An observation, but the Los Angeles Rams have now been eliminated in back-to-back postseasons by the eventual Super Bowl Champions, and in both cases, the Rams came up just short.
In 2024, the Rams lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Divisional Round by a score of 28-22. L.A. had a chance to take a late lead, they were driving, but their drive stalled out as the offensive line failed to hold up for Matthew Stafford.
The Rams would lose as Philly went on to the win the Super Bowl. The Rams gave Philly their
biggest challenge of their postseason run.
In 2025, the Rams lost to the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 31-27. L.A. (similar to the Philly game) had a chance for a go-ahead score late, and they were driving, but at the 6-yard line, L.A. stalled out as Stafford was unable to connect with any of his receivers for a go-ahead touchdown.
Seattle went on to win the Super Bowl, and the Rams gave Seattle the biggest challenge of their postseason run.
Both games had L.A. turnovers, both games had mental mistakes, both games were winnable by the Rams on their best day.
What do these losses mean?
On a base level, it means that the Rams have had a team capable of pushing the past two Super Bowl Champions to the brink, and despite their errors in those games, L.A. still had the chance to knock both teams out.
Had L.A. been able to do that in either 2024 or 2025, they’d of potentially had a shot to win it all.
You could say L.A. winning it all in 2024 is a bit more of a stretch because they would’ve had to beat the Eagles (the clear best team in the NFL), and then the Washington Commanders before taking on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
For 2025, had the Rams found a way to beat Seattle, they’d have gone to the Super Bowl. The Rams had the talent, but for whatever reason, they didn’t have the mentality, and tip your cap to Seattle who was the best team when it mattered most, but it’s not like the Rams didn’t put up a heck of a fight.
Even with their fumble in the NFC Championship game, and the offense failing to score before halftime and giving the ball back to Seattle who did score, they lost by four points. They were right there.
However, for the second year in a row, the Rams came up short, and when they have to watch the team that beat them go on to win the whole thing, that has to weigh on the psyche of the team.
Yes, the Rams have been close to doing something truly memorable and special the last two seasons, but they’ve fallen short both times. Until that changes, that’s a feature not a glitch.
And here’s another observation, if Sean McVay and Les Snead want to stay off the hot seat, they need to change this pattern because while winning covers up a lot in the NFL, losing exposes you, whether that’s fair or not.
