Rams Offense Stagnant in Loss to Bengals

The Los Angeles Rams offense was out of sorts in their Monday Night Football loss to the Cincinnati Bengals

The Los Angeles Rams looked like a playoff contender in Week 1 and came back down to Earth a bit in Week 2. 

But in Week 3 in primetime on Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paycor Stadium, L.A. looked like they were back to struggles from 2022, failing to show up offensively in a 19-9 loss. 

The main issue for the Rams? Well, there were many. 

But perhaps the chief issue for Los Angeles came in pass protection, where the Bengals were able to sack quarterback Matthew Stafford six times for 48 yards, adding an additional 10 QB hits to the stat book. 

Bengals star Trey Hendrickson was responsible for two of those sacks, while Dax Hill added two of his own.

Rams QB Matthew Stafford sacked by the Bengals / USA Today Sports

Stafford ended the game completing 18 of 33 passes for 269 yards and a meaningless last-minute touchdown, while also adding two picks to his stat line.

Not to mention, and handful of wasted timeouts due to timing issues in order to avoid delay of game penalties, which played an issue in end-game clock management.

What's worse? situational football was an absolute nightmare for the offense as well, with the Rams going 1-of-11 on third down throughout the night, as well as 1-of-4 in the red zone. 

One of the few positives for the Rams on Monday was the defense, which - led by all-world defensive tackle Aaron Donald, kept the Bengals offense in check for the majority of the night. 

In the end, however, it wasn't enough, with the Bengals sending the Rams to their fifth defeat in their last seven outings.

Following the loss, the Rams (1-2) will head to Indianapolis to take on the 2-1 Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium.