The Rams are down, but not out

There’s no question that Sean McVay and the Rams would take a few do-overs this season. From traveling to Australia to play on no rest, losing to the Broncos in a game they should have won, and topping it off on Monday Night Football by letting a potential comeback win slip through their fingers. Los Angeles finds itself at 2-3 on the season, locked in third place in the NFC West, and looking up at the 49ers who are 5-0, looking like the juggernaut of the division.

The situation may look really bad, especially for a team that was universally hailed as a Super Bowl contender, but the full picture really isn’t that bad for the Rams — at least not yet.

While the 2-3 record is bad in isolation, we have seen significant improvement from the Rams over the last two weeks. Matthew Stafford looks more comfortable under center after a rocky start, Puka Nacua is back in the lineup after being injured, and the team is positioned to get even better with Myles Garrett (hopefully) returning by Week 9.

Even if Garrett isn’t able to return on his earliest timeline, the next five weeks are extremely beneficial for the Rams:

Facing teams with a combined record of 6-18-1, the only team that appears remotely poised to challenge is the Raiders — who could be in the midst of pivoting their season to getting Fernando Mendoza reps, over trying to compete with Kirk Cousins. There is a very real chance we see this Rams team enter their Week 10 bye at 7-3, back in the mix in the division, and the frontrunner for a Wild Card spot in the NFC.

That doesn’t mean the Rams are without problems, however. Matthew Stafford has been very scattershot across five games. His accuracy has slipped, despite having a shallower Average Depth of Target (ADoT). This means he’s struggling more, despite making easier throws. More importantly, throwing six interceptions in five games is wild, considering he threw just eight in 17 games last season. There’s little margin for error defensively without Garrett in the lineup, and that’s being exploited.

The run defense in particular has been extremely suspect across five games. The Rams are currently giving up 4.6 yards-per-carry, good for 24th in the NFL and sit middle of the league in plays allowed per drive, largely because teams have been able to consistently run the ball well. This has compounded to result in Los Angeles giving up 24.0 points per game, which ranks 20th in the NFL — and scoring 23.8 per game on average.

The Rams are by no means “done,” but they have a lot to fix. Monday Night Football was indicative of this. The Bills are one of the best teams in the league, but the Rams had a reputation entering 2026 that they would be an all-consuming force that even the best teams would struggle against. That simply hasn’t been the case, and even after making big trades to shore up both their defensive line and secondary, still we have a team that is failing to reach its true potential.

This is what makes the 2026 version of the Rams so fascinating. Routinely a team seen as “in the mix,” the roster has always been elevated because of Sean McVay and his coaching staff. There would be glaring holes on both sides of the ball, yet McVay and Co. would always have a plan, a way to scheme around it, and ultimately produce a team that felt like a Super Bowl contender. This year, it just doesn’t feel like that. There’s a swagger and a vibe that’s lacking, yet this is when we’d assume the Rams would be at the most confident with Trent McDuffie in the secondary and all their weapons back.

One thing is abundantly clear: The return of Myles Garrett can’t come quickly enough. This team needs an injection of energy on the defensive side of the ball in the worst way possible. If that happens in or around the bye week, and the Rams can get back on track — watch out. If not, well, this could be one of the most staggering failures a team has had in recent years.