Predicting the Winner of the NFC Championship

The Rams can feel confident heading into the NFC Championship against the 49ers.

The Rams can tell themselves they're better than the 49ers and should not lose to them three times in the same season.

The Rams can tell themselves they should have beaten the 49ers in the regular season finale and that they won't give away a 17-point lead this time if they have one.

The Rams can tell themselves that to win, they just need to play a clean game -- no fumbles, no interceptions -- because the 49ers are 1-4 when they fail to force a turnover. And the Rams have played a clean game seven times this season.

The Rams can tell themselves all they need to do is play a conservative and mistake free game and let Jimmy Garoppolo lose it with his weekly turnover.

The Rams can tell themselves whatever they want. But nothing the Rams say will make them have a physical defense that can shut down the 49ers run game the way Green Bay did.

Nothing the Rams say will change the fact that their defensive coordinator, Raheem Morris, seems completely incapable of aligning his defense in a hard eight-man front to truly negate the 49ers run game.

Nothing the Rams say will change the fact that their running game is putrid, so no lead is safe for them. That's why they gave away a 17-point lead to the 49ers a few weeks ago, and nearly gave away a 24-point advantage to the Bucs last week.

The Rams can say all the right things and have all the right intentions, but they simply do not match up well with the 49ers.

That's why the 49ers will win 17-13.