Arizona Cardinals vs Los Angeles Rams Preview & Prediction – 1/4/2026

The Arizona Cardinals make the short trip to SoFi Stadium to face the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in the final game of the regular season for these NFC West rivals. Arizona comes into this contest struggling and currently holds a 3-13 record, while the Rams have gone 11-5 and are gearing up for playoff football. Here, I break down this Week 18 contest in the NFL and give you my Cardinals vs Rams prediction from Inglewood.

Our Cardinals vs Rams Pick

Game Snapshot

• Matchup: Arizona Cardinals vs Los Angeles Rams
• Date & Time: Sunday, January 4, 2026, 4:25 PM ET
• Venue: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
• Broadcast: FOX

Key Storylines

Arizona’s season has been a difficult campaign marked by a ton of losses and inconsistent production on both sides of the ball. The Cardinals have dropped nine of their last 10 games and have failed to register a victory in their last five outings. Their defense has struggled in key areas, including third-down defense and red zone defense, leaving them vulnerable against a high-powered Rams offense. But given the Cardinals’ record, they would be best served to lose this game anyway.

On the other side, Los Angeles has been a consistently strong team in 2025 and currently holds an 11-5 record with a solid 6-1 record at home. The Rams’ ability to make explosive plays and score often has given them a legitimate chance to win the Super Bowl this year. But the Rams took a loss on Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 17 thanks to some rare mistakes from Matthew Stafford and they will need to clean things up to win here.

Quarterback Play

For Arizona, Jacoby Brissett has led the offense with over 3,100 passing yards and 21 touchdowns despite the team’s overall struggles. He’s shown the ability to limit turnovers but has lacked consistent support from the ground game and defense.

Matthew Stafford has enjoyed a banner year for the Rams with more than 4,400 yards passing and 42 touchdown passes and just 8 interceptions. While the Rams have very little to gain, head coach Sean McVay has already stated that Stafford and the rest of the starters are going to play in this contest.

Betting Trends & H2H

• The Rams defeated the Cardinals 45-17 in their first meeting of the season.
• The Rams are an NFL-best 11-5 against the spread this season.
• Arizona is 6-10 against the spread going into the final week of the year.
• Both teams are 9-7 to the over going into Week 18.

Cardinals vs Rams Model Projection

Final Thoughts

Jay Sanin

Jay Sanin is the GM and Head of Sports at ATS.io. He has been writing about sports gambling since 2013, handicapping tens of thousands of sporting events. He plays sides and totals aggressively across most sports and is more selective in player prop markets. He does his own modeling across most sports, and his family is jealous of how much time he spends on his precious spreadsheets.