NFL isn’t ever going to rival rugby for sheer entertainment – at least here in South Africa – but if you can find space to dabble in both, you should make a little time to watch the highlights from Monday Night Football’s epic showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Rams.

The encounter, which featured the third-most points in NFL history and more than 1 000 yards of offence, was called the “greatest regular season game of all time” by ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith.

The folks at the Ringer were similarly effusive in their praise:

Rams-Chiefs wasn’t just a potential Super Bowl preview. It wasn’t just the game of the year—or possibly the decade or the century. (We can hit pause on that question for when we’ve all had a chance to come down from this high.) It was a freaking Stefon skit come to life.

This game just had everything. It had the awesome: A 54-51 final score to put Los Angeles past Kansas City. The third-most points in NFL history, 1,001 yards of offense, 56 first downs … and seven turnovers. There were two fumble-return touchdowns and an interception-return touchdown. There were 14 total touchdowns—more than the Bills have had all season…

This game was, occasionally, very sloppy. But, man, that was football nirvana. I’ve never seen anything like it. When a game is that wild, the stakes skyrocket. After all the touchdowns and turnovers, big plays and penalties, there was a sense that anything could happen as the seconds ticked away. There was never going to be a casual drive down the field to put the game on ice, or any lead that could ever be described as “comfortable.”

This game had the collective euphoria of a Super Bowl and it was only a regular-season game between two teams that were already virtually guaranteed to make the playoffs. If the Rams and Chiefs do meet with the Lombardi Trophy on the line, the resulting game could be the best of all time.

Like I said, it was an all-time classic, which means the highlights run a little longer than usual.

Also, it being the NFL, you’ll have to click the ‘Watch on YouTube’ option below to enjoy the highlights:

Good, but not ‘beating the All Blacks in their own backyard‘ good.

[source:ringer]