The Los Angeles Rams are sliding to the bottom of the NFC West, forcing a hard look at the preseason expectations that crowned them as early Super Bowl favorites. After six weeks of the 2026 NFL season, the team sits at 2-4, undone by self-inflicted errors and a series of missed opportunities that have turned a roster brimming with star power into a cautionary tale.
Before a snap was played, analysts and fans pinned championship labels on Los Angeles. That optimism relied on a glittering transaction sheet. The front office added Myles Garrett to anchor the defense, coaxed Aaron Donald out of retirement for a brief encore, and signed both starting cornerbacks from the previous season’s Kansas City Chiefs. All of this came on the heels of an NFC Championship appearance and with a quarterback who claimed the NFL MVP award just last season.
Missed Cues and Missteps on the Global Stage
The warning signs arrived early and often. During training camp, the franchise let Myles Garrett manage a troubled knee without immediate intervention, waiting until a season-opening performance he called “the worst version of myself” prompted surgery on Sept. 14. Garrett has since become eligible to return from the injured reserve list, though there is no absolute certainty that will happen this week.
NFC West showdown under 😤 pic.twitter.com/eYtaZv55qW
Then came the team’s peculiar travel itinerary to Australia for a season-opening matchup against the San Francisco 49ers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. While the 49ers spent a week in Australia acclimating, the Rams flew across the planet 36 hours before a game. The result was a sluggish, flat-footed performance that ended in a loss and set a tone of avoidable disarray.
Squandering Historic Stat Lines
Yet those early miscalculations pale against the collapse witnessed in October. In Week 3 against the Denver Broncos, the Rams squandered a 16-0 halftime lead, tumbling in the second half to a 30-26 defeat. Two weeks later, they accomplished something never done in NFL history against the Buffalo Bills, racking up over 400 total yards, securing 30-plus first downs, scoring five touchdowns, converting 50 percent of their third-down attempts, and committing zero turnovers. They still lost, 37-34.
Sunday’s 18-16 defeat at SoFi Stadium against the Arizona Cardinals marked a second consecutive loss at SoFi Stadium and shoved the club into last place in the division. Arizona entered the matchup navigating a culture shift under first-time head coach Mike LaFleur and dealing with the departure of former first-rounder Marvin Harrison Jr. via trade. Despite the turmoil, the Cardinals outmaneuvered a Rams squad plagued by persistent mistakes.
You know, we won’t win a game unless we figure out how not to beat ourselves,
McVay said after the loss to Arizona. A lot of different guys are taking their turn, I talk about it, we try to harp on it, and we’ve got to figure it out. We don’t have those answers right now otherwise it would have gotten fixed.
The Reality Behind the Roster
The disconnect between paper potential and on-field execution leaves the franchise searching for internal fixes. Shawne Merriman previously highlighted the sheer difficulty the Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett combination presented for opposing offenses, calling it insane
and forcing coordinators to pick your poison.
But that theoretical dominance has been derailed by critical errors at the worst possible moments.
McVay acknowledged the compounding nature of these miscues as the team prepares to navigate the remainder of its schedule. With a 2-4 record and the division landscape shifting rapidly, the luxury of early-season projections has vanished entirely.
