Rams win sets up Matthew Stafford for Detroit return in wild-card round

The NFL scriptwriters hit this one out of the park.

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is headed back to Detroit for a wild-card round game against the Lions next weekend.

Los Angeles' 21-20 win over the 49ers clinched the No. 6 seed for the Rams. Dallas' 38-10 win over the Commanders made the Cowboys the No. 2 seed, sealing Detroit in at No. 3.

Stafford was the Lions' quarterback from 2009-20 and was traded to the Rams before the 2021 season. In his first year in Los Angeles, Stafford led the Rams to a win in Super Bowl LVI over the Bengals.

The Lions haven't won a playoff game since the 1991 divisional round, which was also the last time they hosted a playoff game. 

Per Action Network, Detroit opened as a four-point favorite in next weekend's game. That's despite the Lions potentially losing their valuable rookie tight end Sam LaPorta and the defense struggling over the last three weeks, including in Week 18 when it allowed 396 yards to Vikings quarterback Nick Mullens.

Stafford returned from a 2022 season hampered by injuries, including a concussion and season-ending neck injury, to lead the Rams back to the postseason after they went 5-12 last year. He finished the regular season 326-of-521 (62.6%) for 3,965 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and played arguably his best football during the last month of the season.

Lions quarterback Jared Goff's storyline entering wild-card week is great, too. The No. 1 overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Rams, Goff was traded to Detroit as part of the Stafford deal, one season after he led Los Angeles to a Super Bowl appearance.

The matchup at quarterback sets up Rams-Lions as the most intriguing game in the NFC for the wild-card round. The league couldn't have scripted it any better.