There’s still one week left in the season, but the Los Angeles Rams have nothing left to play for. They were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday night with their heartbreaking 34-31 loss to the 49ers.
It effectively brings an end to a seriously disappointing season for the Rams, as they became just the fifth team since 2009 to miss the playoffs the year after making it to the Super Bowl.
For a team that appeared poised to return to the postseason and make another run at a title, this season fell way short of expectations.
The question now is why?
There are always several reasons for a team coming up short, whether it’s coaching, execution, injuries or just sheer bad luck. All of the above apply to the 2019 Rams.
Here are the six biggest reasons they missed the playoffs this season, in no particular order.
Injuries
The Rams were very fortunate on the injury front in 2017 and 2018. They didn’t lose many key players to injuries in the last two years, but this season, that wasn’t the case. Here’s a list of players who were hurt and missed multiple weeks this season:
- LG Joseph Noteboom (IR)
- C Brian Allen (IR)
- CB Aqib Talib
- OLB Clay Matthews
- S John Johnson (IR)
- WR Brandin Cooks
- RT Rob Havenstein
- TE Gerald Everett
Yes, every team deals with injuries, but the Rams had eight starters miss multiple games. Todd Gurley also sat out one week, Robert Woods missed a game for a family matter, Troy Hill didn’t play in Saturday’s loss due to a broken thumb, and Austin Blythe had an ankle injury that forced him to miss one game.
The Rams had issues of their own that they could control, but injuries were a big factor this season, too. They took a toll, particularly on the offensive line and in the secondary.
Offensive line issues
After fielding essentially the same five offensive linemen in Sean McVay’s first two seasons, the Rams made big changes to the unit this year. John Sullivan was replaced by Brian Allen at center, while Joseph Noteboom took over for Rodger Saffold, who left in free agency.
Andrew Whitworth, Austin Blythe and Rob Havenstein remained at their usual positions, but all three of them regressed mightily in the beginning of the season. Whitworth was the only one to turn it around, playing well in the second half of the season, but Blythe moved to center after Allen got hurt and Havenstein has missed six games with a knee injury.
Even when everyone was healthy, the offensive line was one of the worst in the NFL. Allen and Noteboom failed to meet expectations as first-year starters, and Blythe and Havenstein couldn’t get back to the way they played in 2018.
The result was a regression from Jared Goff, smaller running lanes for Todd Gurley and an overall shaky offense as a whole.
Jared Goff’s regression
Quarterback is the most important position in sports, and when yours isn’t playing well, your team probably isn’t, either. That was the case for the Rams this season, with Goff regressing to levels below his 2017 season. Through 15 games, Goff has only 19 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions with a passer rating of 84.8. Those are all the lowest marks of his career, excluding his rookie season in 2016.
His yardage numbers are still up (4,319), but that’s because he’s thrown 581 passes, which is 20 more than he had in 16 games last season. As a result of the up-tick in pass attempts and decline in efficiency, Goff’s yards per attempt average has dropped from 8.4 last season to 7.4 in 2019.
Goff’s struggles were not only a huge factor in the Rams’ disappointing season, but they’re also a major concern moving forward. For a quarterback with the highest cap hit of anyone in the NFL next season, Goff better turn it around in 2020. Otherwise, the Rams are going to look foolish for giving him $134 million.
Lack of a running game
The Rams had the perfect formula on offense last year and in 2017. They ran the ball successfully with Todd Gurley, often out of 11 personnel with Goff under center. That kept defenses guessing, since the Rams could easily throw or run the ball out of that personnel package.
The play action was effective, Goff was efficient and Gurley was dominating, earning first-team All-Pro honors.
It’s been a different story in 2019. Gurley’s workload was reduced significantly, carrying it just 14.5 times per game compared to 18.3 last season. He’s averaging a full yard less per carry (3.9 vs. 4.9 in 2018), too, so his efficiency has dropped significantly.
The only area he’s maintained his effectiveness in is the red zone, rushing for 12 touchdowns. Gurley has been a non-factor as a receiver, catching just 29 passes for 186 yards – the lowest receiving yardage total of his career. Only seven of those receptions went for first downs, after he had 27 first-down catches in 2018 and 32 the year before.
His lack of effectiveness forced the Rams to throw the ball more frequently, which caused problems because Goff was struggling behind a terrible offensive line. It was a domino effect and it wasn’t until recently that McVay figured out a way to fix it by calling more bootlegs.
Defensive inconsistency
Wade Phillips said the Rams have had too many “clunkers” on defense. He’s not wrong about that. They had eight games where they allowed 17 or fewer points per game. There were also five games where they allowed at least 30 points, including three games where their opponent put up at least 44.
To put it simply (and softly), the Rams were inconsistently consistent on defense this year. They have the talent to be one of the most dominant units in the NFL. They shut down the Seahawks, Cardinals, Bears, Falcons, Browns and Saints. But they were also gashed by the Buccaneers, Ravens and Cowboys.
The unit was better once Jalen Ramsey arrived and Troy Hill took over as a starter, but they faltered in two of the most important games of the season against the Cowboys and Ravens in Week 12. (The defense wasn’t completely at fault for Saturday’s loss).
Coaching
Players play and coaches coach. At some point, you have to point the finger at the coaching staff, too. McVay is always quick to take the blame for losses, and this season, he and the coaches deserve it. McVay did what he could with the group he had up front on the offensive line. But there were questionable decisions made with regards to Gurley’s workload – remember when he didn’t touch the ball in the fourth quarter against Pittsburgh? – and his desire to throw the ball 40-plus times per game. It also wasn’t until recently that he realized moving the pocket and calling more bootlegs was a good way to protect the offensive line from its own issues and to help Goff out.
McVay’s conservative calls on third and fourth down were also alarming. Far too often, he called “give-up plays” on third and long, either electing to simply run the ball up the middle or go with a screen pass that had no chance of working. He played it safe on fourth down frequently, too, rarely going for it other than a handful of fake punts.
McVay isn’t the primary reason the Rams struggled this season, but he’s also not without his share of blame. After all, he’s in charge of the team on a weekly basis. Some of the fault has to fall on the shoulders of the coach.
Bonus: Playing in the NFC West
This isn’t something the Rams can control, but the NFC West was the best division in football with both the 49ers and Seahawks winning at least 11 games. The Rams went 1-3 against the 49ers and Seahawks this season, so they controlled their own fate in those games, but there’s no doubt the division (and Los Angeles’ schedule as a whole) was extremely tough in 2019.
It was a factor, but it wasn’t a primary reason for the Rams missing the playoffs.
