The Rams can still turn season around 

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Nothing is impossible. Not even for a team that has recorded only a single win through Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season. 

Sean McVay has seen this playbook before. The Los Angeles Rams head coach is used to coaching up and rallying his players. McVay will have one heck of a job doing that this season after the team fell to 1-4 following a 24-19 defeat to the Green Bay Packers.  

“I thought we had a good week of preparation [and] there were a lot of positives, but there were definitely enough things that we didn’t do to be able to win the game and I thought we had our chances to do that,” Rams head coach Sean McVay said after the game.

While the 1-4 start is not ideal for any team, the Rams have shown from their track record that they know how to overcome the odds. 

To get a more accurate gauge of this resilience, all you have to do is look at what McVay and the Rams were able to do during the 2023 NFL season. 

While the 2023 NFL season seems like ions ago, it should not be discounted that the Rams may have been in an even worse position then than they are now. McVay and the Rams were sitting on a record of 3-6 when their bye week arrived. 

The Rams won seven of their last eight games and made the playoffs. The Rams played in the NFC Wild Card round against the Detroit Lions. With that backdrop, why wouldn’t McVay and the Rams do a repeat of what they were able to achieve at the end of last season? 

The good news for the Rams is that there is still plenty of time to right the ship. Although the Rams lag behind Seattle, San Francisco, and Arizona, they are still in the thick of things. 

The Rams are just one game behind the 49ers and Cardinals and only two games out of first place behind the Seahawks. The season is not lost. All they have to do is regroup during their much-needed bye week and get healthy. 

“I think we’ve got to be able to finish games and play consistently throughout,” McVay remarked. “You look at it, we’re a 1-4 football team [and] three of those four losses come down to one possession games. You go into overtime, you lose last week, and then you end up having the result that we did today. The Cardinals game, we didn’t do anything reflective of what we want to be, but this is football. This is where we’re at.” 

A healthy Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua at some point will give the offense the ability to stretch the field and create more space for quarterback Matthew Stafford to throw the football. For right now, Stafford is not too concerned about what that looks like.

“I’m not too worried about that,” Stafford said. “I know those guys are doing everything they can to get back as fast as they can. I’ve been injured before and there’s no sicker feeling than not being able to play and be out there with your guys. I know our guys feel that way. [I] just try to encourage those guys through the rehab when I see them in there, try to help those guys move along as best they can.”