After officially being eliminated from postseason contention with their Week 16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Rams’ season will be coming to a close once they complete their Week 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
While it has been a disappointing season, the Rams still have a chance to finish at 9-7 with a win over Arizona in the final game at the Coliseum. Should they lose, however, the Rams will fail to reach a win percentage over .500 for the first time in Sean McVay’s head coaching career.
Even more than records and win percentages, McVay is hoping that his players will go out and compete. He understands that it will not be easy, but hopes his team can show what they are truly made of, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“I think it’s important,” McVay said. “I think it demonstrates, too, the character that I do believe we have in this locker room. For guys to continue to compete, we’re going to battle and we’re going to compete to the best of our ability to try to finish out with a winning record. That is something that I said to the team today and I think it’s important for us. We know the challenge because Arizona is a tough football team.”
The extended offseason for the Rams will hopefully give the entire organization some time to reflect. This season clearly did not play out how the reigning NFC champions had hoped.
Although there is no telling what the offseason will look like, as always there will be some changes. The degree of that change will largely be up to McVay and general manager Les Snead.
With that in mind, McVay also realizes that many Rams players are headed into free agency and wants to appreciate that this will be the last time this exact squad hits the field:
“For us, this will be the last time with this team that we’ll get a chance to go out and compete together,” McVay said. “I think we want to be able to enjoy the week of preparation and let’s see these guys go out on a good note.”
Some notable players on expiring contracts include defensive lineman Michael Brockers and kicker Greg Zuerlein. After securing Aaron Donald, Jared Goff and Todd Gurley to long-term extensions the last few years, it will be interesting to see the other moves the Rams make this offseason. With a solid core intact, hopefully the players they do bring in can compliment the others well and they can get back into postseason contention in 2020.
