show a four-point spread. Historically, road teams favored by four or more points in playoff games have struggled. According to Pro Football Reference, there have been 10 such games in the past 50 years; the favored road teams went 0-10 against the spread and 4-6 straight up.

The Rams were among those teams, failing to cover in the wild-card win over the Panthers. Weather is expected to be a factor: kickoff temperature in Chicago is forecast to be just under 20 degrees for the 6:30 p.m. ET game on NBC. Since Sean McVay was hired in 2017 the Rams have played three games with kickoff temperatures of 25 degrees or lower (Week 6, 2018 at Broncos — 25 degrees; Week 15, 2022 vs.

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Sports, Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears, Nfl Playoffs, Matthew Stafford, Sean Mcvay