This LA Rams 3-year cycle is both uncanny and amazing

There is a cycle to events in life. Whether it’s tied to celestial bodies, the annual seasons as the earth orbits the sun or just an independent rhythm established for reasons that are as yet unexplained, there is often a detectable to the random events that we experience in life. The LA Rams, as part of this existence, are not immune to the cycles that beset us all.

In fact, the Rams organization may be more susceptible to cycles than most NFL teams.

The Rams have been through bad seasons for the third time now. It’s a trend that has marked a rapid improvement in the team that has led to the NFL playoffs in the following season, and a Super Bowl appearance in two seasons. What do I mean?

Cycle I:
2016: 4-12
2017: 11-5, 0-1 NFL Playoffs
2018: 13-3, 2-1 NFL Playoffs, Lost in Super Bowl LIII to NE Patriots 13-3

Cycle II:
2019: 9-7
2020: 10-6 1-1 NFL Playoffs
2021: 12-5, 4-0 NFL Playoffs, Won in Super Bowl LVI over Cincinnati Bengals 23-20

Cycle III:
2022: 5-12
2023: 10-7, sixth seed NFL Playoffs
2024: TBD

That’s both uncanny, and amazing, isn’t it?

The cycle of life

Will the LA Rams adhere to their three-year cycle this go-around? There are no reasons to prevent it from happening all over again. After all, the narratives after the 2016 and 2019 seasons are almost word for word with what is being written about the LA Rams now. Poorly run organization. Badly constructed roster. Squandering salary cap dollars. Traded too many draft picks away.

And yet, the year after so many ‘experts’ wrote an epitaph for the LA Rams organization, the Rams burst back into the NFL Playoffs the following season. And two years later, the Rams proved to be the best team in the NFC. On one occasion, the Rams have proven to be the best team in the NFL.

Okay, so the LA Rams have been a disappointing team three times in the last seven years. But what has followed has made it all worthwhile. Are there any guarantees that the Rams will make the playoffs in 2023 and appear in Super Bowl LIX? Of course not.

But life has a certain rhythm, a cycle, a way of doubling back on itself in a closed loop. For the Rams, that loop has proven to be a three-year cycle. It’s been that way for the past seven years. So why look for it to change now?