On Sunday, October 28, 2018, the Green Bay Packers trailed the unbeaten Los Angeles Rams 29-27 with 2:05 left at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Aaron Rodgers was on the sideline, the Packers had a timeout and the two-minute warning to come, and they needed only a field goal. Ty Montgomery caught the kickoff two yards deep in the end zone and brought it out. Ramik Wilson stripped the ball at the 20 and recovered it, Todd Gurley ran for a first down and stopped at the 4, and Jared Goff knelt. Rodgers never touched the ball again, and the Rams were 8-0.
The two teams meet again on Thanksgiving Eve, Wednesday, November 25, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET at SoFi Stadium. It is the first regular-season game the league has staged on the night before Thanksgiving.
A 7-0 team and a rested one
Sean McVay’s Rams came in 7-0 with Gurley, who had scored in every game. Mike McCarthy’s Packers were 3-2-1 and coming off their bye. Green Bay started by running Aaron Jones and getting after Goff.
It worked for most of the first half. Rodgers hit Davante Adams for 48 yards on third-and-5, and Jimmy Graham caught a 22-yard pass that was first ruled a touchdown and then moved to the 1 on replay. Jamaal Williams ran in from there. Mason Crosby’s 41-yard field goal early in the second quarter made it 10-0. Goff was sacked three times in the half, twice by Kenny Clark, and the Rams punted on each of their first five possessions.
A safety, a stand and a failed two-point try
The Rams got back into it with field position. Johnny Hekker pinned the Packers at their 1 with a 52-yard punt, and on the next snap Mark Barron dropped Jones in the end zone for a safety. After the free kick, Goff found Brandin Cooks for 25 yards on a play the Rams won on a challenge, then hit Gurley for 32 yards to the 3 on another catch that replay overturned from incomplete.
Green Bay’s defense held twice at the 1. On third down, Goff threw a 1-yard touchdown to Josh Reynolds with 25 seconds left in the half. Gurley was stopped on the two-point try, and it was 10-8 at halftime.
Gurley, Reynolds and Jones
Crosby made a 53-yard field goal after an Aaron Donald sack stalled the Packers’ first drive of the third quarter. The Rams answered with a 75-yard drive that ended when Goff dumped a short pass to Gurley over the middle and he went 30 yards for a touchdown. Goff then hit Gurley again for two points, and Los Angeles led 16-13.
The Packers went three-and-out, and Goff led an eight-play drive that ended with a 19-yard touchdown pass to Reynolds with 1:56 left in the third quarter. It was 23-13. Green Bay needed five plays to answer. On third-and-9, Rodgers threw deep down the middle to Adams for 41 yards, and two plays later Jones ran 33 yards up the middle for a touchdown with 21 seconds left in the quarter. It was 23-20.
Valdes-Scantling for the lead
Greg Zuerlein’s 43-yard field goal pushed the Rams ahead 26-20 with 11:44 left. Rodgers then went 75 yards in five plays. Adams caught passes of 15 and 20 yards along the left sideline, and on second-and-9 from the Rams’ 40, Rodgers threw deep to rookie Marquez Valdes-Scantling for a 40-yard touchdown. Crosby’s extra point made it 27-26 with 8:50 left.
The Rams’ next drive stalled when Clay Matthews sacked Goff on third-and-14. Green Bay went three-and-out too, ending with a Donald sack on third-and-6, and J.K. Scott’s 25-yard punt gave the Rams the ball at the Packers’ 40 with 5:20 left. On third-and-6, Gurley ran 23 yards to the 13. A holding penalty pushed the Rams back, Gurley got 7 yards on the next two carries, and Zuerlein kicked a 34-yard field goal with 2:09 left. It was 29-27.
The kickoff
Zuerlein’s kickoff came down two yards deep in the end zone, according to the official play-by-play. Montgomery took it out, got to the 20, and Wilson punched the ball loose and fell on it at the 21. Under the 2018 rules, a knee in the end zone would have given Green Bay the ball at its 25 with 2:05 left, the two-minute warning and one timeout.
“The plan was to stay in [the end zone] and give the ball to Aaron Rodgers,” McCarthy said. “Obviously the plan there is to stay in the end zone. Two minute. We actually talked about it as a team.” He added, “I think Ty was just trying to make a play.”
Rodgers said: “That play didn’t lose the game, but it definitely took away an opportunity for us to go down and win it.” Adams said, “The game was won. I already worked out in my head how everything was going to happen. All we needed was the ball.”
Montgomery did not speak after the game. The next day, he said he had a returnable ball and did not want to kneel near the goal line and leave the spot to the officials. “So I made a split-second decision,” he said. “Unfortunately, I ended up fumbling the football. I don’t think we’d be having this conversation if I didn’t fumble the football because we know how good our two-minute offense is.” On Tuesday, October 30, the Packers traded him to Baltimore.
Stopping at the 4
The Packers used their last timeout after Gurley’s 2-yard run. Reynolds lost 2 on a run, and the Rams called their own last timeout at 1:05, facing third-and-10 at the 21. Gurley took a handoff around left end, broke into the open and, with nobody between him and the goal line, went down at the 4 after a 17-yard gain. The Rams had a first down, the Packers had no timeouts, and Goff took one kneel-down to finish it.
“Man, forget fantasy,” Gurley said. “We got the win, so that’s all that matters.” He said the Rams practiced the situation. “We go over this stuff every week. We know what to do in what situations,” he said. “We don’t want to give 12 back the ball.”
| Quarter | Time | Team | Scoring play | Score (GB-LAR) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 6:05 | GB | Jamaal Williams 1-yard run (Mason Crosby kick) | 7-0 |
| 2nd | 14:23 | GB | Crosby 41-yard field goal | 10-0 |
| 2nd | 2:54 | LAR | Mark Barron tackles Aaron Jones in the end zone, safety | 10-2 |
| 2nd | 0:25 | LAR | Josh Reynolds 1-yard pass from Jared Goff (run failed) | 10-8 |
| 3rd | 9:43 | GB | Crosby 53-yard field goal | 13-8 |
| 3rd | 7:28 | LAR | Todd Gurley 30-yard pass from Goff (Gurley pass from Goff) | 13-16 |
| 3rd | 1:56 | LAR | Reynolds 19-yard pass from Goff (Greg Zuerlein kick) | 13-23 |
| 3rd | 0:21 | GB | Jones 33-yard run (Crosby kick) | 20-23 |
| 4th | 11:44 | LAR | Zuerlein 43-yard field goal | 20-26 |
| 4th | 8:57 | GB | Marquez Valdes-Scantling 40-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers (Crosby kick) | 27-26 |
| 4th | 2:09 | LAR | Zuerlein 34-yard field goal | 27-29 |
The numbers
Gurley finished with 114 rushing yards on 25 carries and six catches for 81 yards, 195 yards from scrimmage. Goff threw for 295 yards and three touchdowns but was sacked five times. Rodgers threw for 286 yards, 133 of them to Adams on five catches, and Jones ran 12 times for 86 yards. Neither team turned the ball over until the kickoff.
| Packers | Rams | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterback | Aaron Rodgers | Jared Goff |
| Completions-attempts | 18-30 | 19-35 |
| Passing yards | 286 | 295 |
| Touchdowns-interceptions | 1-0 | 3-0 |
| Times sacked | 3 | 5 |
| Top receiver | Davante Adams, 5 for 133 | Todd Gurley, 6 for 81 |
| Top rusher | Aaron Jones, 12 for 86 | Todd Gurley, 25 for 114 |
| Third downs | 2 of 9 | 8 of 18 |
| Lost fumbles | 1 | 0 |
What came next
The Rams lost for the first time a week later, 45-35 in New Orleans, then beat Kansas City 54-51 in the highest-scoring Monday night game ever. They finished 13-3, won the NFC and lost Super Bowl LIII to New England, 13-3. Green Bay never got back above .500. McCarthy was fired on December 2 after a home loss to Arizona, and the Packers finished 6-9-1.
Thanksgiving Eve in Inglewood
This time Matt LaFleur’s Packers (6-3) and McVay’s Rams (5-4) meet in prime time on the holiday week, part of the schedule laid out in our Thanksgiving week guide. Jordan Love leads Green Bay and Matthew Stafford leads Los Angeles. The Packers host Minnesota and the Rams visit Arizona on Sunday, and both are in the NFC wild-card race in the latest playoff picture.
The scoring plays, clock times, drive details and player numbers above come from the official play-by-play and game data. The quotes are from postgame comments and Montgomery’s remarks the next day.
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