After going to overtime in a game they should have lost in Week 1, losing a game they should have won in Week 2, and winning a game they should have lost in Week 3, trying to predict what would happen for the Los Angeles Rams in Week 4 was a borderline fool's errand.
Maybe they would shock the world and dominate the Chicago Bears, maybe Caleb Williams would out-duel Matthew Stafford in a regular changing of the guard; no matter what the money line said, this game truly could have gone any number of different ways.
Ultimately, the Rams lost, going down by six after blowing a chance to secure the win in the final minute of regulation and now find themselves with a 1-3 record, which is tied for last place in the division with the Arizona Cardinals, who hold a tie-breaker.
But what happened? How did the Rams come so close but ultimately so far from tying up their record? Well ultimately, it came down to how the game shook out, with the Bears simply out-scheming Los Angeles on the way to their own big-time win.
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1. Matthew Stafford
Through the first three games of the 2024 NFL season, the true MVP of the Rams' season has been Stafford, the elder statesman of Los Angeles football who has been throwing to an increasingly limited collection of receivers.
And yet, when you consider the Rams came just six points short of defeating the Bears on their home turf, and Stafford threw a pass to Jaquan Brisker intended for Demarcus Robinson on first and 10 from their own eight, it not only ended the game but also ended the team's chances of evening their record at 2-2 one week after securing a big win over the 49ers at home.
Other than that play, which effectively ended the game on the spot, Stafford was pretty good otherwise, completing 20 of his 29 passes for 224 yards while throwing to a receiving corps headlined by Tutu Atwell, Jordan Whittington, and Robinson, and was able to do his damage with a long pass of only 25 yards but still, in a game where the Rams finally recorded over 100 rushing yards, Stafford's turnovers – a pick and a fumble – played a big role in ruining the afternoon for LA fans looking to get one over on Caleb Williams.
Will Stafford rebound? Of course, especially once Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp return to the field, but for now? Now he needs to be downright special to keep the Rams in games, and in Week 4, that simply wasn't the case.
2. The Rams' lack of Ernest Jones
Though it may not garner all of the headlines, the Rams' rushing defense has been downright bad so far this season, allowing at least 130 rushing yards in each game this season, including a season-high 231 against Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2.
Why? Well, maybe it's because the Rams miss Aaron Donald? Or maybe their new quartet of Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, Kobie Turner, and Bryce Young simply aren't elite rushers at this stage of the game, even when Michael Hoecht and Bobby Brown III check into the game?
You know, if only the Rams had a proven commodity at inside linebacker, someone who had at least 100 tackles in each of the last two seasons and a Super Bowl ring in his personal trophy case.
Yeah, while the decision to trade Ernest Jones before the season was met with confusion by fans around the NFL, many members of Rams Nation were willing to give Les Snead the benefit and hope that Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom could fill his shoes. The problem? So far they have not, as neither Reeder nor Rozenboom have been particularly effective overall, with the duo allowing 15 receptions for 145 yards while missing a combined eight tackles through only four games.
Jones, by contrast, has only allowed three receptions for 12 yards on four targets and has missed just two of his 24 tackles for a Titans team that is among the worst teams in the NFL.
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Did Jones want to be playing for a team that is downright bad in 2024? No, probably not, but he did want to be paid what he's worth, which the Rams apparently weren't willing to do. Then again, considering how things have shaken out so far this season, maybe the number his camp floated wasn't as unreasonable as some may have initially thought, as getting this level of defensive production from the middle of the defense may result in LA having to trade a pick for a linebacker like Devon White just to tread water at a cost not too dissimilar from what they initially got for Jones, who is still one of the better linebackers in the NFL.
3. Sean McVay
In Week 4, the Rams did some things very well; they finally rushed for more than 100 yards, even if Ronnie Rivers earned the RB2 snaps over Blake Corum, again, and were able to once again manufacture some offense down Nacua and Kupp.
They also, unfortunately, put Stafford in positions that were more challenging than they needed to be, with pressure coming at the Georgia product almost consistently and more than a few plays being impacted negatively by the rush.
Now sure, some of that falls on Stafford's shoulders, as he could have been a little more conservative, but McVay isn't absolved from the blame either, as he's the man in charge of designing the gameplan each week and identifying how he wants to attack opposing teams on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.
With their offensive line still not 100 percent but their rushing game finally getting things going, why didn't McVay focus more on a speedy passing game that borderline guarantees a rusher won't have time to get to Stafford? Why didn't Corum get a few touches alongside Williams and Rivers in a double-down rushing commitment against a less-than-elite run defense? While McVay and Stafford have played a big role in why the Rams have earned what little success they've earned so far this season, neither man has been perfect in their efforts either, which they have borderline had to be, considering all of the injuries they've had to face.
