Are the LA Rams still the best mediocre team in the NFL?

Well, the LA Rams are certainly helping to promote purchases in the economy. After watching the team plummet from an NFL-best 7-1 record to a good-but-not-great 7-4 record, the questions about the LA Rams were answered.

These LA Rams are not good enough to compete in the Super Bowl right now. That is my conclusion after watching the game while simultaneously drinking two Heineken beers. Typically, I can farm one beer through the course of a game. Not this time.

After the game, I had to restock the beer supply (don’t ask) and I witnessed a parent telling their tearful toddler that candy at the checkout register was going to be a “no” this time around. Isn’t that something like the LA Rams front office faced this year, with the shopping list for little fast receivers instead of big burly offensive linemen?

I can’t pursue that thought, or I’ll exhaust my newly restocked beer stockpile.

So I turned to the sage wisdom of The Athletic’s Rich Hammond. If you haven’t heard from him recently, I highly recommend it. He is spot on right now.

Sure, they may get hot in the playoffs. After all, the 7-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers did so just one year ago. But the Buccaneers had three things going for them that the LA Rams do not. The Buccaneers got very healthy as the season progressed. The Buccaneers committed to running the ball, And finally, and perhaps most importantly, the final four games of the season for the Buccaneers were played against teams with a 16-32 overall record.

Don’t look for the Rams to have a cakewalk to close out this season. In fact, based on the LA Rams final schedule

Rams Next Game and Schedule

The team has emerged from the BYE and faces a rather intense and challenging schedule through the end of the season. Here’s a look at their schedule for the remainder of this season:

Week 13: vs. Jacksonville (2-7)
Week 14: @ Arizona (9-2)
Week 15: vs. Seattle (3-8)
Week 16: @ Minnesota (5-6)
Week 17: @ Baltimore (8-3)
Week 18: vs. San Francisco (6-5)

This is no cakewalk. In fact, the Rams may be hard-pressed to win three more games out of their remaining six contests. The LA Rams’ stiffest competition are the San Francisco 49ers, the Minnesota Vikings, the Philadelphia Eagles, the New Orleans Saints, and the Carolina Panthers.

Are the LA Rams the best mediocre team in the NFL? Right now, they are not. The Rams are not only not good enough to win the division, but this team is not even playing well enough to ensure a playoff berth. Will that all change in Week 13? The Rams’ path to the playoffs must mean winning in Weeks 13, 15, 16, and 18. Anything less than that not only means depending on help from other teams but that the team must brace for a one-and-done playoff performance.