Just sit back and enjoy the latest LA Rams plot twists

Depending upon who you ask, the LA Rams 2022 NFL season was ‘lost,’ as early as Week 6 or thereafter.  At that point in the season, the LA Rams (3-3) were still at .500, were heading into an early BYE week, but were already showing significant struggles on an offense that could only score nine, ten, and ten points in three losses respectively.

So much for Run It Back, and a host of other catch-phrases tossed out to prolong the LA Rams fans’ euphoria over winning their first Super Bowl for the city of Los Angeles, California, throughout the offseason.  But it all came crashing down around the team this season, to a fan base that has not had to cheer for a sub-.500 team for the past five seasons under head coach Sean McVay.

Not a shabby track record, folks

Two Super Bowl appearances, and one Super Bowl victory, in five years, is a significant run for any NFL team’s 20-year history. But these LA Rams packed that all into a five-season NFL success-fest that has skewed the healthy perspective of a fan base to enjoy the team’s success to an unhealthy demand for wins even when multiple starting players are falling to new injuries each week.

After a five-year bull market by the LA Rams, the sudden and unmistakable bear market of injuries, losses, and the inability to diagnose, comprehend and counter the forces driving this team to a new loss after each loss was a painful reminder.

It showed both the Rams organization and the fan base that winning is not as easy as simply showing up, dialing up the same plays, and expecting the fourth string to deliver exactly the same punch, timing, and synchronization on the football field as the first string.

Murphy’s law caught up to the Rams’ roster this season

The Rams had run their team on the presumption that starters would remain healthy, and that their roster did not need to duplicate talent levels or skill sets. Rather, the team could cheat at offensive line, tight ends, running backs, backup quarterbacks, and even outside linebacker positions, because this team wanted to ensure that all of the young and promising talented players at defensive back and wide receiver would remain on the roster.

And they remained safely tucked away on the bench, for that rainy day in a year or two when contract negotiations might fail and the team would find it necessary to activate younger and cheaper options on the Rams roster to vacated snaps by departing free agent veterans.

Too much analysis, not enough fun?

In a lost season, and against unrelenting adversity, the LA Rams have an unexpected plot twist.  Did you see this coming? If not, you are not alone. Nobody could have predicted the sudden and dramatic turn of fortunes for this LA Rams team.

Even as the LA Rams have been in virtual free-fall this season due to epic numbers of injuries to this LA Rams roster, it’s been hard to remain positive through it all. If you dared to stay upbeat and share the voice of reason that it’s a temporary matter, you risked getting waves of pushback from fans who insist this is the price that the LA Rams must pay for having dared to risk it all for their Super Bowl LVI win.

But what is it about that NFL Championship team that has truly changed? Last season, the Rams had a number of players on the roster who kept laughing through it all. Von Miller, in addition to being a dominating pass rusher on the field, was a pure jokester who loved to laugh at life. Odell Beckham Jr., having just gone through NFL hell, was ecstatic to compete alongside his Rams teammates.

It’s not their production that these Rams have sorely missed. Rather, it’s their locker room presence, calming the nervous rookies and second-year players, reminding everyone that it’s just a game.

Have fun, and success will follow

Even if you tried to surround yourself with the logic of history, looking back to an almost identical demise when the Rams offensive line was battered in 2019 but rebounded in 2020, you frequently stood alone.  You see, even in 2019, the LA Rams could still count on a healthy quarterback, Jared Goff, to line up under center.  In 2022, that is not the case.

LA Rams veteran starting quarterback Matthew Stafford has not been handled with care this year. His 29 quarterback sacks after just nine games are only one shy of his 17-game total of 30 quarterback sacks from a year ago. And the pace at which he was dropped like a sack of flour was such that he was on track to have been sacked the most times in his career.

Screw this, let’s just go out and have some fun

Making matters worse, the LA Rams opted to make a strategic decision that would change the direction of the team. In building their roster in recent years, the Rams have relied on proven veterans over younger players. Suddenly, that strategy changed, and the Rams unleashed the young talented players from the bench onto the playing field.

But it was not just an offensive miracle. It was a spark of screw-this attitude that infected the entire roster. And it was long overdue. Why? Because the team had become so paralyzed about trying to avoid doing the wrong thing that the Rams roster forgot to have fun at playing the sport that they love. And when the team remembered that, everyone began to have fun again.

Yes, the LA Rams have a remote chance remaining of earning a playoff berth with a record of 8-9. But win or lose, I would rather see this Rams roster, packed with talented players, have fun playing the sport they all love. If that brings success, all the better.

But seeing these guys smile? I would not trade that this season. Those smiles have come far too infrequently.