5 events causing LA Rams finish last in NFC West

Reason 1 – LA Rams starting quarterback Jared Goff is injured in week one

The LA Rams have invested heavily into quarterback Jared Goff to ensure he succeeds in this offense. Not only has the team made Goff one of the highest-paid players in the NFL, but the team has also structured the offense to make optimal use of his talents. While that may seem as though the Rams have deliberately assembled the offense to feature Goff’s talents, the reality is that head coach Sean McVay constructed the offense based on his design, and simply placed Goff into the franchise quarterback role to run the thing. Goff is a solid fit for what the LA Rams wish to do on offense.

But the Rams do have one flaw with this offense right now. Well, perhaps flaw is inaccurate. Let’s go with vulnerability. You see, there is no safety net behind Goff in the depth chart. The LA Rams have benefitted from 32 games from the young quarterback over the past two seasons. Throw in three postseason games from 2018, and that total climbs to 35 games. That’s a pretty healthy run for a quarterback without an injury.

What if, the worst happens?

If the LA Rams streak of 2019 bad luck bleeds over into 2020, it could result in an injury to the Rams starting quarterback. If that happens in the season opener? Well, the expectations for the season will definitely be lowered dramatically.  How low will it go? The Rams quarterback depth will likely put John Wolford to start for the Rams for his NFL starting debut. While that could go better than expected (any success qualifies as better than expected), it could also result in a disaster.

With so little prep time in this offseason already, timing will likely be hard-pressed to synch up between backup quarterbacks who are forced into starting roles and the receivers they are throwing at. If Wolford goes down, the ball will be placed into the hands of an undrafted free agent quarterback. But is this even likely?

In the end, a combination of these five events could drop the LA Rams to a disappointing 6-10 record. But the same circumstances to any of the five NFC west teams could trigger the same dramatic fall. So how likely is a 6-10 season to happen? Well, I haven’t calculated the odds, but it falls below the LA Rams winning the Super Bowl this year.