Just over ten months after their Super Bowl triumph, the Los Angeles Rams have hit rock bottom. There’s not much to suggest they’ll bounce back quickly

It was just over ten months ago that the Los Angeles Rams had arrived on the football Olympus.

At home in SoFi Stadium, they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in a dramatic Super Bowl.

In the meantime, however, the Rams have looked so disastrous that there is really nothing left to remind us of the brilliant team that won the NFL title in mid-February.

Coach Sean McVay’s team has since fallen to the bottom of the barrel. Deeper than most Super Bowl champions in the season after the big triumph.

You don’t have to dig so deep into the box of all the stats this time to learn the dimension the Rams’ accomplishments have reached and could reach this season.

Los Angeles Rams historically bad

With the 12-24 loss in the Monday Night Game at the Green Bay Packers, the Los Angeles team already has no chance of making the playoffs with three game days left in the Regular Season.

Of all the Super Bowl champions, only the Denver Broncos had to bow out so early in 1999. Before and after that, there was no worse champion than the team from Colorado – until this season.

But things could be even worse for the Rams. If they lose their remaining three games, they would be 4-13, the worst record of any defending champion in NFL history.

The reasons for this unparalleled slide are varied and by no means all down to injury woes.

For sure: without the three injured superstars Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald, any team would have had a hard time competing even with the currently only average Packers.

Los Angeles Rams: Key players injured and out of shape

But the Rams also suffered a lot of defeats in which the three guarantors of the Super Bowl victory were on the field. For this reason, the injury misfortune, if any, can only be part of the explanation.

At the very least, it cannot be disputed that the form curve of the key players has also more or less shown a downward trend this season. Quarterback Stafford, wide receiver Kupp and defensive tackle Donald all have lower stats in the relevant stats in 2022 than they did in 2021.

Whether there has also been some sort of saturation after that incredible triumph in February? That certainly cannot be completely dismissed either. After all, there had already been talk last season that the Rams only had this one shot at the Super Bowl, that they had gone “all-in”. What comes after that, at least, didn’t seem to matter that much to them.

In order to relieve some of the pressure on their salary budget, which they had stretched to the limit last year, they had to let important mainstays like Von Miller and Darious Williams go. Then there was the serious injury to Odell Beckham Jr., who tore his cruciate ligament in the Super Bowl and has had to take a break ever since.

Los Angeles Rams: Sean McVay not blameless either

But Coach McVay also bears his share of responsibility in the Rams’ decline. Only now, for example, with his stars gradually dropping out, has he suddenly discovered wide receiver Tutu Atwell.

The 23-year-old pass receiver has long been overshadowed by Kupp and Allen Robinson II, and is only now really making his presence felt. McVay admitted he may have been too late in recognizing Atwell’s potential.

“That’s a responsibility I face,” he said. “Because this kid took his chance when he got it.”

Still, McVay knows that in the short term, things can only get back on track with the Rams if the top performers get fit again and approach their performance limits.

Whether that will include 31-year-old Aaron Donald is currently rather doubtful. His contract runs until 2024, but the defensive tackle had already flirted with retirement after the Super Bowl triumph and will certainly think twice after this season about whether he wants to spend another year in the NFL.

Stafford and Kupp recently extended their contracts with the Rams until 2026. But whether that will add enough quality to the team to make another run at the Super Bowl in the near future is anyone’s guess.

In any case, they will have to do without a first-round pick next year. His sale to the Detroit Lions for quarterback Stafford was part of last year’s “all-in” strategy.

The consequences could haunt them for a long time to come.