When the Los Angeles Rams put together the most impressive offseason of any team in the NFL, it would have taken an extreme amount of imagination to picture them opening the year at 2-4 and sitting in last place in the NFC West. The Rams were preseason Super Bowl favorites by a hefty margin, but just six weeks into the campaign, they find themselves forced to overcome historically long odds in order to deliver on those expectations. No team in the Super Bowl era has won its conference after opening the season with a losing record through six weeks.
Not only do the Rams have a losing record, but they are two games back from .500 at 2-4. Winning the NFC was once a Super Bowl prerequisite that many expected the Rams to accomplish without much pushback. Now they would carve their name into the history books if they achieve it.
The volume of talent on the roster is ample enough that nobody would bat an eye if the Rams caught fire, rattled off a prolonged winning streak and peaked at the right time on their way to a championship. The coaching staff is as heralded as they come, too. Nearly all of the pieces are in place, and the ones that are not -- like Myles Garrett as he works his way back from knee surgery -- will be in due time.
This has the makings of a loaded team that simply has not yet gelled, and once it does, it could be a monster that obliterates everything in its path. At the same time, Los Angeles stands at the bottom of its division for good reason. Its special teams is the lowest in the league, and its kicking woes were directly to blame for the Week 5 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Matthew Stafford regressed noticeably from his MVP form, leading to a sharp downturn in explosive plays and general offensive consistency. The pass rush clearly misses Garrett, because the defense's sack rate is the sixth-lowest in the NFL. There are real discipline questions, too, as penalties and turnovers rear their ugly heads.
The Rams cannot turn their season into a success over the next month (they can only do so by pulling off the historic run to the Super Bowl), but these next four games will determine whether it is a complete failure or if they can turn things around. The most difficult stretch of the 17-game slate is complete. The Rams' schedule was always projected as front- and back-loaded with a soft filling in the middle.
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