The Los Angeles Rams will be the home team when they face the Minnesota Vikings to close out the wild-card round on Monday night, but they won’t be using the home locker room at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The Rams were supposed to host the game in Los Angeles, but with wildfires raging in Southern California, the NFL decided to move the game to Arizona, marking the first time in 88 years that the league has moved a postseason game to a neutral site.
Over the past few days, the NFL and the Arizona Cardinals have been doing everything possible to make the Monday night showdown feel like a home game for the Rams. The Cardinals’ retractable field has even been painted with the Rams’ logo and colors.
As the home team on Monday night, the Rams had the option of using the home locker room at State Farm Stadium, but they decided to turn that down. The Rams have won nine of their past 10 games at the Cardinals’ stadium while using the visitor’s locker room, so coach Sean McVay thought it would make sense for his team to stick with what they know.
“We’re familiar with it,” McVay said of why the Rams chose the visiting locker room.
Although the Rams will be in the road team’s locker room, that doesn’t mean Minnesota will be getting the home locker room. According to NFL Network, the Vikings will be in an “auxiliary locker room,” so the home locker room will now be going unused.
So the home team chose not to use the home locker room and the visiting team will be in an auxiliary that normally goes unused by NFL teams.
It’s been an emotional week for the Rams, but if there’s one thing that’s been normal, it’s the fact that they’ve been able to prep for a game.
“Normal is preparing for a game,” McVay said. “Normal is enjoying the opportunity to prepare for a game when there are 18 teams that don’t have the luxury of being able to do that. Normal is being around these guys and trying the best we can to put together good plans that accentuate our player’s skill sets and the different situations as we build throughout the course of the week. Normal is the energy that these guys brought today. I really was appreciative. I think our group’s built for this is a unique situation.”
The final game of Wild Card Weekend will be kicking off at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC. The winner will advance to the divisional round where they’ll face the Philadelphia Eagles.
