Rams a team struggling to live up to their own expectations

With a 30-23 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles to close out Week 15, the Los Angeles Rams are a team not living up to their own expectations.

The Los Angeles Rams lost their second straight game when they yakked one up to the injury riddled Philadelphia Eagles 30-23, in a game that had them a double-digit favorite in Week 15. Most disappointing was seeing a team that looked like they were getting worse, especially on offense and who has been riding high before the bye week.

If one game is a blip (Detroit Lions), then the loss to the Chicago Bears started a trend, which was validated against the Eagles last night.

The Rams are at a crossroads, and what would be assumed as easy wins against perceived inferior opponents like the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers, now look larger than they ought to be.

A two game losing streak aside, the bigger opponent may be what’s in the mind of a player like quarterback Jared Goff. This was a guy being touted as an MVP candidate just a few weeks ago, who now looks to be struggling with completing passes and avoiding turnovers. The immense confidence afforded by a record like 8-0 and 11-1 has been replaced by a slump at the worst possible time.

With just two games to go, it’s anyone’s guess who fans see in Week 16 and 17. It’s also no longer a lock that this just gets shrugged off and that it’s business as usual. The fans perceived sure thing of a Super Bowl has been replaced by the reality of not knowing what’s next.

Goff now has the added pressure of expectations, not because he hasn’t reached them on some levels, but because he has. It almost looked to easy. Throwing touchdowns in a 54 point win and coming up with a big fourth down conversion seems like a lifetime ago. Then again, a 16 game 17 week season can seem akin to a lifetime.

Whatever the result of the next two weeks, the ideal fans had of this quarterback and this team has been replaced by questions a long season can eventually present. The Rams are good. Just maybe not as good as once thought.