Assuming a win next week against the hapless Detroit Lions, the Rams have wrapped up a first round bye and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They don't lose at home, which would have to make them at least an even bet to go to the Super Bowl.

Yesterday was a high-quality performance all around--including Marc Bulger. The past is the past, and this team ain't the Rams of '99 or '01, but they'll actually finish with a better record than the championship team of '99. In my opinion, the only team that has a shot against them is the Eagles, and they won't face them until the NFC Championship game--at the Edward D. Jones Dome.

The fact that the Rams have largely remained under the radar this season (they are the number one team in the NFC now, and yet one still sees relatively little national coverage of them as contrasted with the Eagles or the Cowboys) will only work to their advantage. They don't have the huge target on their back that they had in '01.