LA Rams all out free fall mode pounding another nail into team’s playoff hopes

The LA Rams are now in the throes of losing their third game, and there is no end in sight. This is not a good team. It’s a team that is crushing any hopes of relevance from a vicious cycle of mistakes and miscues. Over the past three games, the Rams have turned the football over seven times. Veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford has thrown a pick-six in each loss. The Rams can point to 45 points surrendered in the past three games as a result of offensive mistakes.

The problem is that this year, the defense cannot overcome those miscues. So it’s all on the defense.

If the LA Rams jump offside on their punt coverage unit to give the Green Bay Packers, social media lights up with new calls to “Fire Raheem Morris”.  If the LA Rams offensive fumbles the ball on their own six-yard line, and the Packers punch the ball in for a touchdown, guess what social media phrase starts trending?  That’s right. “Fire Raheem Morris.”

The Rams fell behind by 10 points in this one. How have the fans reacted? By chanting fire Raheem Morris on social media, that’s how.

The Green Bay Packers ran 32 times for just 92 yards plus one touchdown, an average of 2.9 yards per rush. Outstanding quarterback Aaron Rodgers has thrown 28 of 45 passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers have scored 36 points. 17 of those points have come off turnovers. There was the fumble deep in their own territory for a touchdown. There was the next series that turned the ball over and led to a field goal.

Rams offense struggling

And then, for the third time in three games, a pick-six.  17 points given up by the offensive miscues at Lambeau Field.  No team can win in a game with that amount of generosity.

The LA Rams offense was a bit hot and cold. The Rams had run just 20 times for 62 yards. Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw 21 of 38 times for 302 yards three touchdowns and one brutally hurtful interception. The Rams themselves had recovered one fumble deep in Green Bay that has led to their only three points.

Once more, the LA Rams turned the ball over three times and created one turnover. That was all on the offense.  But somehow, by the next day, the tone has shifted once more to fire the defensive coordinator.

The NFL is filled with ebb and flow, high tide and low tide. Right now the Rams are at low tide. But this one is not as simple of a fix as many are erupting and raging about on social media right now. But this is a serious problem with the entire team, not just one aspect.

Firing the defensive coordinator is pretty much the Rams destructive pattern

Okay, you want to fire Raheem Morris. Got it. But what will that fix exactly? Be honest. Perhaps nothing.

The free-fall mode of the LA Rams right now will hardly be ‘fixed’ by putting a defensive coordinator on the street. This is a team that responds to a ‘not tough enough’ by putting their best receiver in a gadget play where he throws the football downfield. No two tight end sets. No commitment to a running game.

Don’t look now, but the San Francisco 49ers are suddenly one game behind the LA Rams, and they have beaten the Rams in their lone head-to-head competition. As soon as the LA Rams fall to a tie with the 49ers, the Rams will drop to the sixth seed of the NFC Wildcard Round.  In fact, the Rams are on a three-game losing streak right now. No game can be viewed as a victory any longer.

No job should be considered safe either.  It’s odd that the discussion over the LA Rams right now is to fire the defensive coordinator. I’m fairly certain he had no input when the LA Rams opted to trade three draft picks and the starting quarterback to pick up a veteran quarterback. I’m also confident he did not pass up the chance to draft a sensational offensive center but chose a smallish wide receiver who many felt could be had two or three rounds later in the draft.

The LA Rams are losing games that they should not be losing because they are making the same mistakes over and over again. Blaming it all on a defensive coordinator and letting him go is just one more mistake in the vicious cycle. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask former defensive coordinator Wade Phillips.