Getting off to a hot start is vital for the LA Rams chances in 2024

II: Early BYE week means trouble late in season

It amazes me just how much impact NFL schedulers seem to hold over the success of NFL teams with the timing of the BYE week. In 2023, the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs had their BYE week on Week 10. Just one year earlier, in 2022, the same Kansas City Chiefs had their BYE on Week 8. In 2021, the Super Bowl Champion Los Angeles Rams had their BYE week on Week 11. In 2020, the Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers benefitted from their BYE week on Week 13.

Notice the pattern?

CBS NFL sports writer John Breech wrote about how no NFL Super Bowl winner in the past 13 years had a BYE week on Week 7 or sooner. Well, another year has passed, so we can chalk that up to 14 consecutive years now.

It was in 2006 that found the Pittsburgh Steelers able to overcome their early BYE on Week 4 to win Super Bowl XL over the Seattle Seahawks by a score of 21 to 10. The same Pittsburgh Steelers managed to defeat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII despite a scheduled BYE week on Week 6. So what reason can explain the struggles of NFL teams to find ultimate success with an early BYE week?

The toll that a 17-game season takes on a player is devastating. While there are only minor bumps and bruises that are common in the early games of the NFL schedule, over time those injuries start to compound. Bruises on top of bruises can be far more dangerous. And muscle fatigue incurred early in an NFL season can lead to a wide spectrum of soft tissue injuries later in the year.

A late season BYE week allows NFL players to rest and recover from those bumps, bruises, and muscle fatigue at a point in the season that not only allows optimal healing, but ensures the shortest span of time until the NFL Playoffs begin, mitigating the chances of new minor injuries before post-season play begins.

Of course, the Rams have two things working in their favor in 2024. While the teams a very early BYE week on Week 6, the team emerges from the BYE with five road games and seven home games. Also, the team has a mini-bye week in mid December. That is due to the fact that the Rams play on Thursday Night Football on December 12, 2024 at the San Francisco 49ers, and then play 10 days later at the New York Jets on December 22, 2024. Another advantage going for this team is the fact that the roster, while young, appears to be the deepest it has been in many years. And even the young players are an advantage over a grueling long schedule.