Here are the playoff implications for the LA Rams after Week 9

The LA Rams have lost two games to fall to 7-2. They are still a very good team and still are on the hunt for five more wins to land a playoff berth. Best of all, the two teams that the Rams have lost to are the best team in the AFC and the best team in the NFL respectively, so the Rams are losing to teams that are defeating the best in the NFL.

And that is also the worst of all. The LA Rams have now lost two of three teams that are in the playoff hunt. Translated? This team will get to the playoffs this year but will be sent packing pretty quickly.

The Rams appeared to be hungover. The fear of too many off-the-field distractions proved true. In a game where the Rams squandered ball control in surrendering two turnovers, a game where the typically stout offensive line surrendered more quarterback sacks (5) than all previous eight games (4), and a game where the entire team played without discipline, committing an uncharacteristically high 12 penalties for 115 yards.

The Rams committed more penalties than their entire rushing total for the night (94 yards). A team that turns over the ball, commits penalties, and surrenders quarterback sacks cannot expect success in the NFL.  At almost every level, the game falls under the category of very forgettable.

Did the team need to get this one out of their system? Was there simply one ‘nothing works’ game in the Rams this year, and it might as well come at the hands of a team where the Rams needed to play flawless football to defeat? I don’t know the answer to that one. I do know that the LA Rams defense most certainly played well enough to win this one. This loss was on the offense.

Déjà Vu?

The Rams remain the fifth seed for the NFC in current playoff implications. Right now, that pits this team traveling to take on the Dallas Cowboys. Should the Rams win that one? They would be on the road to take on the winner of the Green Bay Packers versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game. After that? Another road trip, this time most likely to face the NFC top-seeded Arizona Cardinals.