SoFi Stadium has quickly become one of the premier venues in the NFL, which is both good and bad for the Los Angeles Rams. The fact that it’s become a destination for fans of other teams has limited the home-field for the Rams, particularly when well-traveling fanbases are on the schedule.
That’s forced the Rams to use a silent count on offense in their own stadium, which is a rarity in the NFL. That shouldn’t be the case on Monday night when the Minnesota Vikings come to town, though.
The Rams should have a major home-field advantage based on the crowd forecast. According to Vivid Seats’ Fan Forecast, Rams fans are projected to make up 90% of the crowd at SoFi Stadium. On several occasions this season, Rams fans have been outnumbered at home – particularly by Eagles, Raiders and 49ers supporters – but it’ll be a favorable crowd on Monday night.
That should help both the offense and defense. The offense will be able to operate with a normal cadence at the line, and if the crowd is loud when the Rams are on defense, it could lead to false starts and delay of game penalties by the Vikings offense.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell admitted that the team was caught off-guard by how loud Rams fans were in Week 8 when the Rams and Vikings squared off on Thursday Night Football, so he’s preparing for a hostile environment this week.
“I’ll say this. When we went there on Thursday night, one of the things that caught us after a really fast start scoring two touchdowns on our first two drives, Matthew Stafford and that offense was able to answer with touchdowns, the noise affected us a little bit later on, maybe a little bit more so than we thought,” O’Connell said this week. “So we’ve got to be prepared for that, not knowing exactly what it’s going to be like.”
The Rams haven’t always had a real home-field advantage since moving back to Los Angeles but it sounds like they will on Monday night – and that could be a difference-maker for Sean McVay’s team.
