5 best-case schedule scenarios for the LA Rams in the 2024 season

II: Early travel games to East Coast

The elements introduce a wildcard variable that favors the home team, simply because of familiarity with those conditions. The Rams face one opponent in 2024 with an outdoor football stadium, the Chicago Bears. But even if the stadium is domed, travel to and from wintry conditions is never fun.

The best way to beat Mother Nature is simply not to flirt with disaster. Wild wintry weather can happen as early as November in New England, and by Thanksgiving Day, the northern tier of the nation as well as the upper half of the East Coast can begin to face the white stuff. While many stadiums in the snow belt are domed, that does not help the travel to and from the region.

If you have ever tried to travel during inclement weather, you know that delays and cancellations of flights during snow storms have a cascade effect that permeates the nation. Planes are cleaned, refueled, restocked, and even re-crewed to turn them around at one airport and send them off again in a new direction to a new destination. Any delays at one airport impact every airport downstream for that flight. Even charter flights feel the pinch of heavy traffic at an airport with bad weather, as flights are typically limited to one parallel runway, one to land planes, and one to send planes on their way.

Travel is a necessary evil in the NFL. Thanks to the location of Los Angeles, California, travel will be a huge factor each season. While the Rams run a very low risk of playing in the snow in 2024, or even trying to travel during a whiteout, the best cure is an ounce of prevention.