Rams Trounced By San Francisco 49ers (Again) As Championship Defense Hopes Diminish
SoFi Stadium is in Southern California and the place the Los Angeles Rams call home. It's the place in which they won the Super Bowl in February and are trying to defend their title this year.
But none of that is going so well.
A look across the stadium Sunday afternoon revealed wide swaths of San Francisco 49ers red.
That's not the worst part of Sunday for the Rams.
The worst part also was not what happened on the field where the San Francisco 49ers dominated the Rams, 31-14 to win for the eighth time in nine meetings between the clubs, including a sweep this season.
Rams Struggling In Multiple Ways
The worst part is not even that new 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey had a historic day against the Rams by collecting a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and passing touchdown.
The worst part is the Rams are barely treading water this year, looking for answers outside the organization and finding none, dealing with a one-dimensional offense and defense that delivers inconsistent results from week to week.
Fact is the Rams are now inconsistent from one half to another. The Rams led this game 14-10 at halftime but got shut out in the second half while giving up three touchdowns.
The Rams are 3-4 and in third place in the NFC West.
"We're 3-4 through seven games and I think our record is an indicator of what we've been and that's inconsistent," coach Sean McVay told reporters afterward. "We've played well enough in three games to win, we haven't in four games ... To say you want to have a total change in approach, I'm not saying that.
"But I'm also saying this isn't good enough and we ought to do a little bit better."
So, again, no real answers to how they could solve their problems, especially on offense.
"We got clearly outplayed in the second half," McVay said. "I think what you have to acknowledge is this is a different situation but that doesn't mean you push the panic button. Let's look at the things that are occurring. And we've got a lot of different instances that have been different than the previous five years.
"I'm not going to sit up here and make excuses. What I'm going to do is do the the best job I can for this team to try to start having consistency in the way we're playing on Sunday or whenever we get a chance to kick off."
Rams Need Help But Is Any On The Way?
Here's another problem: Unlike last year when the Rams were in the Super Bowl chase throughout the season and traded for Von Miller and signed receiver Odell Beckham Jr., this year doesn't seem to offer such clarity or possibility for such high profile additions.
The club needs pass rush help for Aaron Donald it didn't replace when Miller signed with the Buffalo Bills. The offensive line is leaky. And Beckham Jr. is unsigned but wants to be highly compensated despite still recovering from a total knee reconstruction required after he was injured in the Super Bowl.
The problem is do the Rams look at their situation and decide help will save them? Or do they realize their issues are beyond the help or one or two additions?
"We're always looking for ways to upgrade our football team," McVay said. "But we've got a lot of things we've got to be able to address and what that means is looking forward, getting into the trade deadline or as we progress, we'll be looking at that over the next couple of days."