Even though Super Bowl LXI will be played on Valentine’s Day in 2026, there’s no love between the Los Angeles Rams and the rest of the NFC West.
With the Seattle Seahawks winning Super Bowl LX, Los Angeles Rams safety Quentin Lake recently shared his feelings toward the new champions and the San Francisco 49ers.
“Surprisingly, I don’t hate them [the Seahawks] as much as the Niners,” Lake told Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams. “I have more respect for them just because they play hard, and I know some guys over there, obviously, Ernest Jones and Cooper Kupp. Those are guys that I’ve been close with and guys that I’ve shed blood, sweat, and tears with on the field, and been able to talk to. I obviously went against Cooper Kupp multiple times in practice. There was no bad blood at all. I mean, I don’t have that same feeling. [I’m] just more disappointed it wasn’t us.”
The Rams played the Seahawks three times during the 2025 season. Both clubs split their regular-season matchups in Week 11 and Week 16. However, Seattle eventually got the last laugh in the playoffs by defeating the Rams in the NFC Championship Game for a trip to Super Bowl LX -- eventually lifting the Seahawks’ second Lombardi Trophy in franchise history.
Lake having a slight favorite is kind of a surprise, even with the Rams losing to Seattle in the NFC title game. Lake, a 2022 sixth-round pick, was teammates with linebacker Ernest Jones for two seasons in Los Angeles in 2022 and 2023. The Rams safety also teammates with Cooper Kupp before the wideout signed with Seattle in March 2025.
In 2025, the Rams and the 49ers split their regular-season games with each team winning on the road in Week 5 and Week 10, respectively.
Despite the Rams falling short of lifting the Lombardi Trophy this season, Lake believes the returning cast of veterans like quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Davante Adams and others could win another Super Bowl.
“Finish what we couldn’t do this past year. That’s it,” Lake said about the team’s goal for next season. “I’ma start doing it for everybody else. Everybody in the building knew how close we were and we felt like it, you know, if there was a couple things that we did better, it would have been us in Super Bowl 60. So, I’m more so doing it really for Stafford, coach [Sean] McVay, for Davante and all these older guys.”
Before Lake’s and L.A.’s quest to Super Bowl LXI begins, the Rams will get a chance to face their least favorite NFC West opponent, the 49ers, in the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Australia.