The Los Angeles Rams playoff hopes dwindled greatly after a tough loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday Night Football in Week 12. The team was hoping for a big home win, but with Lamar Jackson playing at an MVP level, the Rams were left in the dust.
After dropping that game, the Rams sit at 6-5 and are on the outside looking in to the NFC playoff picture. Although there is a chance that they could get back in the mix, their remaining five-game schedule will not be easy. The Rams will face the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks, Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and the Cardinals once more to finish out 2019.
Sitting two games behind the Minnesota Vikings for the final postseason spot, the Rams will likely need to win out, which is no easy task. However, Jared Goff believes they can pull together and etch out some wins, via Lindsey Thiry of ESPN:
“We obviously need some stuff to happen, but I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibility at all,” said quarterback Jared Goff, who has thrown five interceptions and no touchdowns over the last three games. “We’re still very much in it and just got to keep fighting.”
While their remaining opponents are pretty tough, their quest for the playoffs only becomes more difficult as every game is against an NFC rival. Although the Cardinals have one of the worst records in the league, even they have shown signs of competing this season.
Los Angeles has had spurts of their 2018 selves that made it to the Super Bowl, but overall, their level of play has clearly dipped.
While it is easy to imagine how the next five weeks will shape up, wide receiver Brandin Cooks provided an important piece of wisdom, stating that it is a week-by-week trek:
“We just focus on the task at hand every single week,” said receiver Brandin Cooks, who returned against the Ravens after spending the last two games sidelined because of concussions. “We’re not looking [at the playoff picture], we’re letting everyone else look at that and [it will] take care of itself. But anytime you start to look past teams and saying, ‘Oh, if we do this, if we do that,’ you tend to fall apart.”
That is the perfect mentality for the Rams. Although it has not been easy to get to this 6-5 record, the team should not dwell on the past. Getting to the playoffs will be hard, but taking things slowly may just be the ticket to success.
