Through 12 seasons and four teams, Davante Adams' quest for a Super Bowl berth remains unfinished.
With each of the Los Angeles Rams' playoff wins this season, his celebration has been tempered. Why? Because that elusive Super Bowl goal is what really matters.
"Just having been here so many times and understanding exactly what it takes to get where we're ultimately trying to go," Adams said Wednesday, via ESPN’s Sarah Barshop. "It's obviously exciting to achieve the minor goals along the way that you ultimately need to do to get where you want to be, but yeah, [getting to a Super Bowl] just feels like almost like a mythical thing to me at this point."
When Adams and the fifth-seeded Rams face the top-seeded Seattle Seahawks on Sunday it will mark the six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver's fifth NFC Championship Game appearance. Unfortunately for the three-time All-Pro, he's 0-4 in such games -- which all came previously with the Green Bay Packers. After Adams was traded from the Packers to the Las Vegas Raiders and then to the New York Jets, even making the playoffs became an unchecked box.
But with the Rams, the wide receiver returned to the postseason dance for the first time since his last season with Green Bay in 2021. Now, he's back in the NFC title game, somewhere he hasn't been since the 2020 campaign when he, the Packers and Aaron Rodgers were on the losing end against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He will return to the setting of perhaps his most heartbreaking championship setback, as Adams and the Packers were bested by the Seahawks in the 2014 NFC title game. Green Bay led, 19-7, with just more than two minutes to play when Russell Wilson and the Seahawks mounted an improbable rally before winning in overtime.
"It's tough not to think about that one," Adams said. "A loss like that will last a long time. And we've got an opportunity to change that now."
When thinking about this one, Adams has a more profound outlook for what's been accomplished and how close he is to finally reaching the Super Bowl.
"Being back in a position where you're with a great team and in a great situation, you definitely have a greater appreciation for times like this for sure," he said.
Following his salad days in Green Bay, Adams weathered two-plus seasons with the Raiders and half a year with the Jets, seasons that produced nothing but sub-.500 results.
Aside from a hamstring injury sidelining him at the end of the regular season, Adam's first year with the Rams has gone swimmingly. He racked up an NFL-leading 14 touchdown receptions in 14 games and has helped Sean McVay's crew to a pair of postseason wins.
This next one will no doubt prove to be the most difficult to get, as history has shown him. It will also be the most gratifying if it is to be garnered.
"You do everything you can to get there," he said. "It's been so hard, and [I've] been working so hard at it. So we're close. We just got to finish it off."
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