GREEN BAY – The histories of the Packers and Rams at this stage of the NFC playoffs are very rich, but very different.
Since the 1970 league merger and advent of the divisional playoff round, which constitutes the final eight teams in the league alive for a Super Bowl championship, the Packers and Rams have appeared 17 and 14 times, respectively.
One of those was against each other, in the 2001 postseason, a 45-17 Rams victory when they played in St. Louis. The two teams have advanced to a combined seven Super Bowls from here.
Both teams have been outstanding at home in the divisional round, losing just once each (Green Bay 5-1, LA 7-1), which plays to the Packers' advantage for Saturday's 3:35 p.m. CT matchup at Lambeau Field.
Both also have seen their share of the Dallas Cowboys at this stage, with five of the Packers' matchups and five of the Rams' coming against that same team.
But the similarities end there.
Of the Packers' 17 appearances, 15 have come since 1990, while of the Rams' 14 appearances, just five have come in the last 30 years.
For Green Bay, the run of success obviously coincides with the Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers era at quarterback, leading to Super Bowls after the '96, '97 and 2010 seasons. Since '93, the longest stretch the Packers have gone without reaching the divisional round is three years (1998-2000 and 2004-06).
For LA, it's had two separate strong runs – six appearances in the '70s, with the last one in '79 finally resulting in a Super Bowl berth, and then four more from '99 to '03 in the Kurt Warner era, leading to two more Super Bowls. The Rams' most recent appearance, in 2018, preceded another trip to the Super Bowl but came on the heels of a 13-year drought of getting this far (2005-17).
Here's a listing of both teams' histories in the NFC Divisional playoffs (* denotes advanced to Super Bowl):
Packers
1972 at Washington, L 16-3
+1982 at Dallas, L 37-26
1993 at Dallas, L 27-17
1994 at Dallas, L 34-9
1995 at San Francisco, W 27-17
*1996 vs. San Francisco, W 35-14
*1997 vs. Tampa Bay, W 21-7
2001 at St. Louis, L 45-17
2003 at Philadelphia, L 20-17 OT
2007 vs. Seattle, W 42-20
*2010 at Atlanta, W 48-21
2011 vs. N.Y. Giants, L 37-20
2012 at San Francisco, L 45-31
2014 vs. Dallas, W 26-21
2015 at Arizona, L 26-20 OT
2016 at Dallas, W 34-31
2019 vs. Seattle, W 28-23
Totals: 8-9 (5-1 home, 3-8 road)
(+in strike-shortened season, was labeled "second-round playoff" but was same stage as divisional with 8 teams remaining)
Rams
1973 at Dallas, L 27-16
1974 vs. Washington, W 19-10
1975 vs. St. Louis, W 35-23
1976 at Dallas, W 14-12
1978 vs. Minnesota, W 34-10
*1979 at Dallas, W 21-19
1983 at Washington, L 51-7
1985 vs. Dallas, W 20-0
1989 at N.Y. Giants, W 19-13 OT
*1999 vs. Minnesota, W 49-37
*2001 vs. Green Bay, W 45-17
2003 vs. Carolina, L 29-23 OT
2004 at Atlanta, L 47-17
*2018 vs. Dallas, W 30-22
Totals: 10-4 (7-1 home, 3-3 road)
