Can Rams, Sean McVay Look to the Past For Answers to the Present?

Some have labeled the Los Angeles Rams one of the biggest disappointments in football. But this might hardly be unfamiliar territory for the defending champions.

Some sequels in Hollywood are often chided for making only nominal changes to their lauded predecessors' plots. The Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl title defense may fall to a similar trope ... but a trophy could nonetheless await at the end. 

Los Angeles' Vince Lombardi Trophy hoist at home, which celebrates its eight-month anniversary on Thursday, has made all the trials and tribulations of the past and current Rams, including a meandering 2-3 start to the championship defense, all worth it. At the same time, some may have forgotten the roadblocks that came before, obstacles that subjected the Rams to mockery after they mortgaged a fair amount of their future at an ultimately successful championship run.

When the final seconds ticked away from SoFi Stadium's clock to officially sign the Rams' 23-20 victory over Cincinnati, no one was remembering the team's three-game losing streak that washed away the most recent November. The Rams' famous "F Them Picks" gambit championed by general manager Les Snead (trading away choices that netted Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, and the since-departed Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.) was widely mocked after they were roundly beaten in succession by Tennessee, San Francisco, and Green Bay, with only a bye week providing relief. 

Los Angeles righted the ship to the tune of five regular season wins that allowed them to lock up the NFC West title before falling to the aforementioned San Francisco 49ers in their first-ever Week 18, a defeat avenged in the NFC title game. This time around, the Rams have fallen below .500, the latest they've ever without a winning head since head coach Sean McVay took over in 2017, after losses to the hated 49ers and invading Dallas Cowboys. Ironically enough, their bye comes after they face the Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium (1:05 p.m. ET, Fox). At least in the prior streak, a 7-1 start provided an overwhelming safety blanket. 

Few, frankly, expect the current streak to continue: the Rams welcome in a woebegone Carolina team (1-4) that has already lost its Week 1 coach (Matt Rhule) and quarterback (Baker Mayfield). Los Angeles leadership, however, knows they're hardly in a position to take anyone lightly.

"They've played a lot of really good football ... through these first five weeks," McVay said of the Panthers, who lost their first two games by a combined five points. "They have playmakers at all three levels ... Obviously they're in probably a little bit of a transition with what's going on there in the last week to 10 days, so there's an element of that for us to try to understand and get ready for. 

You really just got to go out there and trust your rules and go play.”

Considering they emptied their pick cabinet to go all-in on the championship, the Rams are going to have to try and work this one out themselves, a challenge they seem committed to but one that gets no easier: the bye week yields a visit from the hated, dangerous 49ers before the Rams venture off to Tampa Bay to face a Tom Brady who's not only already angry but a Tom Brady who's facing a team that doomed him to a finger without a Super Bowl ring. 

If he's hoping to drag the Rams out of the mire, McVay can obviously start with the seven-pound piece of sterling silver if he's looking for inspiration. But McVay hinted that he could instead toward a different kind of streak, the Thanksgiving-situated massacre that preceded the ultimate triumph.

Sticking to his brand of youthful coachspeak, McVay expounded on the platitudes of playing in the moment, repeating platitudes of controlling the controllable and not living vicariously through the first Los Angeles-based championship group. 

"I think you (can) always use examples of how guys overcome adversity, (even if) I think you also want to be in the moment," McVay said. "I'm grateful for this opportunity because sometimes growth cannot occur unless you go through these types of experiences. Even though in the midst of it, it doesn't feel great, sometimes when you look back on those tough examples, those are the most rewarding times that I think really bring and bond people together and you learn about people. 

That's what we're going to do. I'm excited about the opportunity. I don't want us to be in this spot, but we're going to do everything we can to fight out of it, I know that much.”

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Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags

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