Sean McVay did not hold back after sizing up team's upset loss to Panthers

What can the Los Angeles Rams plan to do after losing a heartbreaking clash with the Carolina Panthers? Simple pick themselves up, dust themselves off, and start all over again. It's a bad decision to give in to an ocean of emotions while there are games to be played and an NFL season to sort out.

And head coach Sean McVay knows this.

NFL fans should understand the ebb and flow of preparation, intensity, and emotions. No NFL team is perfect at this point of the long season. Whether it's injuries, a trap game that caught a team looking too far ahead, or simply the bad bounce of the football, losses happen. For well-coached teams, losses serve as the motivation to try harder in the future. For lesser-coached teams it becomes an avalanche of struggles.

"There's never a good story without a little bit of adversity...
We're going to be tighter than we've ever been, and it's going to be a great opportunity for us to be able to respond." - Coach Sean McVay

The odds seem to favor McVay's bold claim here. In 2023, the Rams won seven of their final eight games, losing a nail-biter on the road to the Baltimore Ravens. In 2024, the Rams won nine of their final 12 games, losing to the Miami Dolphins, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Seattle Seahawks. In both seasons, Los Angeles finished with a 10-7 record and made the NFL playoffs.

Why fans should expect a rebounding Rams to win more games

The 9-3 Rams have beaten a host of very good teams so far this season, and with five more games remaining, the team can end 2025 with as many as 14 victories or as few as nine victories. And that may seem like a solid range, but the remaining games on the schedule give a hint at how this season may play out:

Rams 2025 remaining games

• Week 14 - 9-3 Los Angeles Rams at 3-9 Arizona Cardinals
• Week 15 - 7-5 Detroit Lions at 9-3 Los Angeles Rams
• Week 16 - 9-3 Los Angeles Rams at 9-3 Seattle Seahawks (TNF)
• Week 17 - 9-3 Los Angeles Rams at 4-8 Atlanta Falcons (MNF)
• Week 18 - 3-9 Arizona Cardinals at 9-3 Los Angeles Rams

While the team could lose all five games, a more likely scenario leaves the team with at least three more wins, ending the season at 12-5. While that may not be enough to win the NFC West Division, it's a solid launching site for a four-game winning streak to get through the NFL playoffs and win Super Bowl LX.

This is a team that respects everyone, but fears no one. And that is how it should be. Did Los Angeles peak too soon, as some had suggested? The team had every reason to respect the Carolina Panthers in Week 13. Curiously, the team had three consecutive wins over playoff-bound teams before the loss.

And the loss was on the road.

This may have been the blessing in disguise for LA that he alluded to. Nothing gets an NFL team's attention better than a loss that serves as a wake-up call. It's no longer business as usual for the Horns. Now, it just got personal.

As always, thanks for reading.