The Los Angeles Rams' Super Bowl hangover continued with yet another brutal loss in Week 8. This time, the Rams felt a familiar thorn in their side in a 31-14 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers. This marks LA's eighth straight regular-season loss to the Niners, and it comes at a very poor time.
The Rams are just 3-4 on the season, nearly matching their total losses from last season in less than half the games. The standings don't look too good either, as LA is now third in the NFC West and a game and a half back of the first-place Seattle Seahawks. Sean McVay's team is also ninth in the NFC overall, although they are only half a game out of the final Wild Card spot.
If the Rams don't turn their season around quickly, they are in serious danger of missing the playoffs. This would make them the first defending champion to miss the playoffs since the 2016 Denver Broncos. LA still has time to avoid this fate, but the clock is ticking.
With that said, here are three players most responsible for the Rams' Week 8 loss to the 49ers.
3. Darrell Henderson Jr.
Really, this spot belongs to LA's entire running game, as it was awful once again on Sunday. The Rams rushed for a paltry 57 yards on 21 attempts for an average of only 2.7 yards per carry. The run game was so bad that the Rams' longest rush of the day was a whopping six yards.
Henderson earns this spot over the other Rams' running backs because they expect him to be more effective. He had some strong performances early on last season, but declined down the stretch and missed most of the postseason. He hasn't looked anywhere near the same since he returned, and that carried over into this season.
This season, Henderson has just 197 yards and two touchdowns. He has also yet to go above 50 yards in a game, with his highest being 47 yards in Weeks 1 and 2. The sad part is that he is still the Rams' leading rusher despite that.
LA's rushing game has been dreadful this season, averaging just 68.4 yards per game. The only team with a worse run game is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who the Rams coincidentally play in Week 9. The Rams don't need to have the league's best run game, but they need at least something to take the pressure off the passing game, and they just aren't getting it right now as the bizarre Cam Akers situation continues.
2. Taylor Rapp
Just by glancing at the stat sheet, one may think that Rapp had a solid game on Sunday. Seven total tackles, including four solo, is a good, if not great, stat line. So, what went wrong enough for Rapp to earn a spot on this list?
The answer to that is his poor play in coverage, which directly cost LA points in some cases. By far the biggest example is when he was completely out of position on Christian McCaffrey's touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk. Needless to say, Rams fans were not happy with him after that play.
Rapp also had a key unnecessary roughness penalty that, although very controversial, cost the team nonetheless. With LA's offense sputtering this season, the team is relying on the defense to keep it in games. That didn't happen on Sunday, and Rapp's poor play was a big reason why.
1. Matthew Stafford
Stafford had the season of a lifetime in 2021. Going to a new team, winning the Super Bowl and earning a big contract after the dust settled. It seemed that the Rams finally had their quarterback who could not only take them to the top, but keep them there.
This season, though, Stafford has just not looked like himself. Part of that may be due to the elbow injury he battled during the offseason or the subpar play of his offensive line, but it is still incredibly concerning. Sunday's performance against the 49ers continued the trend of poor play from the Rams' star.
Stafford completed 22-of-33 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. While he was able to avoid the turnover bug that has plagued him this season, his performance was still far from his best.
What's alarming is that Stafford averaged just 5.7 yards per attempt on Sunday. He normally has an excellent deep ball, but he didn't have any chance to use it in this game. When his longest completion of the day is just 23 yards, that's a problem.
The Rams as a whole are struggling this season, but a lot of that falls on Stafford's poor play. If he doesn't bounce back soon, this season will be a very forgettable one in LA.
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