The Rams have struggled in the second half of all four games this season, managing to win only once.
Los Angeles (1-3) still has a chance, but coach Sean McVay knows that starting off poorly is not a good sign. After Aaron Donald retired in March, the team was already facing a tough season, and falling behind makes things even harder.
“There were multiple opportunities for us to take control of that game early on,” McVay said Monday. “I thought our defense came out ready to go.
I thought we moved the ball. We didn’t finish drives. … We stayed in it and we had our opportunities to be able to ultimately come away with the result, but we didn’t do it.”
In their 24-18 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Rams were competitive and didn’t fall behind until the middle of the second quarter.
They had a chance to tie the game early in the fourth quarter but missed a 2-point conversion attempt. In the final stretch, the Rams were outgained 83-44 and only managed to score three points.
This performance was not as bad as the earlier blowout loss against Arizona, but McVay was straightforward after his defense allowed a critical 70-yard touchdown drive by Caleb Williams early in the fourth quarter.
“What I’m not going to do is ride the emotional roller coaster that this season will take you on,” said McVay, who is 1-3 for the first time in his eight seasons as a head coach.
“What an amazing, traumatic turn of events from week to week, and we just saw that. When you look at this game today, there are things that can be improved upon. The reasons we didn’t execute were very correctable.”
