LA Rams remaining schedule is no picnic, but not impossible, to win with

At 4-9, the best these LA Rams can do is try to win out for an 8-9 finish. The burning question is: Why would this team want to do that? Well, unlike other NFL teams that are struggling right now, the LA Rams are not exactly incentivized to perform poorly. Sure, they have a couple of Day 2 draft picks in the 2023 NFL Draft that could appreciate in value with a bad finish to a bad season.

But a team that truly benefits is the Detroit Lions, a team that sits on their first-round pick. That’s where the true value lies, and the Rams will see none of it, win or lose.  Still, why would this team want to win after losing nine games?

Well, because that is what competitors do, after all, isn’t it? This team would love nothing better than to send out their young players who have, until now, been untested, and discover that they are truly capable of playing and winning in the NFL.  So who do the LA Rams have to face who is remaining on their schedule?

The LA Rams are not a playoff team. But this team can build significant positive momentum for next season, just as the team’s December 2019 season set up a playoff appearance for the 2020 NFL season.

The LA Rams are still worth watching

But that is not to say that this team is not worth watching. Quite the opposite, in fact. The LA Rams have played some of their most competitive and entertaining football of the season since the team has begun to give meaningful snaps to younger players who have until now, remained idle on the bench.

Isn’t it thrilling to witness Michael Hoecht getting a quarterback sack? And despite the lukewarm reception, who doesn’t cheer for WR Tutu Atwell making another catch for a first down? At the core, both supporters and detractors are secretly cheering and hoping that everyone on the LA Rams roster proves their worth. Now the only question that remains is will they have an opportunity to do so? To answer that, we need to examine who the Rams will face in what remains on their schedule.

We can do a quick breakdown of the remaining four games on the LA Rams schedule:

December games

The LA Rams are entering the darkest period of their schedule. Not just because the team is hovering just above the bottom of the NFL barrel, but rather because the month of December in any calendar year has the shortest days for any location in the Northern Hemisphere. Why is that important? Well, the Rams are slated to visit the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, that’s why:

At Green Bay Packers (5-8)

The LA Rams face playing at Green Bay, Wisconsin, for their third consecutive season, and have emerged with a disappointing loss in their last two attempts. It seems as though the NFL has been hell-bent on forcing the Rams to play in unbearably cold conditions. The Rams have played at Lambeau Field twice, once in mid-January 2020, and once in late November 2021. On both occasions, the game was played at moderately cold temperatures.

Well, the third time is the charm, they say.

The cold. That is relative to what you are used to. For the Green Bay Packers? It’s a familiar part of their season. For the LA Rams? Yikes!

The temperature with Wind Chill is forecasted to be -1 degrees Fahrenheit for the Monday Night Football game. That means that the moderate winters that the LA Rams players enjoy will be quite a disadvantage for this one. Cold temperatures equate to numbness in the body’s extremities. It rips the focus from the unindoctrinated away from competing and directly on the uncomfort felt as the body feels its warmth being siphoned away by the cold all around it.

The Rams must know that they will need to adapt whatever they plan to do in order to compete in the cold. That means striving for a ball control offense and relying upon a seldom-used running attack. Can the Rams win in Lambeau at sub-freezing temperatures? They can. But will they be able to do so is quite another story.

I think they do win this one, in a close call, but a late-game-winning drive makes the difference.

Who’s next?

Breaking the Broncos

Another team that has struggled mightily this season is the Denver Broncos, a team that went all in and traded for veteran QB Russell Wilson, only to regret the decision in the first year of his arrival. The hope in trading for him was that the team finally acquired the right quarterback to lead the team to the promised land of NFL postseason competition.

The Denver Broncos (3-10) are only one of two teams that are already eliminated from NFL Playoff contention this season, and they could be eager to get passed the remainder of the season to restock and prepare for the 2023 NFL season.

The Rams will face one of the toughest defenses they have met all season with the Broncos. They will also compete against one of the less formidable offenses faced all year. Can the Rams win this one? It will be a good test for this team on both sides of the football.  I think the young Rams pass the test:

January games

As the LA Rams enter the month of January 2023, this team has been eliminated from the NFL Playoffs, but the Rams could be on the crest of a winning streak. That’s quite important for a team seeking to rebound quickly next season.

At LA Chargers (7-6)

I like the LA Chargers head coach Brandon Staley, but even I had to question that instant acceleration of his career from positional coach to LA Rams defensive coordinator for one season to head coach for his very next season. Right now, there is a bit of unrest with the Chargers, a team many expected to take a strong step forward this season.

Unfortunately, the Chargers were 8-5 at this point last season and could be viewed as a team that not only failed to step forward, but regressed this season. That is a harsh reality for Coach Staley, a head coach who was the talk of the town just one season ago, but now faces an increasing volume of fan unrest and questions as to whether he will have a chance to step forward next season.

The Chargers could be hard-pressed by the time they play the Rams. While they should be able to defeat the Indianapolis Colts, they will be tested by the ever-tough Tennessee Titans. At 8-7, they will be fighting for their playoff lives in this one. Trap game? I think so. The Rams know Staley very well, and Rams head coach Sean McVay loves to put his friends to the test. The LA Rams have nothing to lose in this one, so I don’t think that they do.

Season finale

The LA Rams travel to play at Seattle Seahawks (7-6) to conclude the 2022 NFL season. Will the Seahawks need to win this one to have a chance at competing in the NFL Playoffs? I can’t see it. The Seahawks must play, and defeat, the San Francisco 49ers (9-4), the Kansas City Chiefs (10-3), and the New York Jets (7-6) before they face the Rams. They could enter this game with a four-game losing streak.

But don’t feel bad for the Seattle Seahawks. They truly pulled off one helluva heist when they traded away veteran QB Russell Wilson for a king’s ransom. And in the process, have gotten a new lease on life in the NFL, suddenly finding themselves competing for a playoff spot just one year after all the NFL experts, analysts, pundits, and even NFL insiders had all but left them for dead.

The Seahawks were happy to extend the LA Rams’ losing streak at SoFi Stadium. I can see the LA Rams returning the favor, and in the process winning a game that completes their 2022 NFL season turnaround.  By this time, the Rams will have a fully functional offense that will unload both barrels to ensure that they can, and the downtrodden Seattle Seahawks will find themselves caught in the crosshairs:

Can the LA Rams win out with a five-game winning streak to close out their disappointing 2022 NFL season? I think so, yes. The roster has been waiting to rally around someone, and the new head-butting quarterback on the LA Rams roster is just the guy to bring the fire back to a very talented roster.

A pipe-dream? Perhaps. But these LA Rams just did the impossible, winning a sure loss behind the two-touchdown clutch performance of a quarterback who was on the Rams roster for less than 48 hours. In short, after the Mayfield Miracle, anything seems possible for this team.