The Los Angeles Rams needed to win the games that they should win, but that wasn’t the case on Sunday as Sean McVay lost to his former protege Mike LaFleur’s Arizona Cardinals, 18-16. The Rams lost on a walkoff field goal in the final minute after taking a late one point lead. It was another heartbreaking loss for the Rams who’s season is about as close to life support as it can get.
Seam McVay and Chris Shula were outcoached by Mike LaFleur, and the Rams need to look at themselves for this loss.
Penalties, tunrovers and a lack of urgency was the identity of the Rams in Week 6, and it led to a fitting defeat.
A week after giving up 45 points to the Detroit Lions, the Cardinals held the Rams to 16 points through four quarters as their offense was inefficient against one of the worst rated defenses through five weeks.
There’s a growing trend that this Rams offense can’t seem to get going except when trailing or later in the game, and that happened again in Week 6 as the Rams failed to get much going on offense until the fourth quarter.
16 points is rarely enough to win in the NFL and it wasn’t enough to win on Sunday. This is an exciting victory for Arizona. This is an embarrassing loss for the Rams.
The Rams should be concerned as McVay looks to be regressing as a playcaller. The offensive mastermind used to attack defenses on third and long. Now, the coach calls screens that have a higher chance to lose yards than gain the needed first down.
This game was expected to be a “get right” style game for L.A. Instead, the Rams looked flat throughout the day.
L.A.’s defense was without Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett, and they were still the stronger unit than the Rams’ offense. The defense kept the Rams in the game, a reoccuring theme this year, by holding the Cardinals to six field goals.
The bend don’t break defense was effective for the Rams, but they needed their offense to score touchdowns for that style of defense to work, and the offense left much to be desired as Matthew Stafford didn’t break 100 passing yards until the fourth quarter.
Arizona came into the game with the idea of keeping L.A.’s offense off the field, and they did that. Arizona lined up with bigger personell to run the ball, and the Rams relied on their smaller defensive backs while the Cardinals played more physical than the Rams and controlled the clock.
The silver lining for the Rams is that they kept the Cardinals out of the endzone, but they didn’t give their offense much of a chance to get in rhythm or expose the Cardinals questionable defense.
The Rams fall to 2-4 and they have more questions than answers. They look more like a bad team than a good team, and if this keeps up, people will lose their jobs. The Rams entered 2026 looking at the Super Bowl.
Through 6 weeks, the Rams sit well outside the playoff picture as they aren’t look at the Super Bowl, they are looking at a lost season.
