The Los Angeles Rams’ recent loss to the Seattle Seahawks is a much bigger deal than most are making it out to be. For a team with Super Bowl expectations, the path to the pinnacle of professional football just grew much more difficult.
Let’s assess the fallout of the loss and evaluate where the Rams stand in the balance of the NFC West conference. These are three things I think about this team into the final weeks of the regular season.
1 – The playoff bracket is unfavorable to Rams
For the purposes of this discussion, let’s assume either the Seahawks
or San Francisco 49ers take the NFC West and first seed in the conference. With the Carolina Panthers’ win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, they are now the firm favorite to win the NFC South. The Chicago Bears are also currently leading the NFC North.
With the Rams resigned to a wildcard berth, there are three probable paths for the first game of the postseason:
- At the Philadelphia Eagles
- At the Chicago Bears
- At the Carolina Panthers
Los Angeles did not face the Bears over the regular season. They lost to both of the Eagles and Panthers. While the Rams enjoyed a sizeable lead over the Eagles, this is a team that has had LA’s number in recent seasons. The Panthers loss was a mild surprise; however, Carolina is a young team growing in confidence and they were able to copy the 49ers’ blueprint to take down the Rams.
Earning safety through a first-round bye is paramount, especially if your goal is to make it to the big dance. These are roughly 50/50 matchups, and the margin for error narrows for road teams.
I’m not saying I think the Rams will be bounced in the opening round of the postseason, but it is a realistic possibly. We cannot discount the fact that the path to the Super Bowl increased dramatically in terms of degree of difficulty after the Rams’ loss to Seattle.
Past is prologue, and history tells us the Rams have already lost to two of three potential opponents.
2 – The special teams issues likely can’t be fixed
The Rams fired special teams coordinator Chase Blackburn and replaced him with former Denver Broncos assistant Ben Kotwica.
Let’s be honest about what difference this move truly makes. While Blackburn very well could have been a problem on the coaching staff and contributed to the special teams struggles, it’s unlikely that turning him to a scapegoat solves anything. Kotwica was unemployed. He’s coming in cold and doesn’t know the roster.
I think it’s unrealistic to believe that Kotwica coming in will make Harrison Mevis make more field goals, improve tackling on punt/kick return coverage, and fixed LA’s consistent issues in field goal and punt protection.
LA’s problems are mainly a result of a lack of execution. Sure, coaching can help with this. More likely the answer is that the Rams don’t have the right players to turn things around on short notice. If they did, we would never have arrived at this point.
3 – It’s worth resting starters in Week 18
Unless the 49ers and Seahawks drop the ball over the next two weeks, the Rams might as well rest their starters in the regular season finale. We watched Matthew Stafford take a big hit to the chest area towards the end of Thursday night’s game. He’s in his late 30’s and would likely benefit from a week of rest. Veterans like Kevin Dotson and Davante Adams are probably already on a maintenance plan into the postseason.
Would the Rams have a preference for playing Carolina over Philadelphia or Chicago? It doesn’t seem worth risking injury to key individuals to move up one spot, and a lot of players across the roster stand to benefit from rest.
