K Major

Pathetic.

Rams went "all out" in Free Agency (SUH, TALIB, PETERS, FLOWERS) in hopes of hoisting a Lombardi but failed. As 76' pointed out in another related post, good luck fielding another deep run with that salary cap situation looming. Difficult decisions ahead for them.

I don't believe this team will win 10 games next season.

skymike

Yet the NFL insists it needs 2 teams in LA.

CHA_CHING

They aren't winning 10 games next year, I agree 100%

Everything went their way in the NFC West -

The Cards were far and away the worst team in the league.

The 49ers were still a dumpster fire and pretty much tanked the year after Jimmy G went down.

The Seahawks, despite being a good team last year are still coached by Sneaky Pete who handed them a win in Seattle. I am shocked no one criticized Carroll for that boneheaded timeout on 4th down where the Rams were going to punt and Russell Wilson would've had a chance to win the game. Instead, he calls a time out, McVay goes for it, the Rams run the clock out.

Most of their schedule was easy too. The NFC conference in 2018 turned out to not be all that great as people expected it to be. Outside of the Saints who were the rightful #1 seed, every other team in the NFC had major flaws and some of them never lived up to expectations (The Rams spanked Green Bay and Minnesota while Atlanta and Carolina fizzled out). The Rams beat the overrated teams of the AFC; the Chargers and Chiefs. They didn't have to face Baltimore's defense or the Patriots in the regular season.

Next year, Seattle may be able to make a run and give them trouble for the NFC West crown and the 49ers are a toss up mystery.

They've had zero o-line injuries in the past two years. They won't get that lucky next year (this is big for having a quarterback who can't do anything under pressure).

McVay and Goff were completely exposed in the SB. Remember what happened to Cam Newton after his awful SB performance, he hasn't done anything note-worthy since. Teams started locking a spy on Newton like Denver did in that game. Goff has been exposed as being clueless and unable to read defenses. Teams are going to look back at the Bears and Pats defensive strategies and completely confuse him and it's been exposed how bad he is when blitzed.

The Rams defense was really disappointing despite having Wade Phillips at DC and all their star power. I respect Phillips and his father Bum from back in the day, but I think people give Wade too much credit for the 2015 Broncos defense. He did not build that defense.

About the Broncos where Wade has been praised for the past 4 years - Von Miller was drafted in 2011 and that team had a lot of chemistry and years of experience built up under Fox and Del Rio who spent the previous seasons building that defense and signing players. Demarcus Ware was in his 2nd year with Denver when they won that SB (Ware was a key player in 2014 and 2015). That Broncos team was not built overnight and they had a lot of growing pains before becoming a dominant unit (the Rahim Moore blown coverage in 2012, getting destroyed in 2013, etc). There were signs back in 2014 that they could be a great unit going into 2015 and they completely exceeded those expectations by becoming a historic unit.

IMO I don't think the Rams defense really had much chemistry together with all their star power. Donald, Suh and Flowers SHOULD be good run stoppers, but they ranked 31st in the league against the run.

Their secondary was trash too. Talib is past his prime and I have never understood the hype around Marcus Peters who is easily the worst big name CB in the league. The Chiefs defense is so bad and yet they were happy to get rid of Peters.

IMO I think their defense is going to struggle next year and their offense is in for a rude awakening now that teams know how to expose Goff. McVay basically coaches him like he is playing Madden. He tells him what changes to make at the LOS and where to throw the ball. When Goff don't have that, he don't know what to do.