LOS ANGELES (AP) — Davante Adams reached the NFC championship game four times during his eight seasons with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers.
Every time, Green Bay came up just short of the Super Bowl — and Adams still feels the pain.
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Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) makes a catch over Carolina Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson (2) during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams, left, makes a first down catch against Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright during overtime of an NFL football divisional playoff game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) smiles as he walks off the field after a win over the Carolina Panthers in an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) is tackled by Carolina Panthers linebacker Christian Rozeboom during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
“It just feels almost like a mythical thing to me at this point,” Adams said Wednesday. “You do everything you can to get there, and it’s been so hard. Been working so hard at it.”
After an ensuing three years spent nowhere near a Super Bowl, Adams is back for his fifth shot when his Los Angeles Rams (14-5) visit the Seattle Seahawks (16-3) on Sunday for another NFC title game.
The 33-year-old Adams is still going strong as the league leader in touchdown receptions and a key component of the NFL's top offense. But when the decorated receiver says he craves that final, ultimate team success far more than individual accolades, it's clear he's among the rare athletes who absolutely mean it.
“Forgive me if I’m not smiling ear-to-ear after the first win or the second (playoff) win, having been here so many times and understanding what it takes to get where we’re ultimately trying to go,” Adams said. “We’re close, and we’ve just got to finish it off.”
Although Adams has been waiting the longest, he's far from the only Rams player who will be playing for a chance at a Super Bowl debut when they face the top-seeded Seahawks for the third time this season.
Sean McVay led the Rams to a championship four seasons ago, but only a handful of players are left from that team — just two on defense.
Matthew Stafford, tight end Tyler Higbee and cornerback Darious Williams are the only players left who made major contributions to that Super Bowl title run and also played extensively for the current team. Williams left and returned to the Rams, as did linebacker Troy Reeder and center Coleman Shelton.
Reeder now plays mostly special teams, while Shelton and starting left tackle Alaric Jackson were backups in 2021. Receiver Tutu Atwell was injured as a rookie and right tackle Rob Havenstein is injured now.
But nobody has been waiting longer than Adams for his first shot at a championship ring. He is one of the most consistent receivers of his generation, posting eight seasons with at least 997 yards while moving up to 26th in NFL history with 12,633 yards.
He almost certainly would have recorded another 1,000-yard season with Los Angeles, but Adams injured his hamstring in December. The Rams fell out of the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC during his three-game absence to close the regular season, most notably blowing a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter in Seattle.
Adams has been vocal about the rejuvenating effect of working with Stafford and McVay, but he also knows his career is closer to its end than its beginning. After struggling along with his entire offense during an OT victory last week at Chicago, he's hoping to play a major role in what's likely to be a career-defining game in Seattle.
“I started off with a great experience with the Packers and didn’t have anything else to compare it to, so you kind of, in a sense, take it for granted,” Adams said. "I don’t think I was taking it for granted, but you go to a situation where you struggle a little bit more in Vegas, and I was blessed to still have a lot of great football there and a lot of great times, but in terms of winning and playing meaningful games, obviously we weren’t in that position.
“Being back in a position where you’re with a great team and a great situation, you definitely have a greater appreciation for times like this, for sure.”
NOTES: The Rams only held a walkthrough practice at their training complex. ... LB Byron Young (knee soreness) wouldn't have practiced if the Rams had a full workout, McVay said. But Young, the Rams' sacks leader, is still expected to play Sunday. ... S Quentin Lake stayed home with an illness.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) makes a catch over Carolina Panthers cornerback Mike Jackson (2) during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams, left, makes a first down catch against Chicago Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright during overtime of an NFL football divisional playoff game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) smiles as he walks off the field after a win over the Carolina Panthers in an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams (17) is tackled by Carolina Panthers linebacker Christian Rozeboom during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose again Thursday and regained more of their losses for the week following the latest walk back by President Donald Trump from tariffs he had earlier threatened.
The S&P 500 gained 0.5% and added to its big gain from Wednesday, when Trump said he had reached “the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland” and called off 10% tariffs for European countries that he said opposed his having the Arctic island. The index has recovered most of the losses it took after Trump shook financial markets with his initial tariff threat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 306 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9%.
It’s the latest example of Trump making a big, initial threat, only to pull back after seeing how much pain it created in financial markets. The pattern has led to the “TACO” acronym, suggesting that “Trump Always Chickens Out” if markets react strongly enough. Tuesday’s drop for the U.S. stock market was the worst since October and large enough that Trump, who often takes credit when Wall Street is doing well, acknowledged “the dip.”
But the pattern has also led to deals for Trump that outsiders may have initially considered unlikely if not for his market-shaking opening moves.
Details are still sparse about the framework of a deal on Greenland that Trump said he reached with the head of NATO. And it is not a signed deal yet.
Financial markets were still showing some signs of nervousness on Thursday. Gold’s price swiveled between small losses and gains before turning 1.6% higher. Its price often rises when investors are looking for something safer to own. The value of the U.S. dollar also weakened against the euro and several other foreign currencies.
But Treasury yields held relatively steady in a signal that foreign investors weren’t rushing out of the U.S. bond market.
Yields got some support from reports on the U.S. economy’s strength that came in better than expected. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected in a potential signal that the pace of layoffs remains low. A second suggested the U.S. economy grew at a faster rate during the summer than the government initially estimated.
A third said that inflation in November was close to economists’ expectations, while spending by U.S. consumers was a touch better than expected.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed as high as 4.28% following the reports, but it later eased to 4.25% from 4.26% late Wednesday.
On Wall Street, Northern Trust climbed 6% after reporting a stronger profit for the end of 2025 than analysts expected. CEO Michael O’Grady also said that the financial services company is entering 2026 with “strong momentum across all our businesses.”
Procter & Gamble added 2.6% after likewise delivering a better profit than analysts expected. Revenue for the company behind the Downy, Pantene and Tide brands, though, fell just shy of expectations amid what CEO Shailesh Jejurikar called a “challenging consumer and geopolitical environment.”
Shares of BitGo, a company that helps crypto businesses and traditional financial firms hold and manage digital assets, rose 2.7% in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange. The company priced its stock at $18 per share in its initial public offering, above its earlier estimated range of $15 to $17.
JPMorgan Chase rose 0.5% after a lawsuit filed by Trump against the bank caused minor ripples for its stock. Trump accused JPMorgan Chase of closing his accounts for political reasons after he left office in 2021.
They helped offset an 8.1% drop for spice seller McCormick & Co., whose profit fell short of expectations. CEO Brendan Foley said it continues to face rising costs because of “a shifting global trade environment.”
All told, the S&P 500 rose 37.73 points to 6,913.35. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 306.78 to 49,384.01, and the Nasdaq composite gained 211.20 to 23,436.02.
In stock markets abroad, indexes climbed across Europe and Asia amid relief on Trump’s walk back of tariffs.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7%, and Germany’s DAX returned 1.2% for two of the world’s bigger moves.
Global markets also got support from a continued easing of long-term yields in Japan’s bond market. They had spiked early in the week on worries that Japan’s popular prime minister could make moves that would add heavily to the government’s already big debt.
But the 40-year Japanese government bond yield has come back since hitting a record and dropped below 4% on Thursday after hitting 4.22% on Tuesday.
AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed.
Trader Drew Cohen,; left, and Specialist Patrick King work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Vincent Napolitano works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Options traders Anthony Spina, second left, and Brian Garvey, right, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Anthony Matesic, left, and trader Edward Curran work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Daniel Krieger is framed by his computer monitors as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Specialist Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, as a television shows President Donald Trump speaking at the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Michale Smyth works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as President Donald Trump speaks at the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Currency traders celebrate as they work in the office with a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center, of over 5,000 points at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, left, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders celebrate as they work in the office with a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center, of over 5,000 points at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders celebrate as they work in the office with a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), center top, of over 5,000 points at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
