One of the biggest stories heading into the 2025 National Football League playoffs from the 2024 NFL regular season is the fact that the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will not be playing at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The game has been moved to State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona (home of the Arizona Cardinals) because of the Southern California wildfires.
In a catastrophic environmental disaster, 179,000 people have been evacuated from their homes because of wildfires in the Los Angeles region. On Tuesday, the city of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency, and many Californians who have been fortunate to remain in their homes in the area have no power. Meanwhile, many people have had difficulty leaving the area as flights have been cancelled. It is simply too dangerous for pilots to fly in the region.
In addition to the Vikings and Rams game (which as scheduled for Monday night as the final NFL playoff game on opening weekend), the National Hockey League postponed the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings game scheduled for crypto.com Arena on Wednesday, and the National Basketball Association postponed the Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets game scheduled for crypto.com Arena on Thursday. However, it was clear the NFL could not postpone the Vikings and Rams, and a contingency plan had to be put into place.
It is interesting that the Vikings are the 2.5 point favourite in the contest even though they are the visitors. This game becomes more of a neutral site game, like NFL games are in Europe, with the game being played in Arizona. I, for one, actually like the Rams as the only wildcard underdog to win. The Vikings defense did not impress me at all against Detroit in week 18. The other wildcard games have Denver at Buffalo, Los Angeles Chargers at Houston, Pittsburgh at Baltimore, Washington at Tampa Bay, and Green Bay at Philadelphia.
