GREEN BAY — Davante Adams fought back tears in the visitors’ locker room of Lumen Field on Sunday night, another Super Bowl dream deferred.

For the fifth time in his 12-year NFL career, the former Green Bay Packers superstar wide receiver reached the NFC Championship Game, this time with the Los Angeles Rams.

And for the fifth time, his team lost, keeping him from a berth in his first career Super Bowl. Instead, the Seattle Seahawks, thanks to their 31-27 victory over the Rams, will face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.

“Heartbreaking,” a visibly emotional Adams told reporters afterward. 

This is hard to watch. Five NFC Championship Game losses (2014, 2016, 2019, 2020 + 2025) and no Super Bowl appearances. Never let it be said that Davante Adams doesn’t care about winning. He defines what John Wooden called “competitive greatness.” pic.twitter.com/jROfw9q9er

— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) January 27, 2026

Adams made it to four NFC Championship Games during his eight seasons with the Packers: As a rookie in 2014 (when the Packers lost to the Seahawks after squandering a 16-0 lead); in 2016 (when the they ran the table as quarterback Aaron Rodgers predicted, winning eight in a row until getting blown out by the Atlanta Falcons); in 2019 (when they reached the NFC title game in coach Matt LaFleur’s first season but were routed by the San Francisco 49ers); and in 2020 (when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat them at Lambeau Field during a season upended by the COVID-19 pandemic).

He was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders on March 17, 2022, after back-to-back first-team All-Pro seasons in which he caught a combined 203 passes for 2,660 yards and 22 touchdowns. The Raiders dealt him to the New York Jets early in the 2024 season (reuniting him with Rodgers), then signed a two-year, $44 million deal with the Rams.

Playing in only 14 games because of a late-season hamstring injury, Adams still caught 60 passes for 789 yards and an NFL-best 14 touchdowns. He caught four passes for 89 yards and a touchdown on Sunday.

“It’s tough. It’s tough to talk, honestly,” he said afterward. “It just sucks to come up short.” 

Adams, now 33, is an almost certain future Pro Football Hall of Famer, but with a $28 million salary-cap number and an $18 million base salary for 2026, the Rams will have to rework or extend his deal to keep him in Los Angeles.

“He’s meant so much. He’s done so many different things,” head coach Sean McVay said before the game. “Obviously the stats and what he’s done in the red zone, but [it’s not] just the production. There are a lot of stuff that doesn’t go down on the stats that moves our offense forward with the amount of [pass interference penalties] and contact fouls that he’s ended up moving our offense for. That doesn’t necessarily always go down on the stat sheet.

“He elicits attention that opens other things up. He’s a phenomenal leader. He’s got so much wisdom. He’s willing to share and pour into guys. I think he’s added a swag and just an overall charisma and presence. He’s been huge for us.”

Adams, who turned 33 in December, signed a two-year, $44 million deal with the Rams before the 2025 season. His deal runs through 2026, but his cap number balloons to $28 million in 2026. It’s possible he’ll get another chance to compete for a Super Bowl with Stafford and Sean McVay next season.

But in the immediate aftermath of the game, he wasn’t ready to think about the future — his, or the Rams’.

“I’m proud of the way the guys fought,” Adams said after more than 20 seconds of silence following one reporter’s question at his locker. “I mean, it’s tough to focus on [the future] right now. It’s tough, a tough moment that we’re in right now. So, we’ll process the emotions of this and then worry about that.

“But obviously I love this team, I love what this team is about and the fight that we had all year.”

Asked what his time with the Rams meant to him, Adams replied, “It meant everything. This is exactly what I wanted, what I hoped for as far as what you want in a team. And obviously what I’ve been through the past few years is something that was a long time coming to get back in a situation where you’re playing meaningful games in the month of January and into February.

“I don’t regret obviously any decision to come here. I had a ball this year and it’s one of my favorite teams I’ve ever been a part of, no doubt.”

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