SAN DIEGO _ Remember how the Chargers and Rams were going to build momentum and ride the wave into a new stadium?
A year ago, the plan was working, what with the Rams headed to the Super Bowl and the Chargers amassing their best win-loss record (12-4) since 2009.
This year the Los Angeles teams rank among the NFL's bigger disappointments.
Unsteady within their offensive lines while also experiencing a drop-off at quarterback _ two trends that tend to correlate _ the Chargers and Rams face playoff odds as grinding as L.A. traffic.
The Rams (6-5) have fallen far behind the 49ers (10-1) and Seahawks (9-2) in the NFC West.
For the Chargers (4-7), the climb out of third place in the AFC West to the 12-team Super Bowl tournament is even steeper.
While ESPN's power index gives the Rams an 8.6% shot of reaching the playoffs, the Chargers stand at just 0.5 percent, even with games looming against the Broncos (3-8) and Jaguars (4-7) that should allow them to climb to 6-7.
Assuming neither Los Angeles team reaches the playoffs, what then, are the football-related sales pitches each franchise can spin in coming months to potential buyers of season tickets and stadium suites?
It won't be easy, and because of it, building a consistent home-team vibe in the stands next year, something Team Spanos has yet to do since leaving San Diego, will be tougher to pull off.
Ideally, an NFL sales team can point to an exciting quarterback, but as it stands now, it's doubtful either club can move that needle with Angelenos.
The Rams' Jared Goff has declined 20% in passer rating, from 101.1 last season to 80.3 through 11 games. And Goff, unlike many of today's young NFL quarterbacks under age 30, doesn't have the fallback trait of being able to run for yards.
While he's only 25 and several of his young blockers within a rebuilt line stand to improve, Goff isn't an exciting quarterback.
Worse yet for Goff, as the realities of his contract extension come to bear, the Rams may become less able to improve the talent around him. The contractual out to Goff's four-year, $134-million pact agreed to in September doesn't come until after the 2021 season. Goff's salary cap charges, at an average of $31 million over the next two years, may force the Rams to get creative in upgrading other parts of their roster. However in their push to win in the short term, they've traded several premium draft picks.
As for Philip Rivers, he's not under contract beyond this season. The San Diegan has said he'd like to play next season, and once again with the Chargers.
Angelenos seem likely to shrug even if Rivers returns for the 2020 season.
Where in San Diego he's remembered as the quarterback of four consecutive AFC West champions, starting with the 14-2 team in 2006, in Los Angeles there's not much of a Rivers legacy.
Looking further toward 2020, give the Chargers the football edge over the Rams in two areas.
They have slightly better young talent headed by safety Derwin James and end Joey Bosa, and none of their player contracts appear as burdensome as Rams deals with Goff and running back Todd Gurley, whose performance also fell off this year.
But unless they pull out a playoff berth, the Chargers won't have much football momentum entering this offseason. Instead of building on last year's 12-4 season and a playoff victory at Baltimore that now looks more impressive in light of the Ravens' rise to 9-2, the football operation took a step back, Rivers included.
Attracting Bolts fans to the 70,000-seat Kroenke Dome in Inglewood, not an easy place to get to, looks like a tough job that's becoming tougher.
