With November approaching, the Arizona Cardinals have more wins at SoFi Stadium — two — than the Rams and Chargers, who are 1-5 combined at their home in Inglewood, California, which will host Super Bowl 61 on Valentine’s Day.
A Super Bowl featuring the co-tenant Rams and Chargers seemed like a tantalizing possibility when the season kicked off last month amid sky-high expectations.
Reigning NFL MVP Matthew Stafford leading a Rams offense starring Puka Nacua and Davante Adams suddenly had a jaw-dropping defense featuring Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald, who own a combined five Defensive Player of the Year awards.
This was the 1985 Bears and the 2013 Broncos all rolled into one.
The Rams (2-4) entered the season as prohibitive favorites to win the Super Bowl and the Chargers had the fifth-best odds to win it all after back-to-back 11-win seasons under coach Jim Harbaugh, whose addition of Mike McDaniel as quarterback Justin Herbert’s play-caller was seen as just the thing to push them past the AFC’s crowded field of contenders.
A dream matchup on Valentine’s Day at SoFi between the Los Angeles teams that share a city and a stadium seems like a pipe dream now.
The injury-riddled Chargers have opened 0-6 for the first time since 2000 when Harbaugh was the team’s quarterback. Harbaugh has vowed to look at every aspect of his operation over this bye week, including McDaniel’s status, after a 22-6 loss in Kansas City on Sunday.
“We’re in a position of needing to look forward and evaluate every part of what we’re doing,” Harbaugh said. “The job I’m doing, the job the coaches are doing, the way we’re playing, the way we’re executing on offense. I mean, all those things we need to evaluate.”
Herbert has regressed dramatically under McDaniel, who replaced Greg Roman, with just five touchdown throws, a league-leading eight interceptions and a 68.8 passer rating. A makeshift O-line hasn’t made things any easier on Herbert, who’s been sacked 21 times, putting him on pace for a career-high 60.
Harbaugh won’t use injuries as an excuse, just as coach Sean McVay won’t point to missing Garrett for five games and Donald for two as justification for the Rams’ woes.
The Chargers have already lost more games than they did in each of their first two seasons under Harbaugh, whose fourth-down, fourth-quarter gamble cost him a winnable game against Denver last week.
If the Rams’ experience is any indication, Harbaugh will want to be careful and calculated with any changes he makes.
After the Rams’ field-goal unit “cost us the game” against Buffalo last week, McVay, whose decision to fly to Australia a day before the season opener flopped spectacularly in a 27-7 loss to San Francisco, booted his kicker.
Harrison Mevis had missed a 50-yarder against the Bills and saw a potential game-winning 48-yard try blocked in overtime. A day later, Mevis, who was just 5 of 9 on field goals, was out and former Saints and Colts kicker Blake Grupe was signed off the Jets’ practice squad.
While that may have been the prudent move, it, too, quickly backfired in a big way.
Mevis packs about 250 pounds on his 6-foot frame and Grupe stands 5-foot-7 and weighs nearly 100 pounds less, a difference that came into play Sunday when the Rams lost 18-16 to the Cardinals, who were 12 1/2-point underdogs.
After nailing a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter, Grupe injured his right knee while tackling Cardinals kick returner Devin Duvernay at midfield on a 40-yard kickoff return. Grupe limped to the locker room and word came Monday he had torn his ACL, ending his season.
Left without a kicker for the rest of the afternoon, the Rams twice turned the ball over on downs in Cardinals territory and failed to convert a 2-point try after a touchdown.
Still, the Rams were poised to avoid a major letdown when punter Ethan Evans nailed his first placekick as a pro, giving LA a 16-15 lead in the final minute following Stafford’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson.
Arizona got the ball back at its 35-yard line with 47 seconds left after a touchback and needed just one play and a debatable unnecessary roughness penalty on cornerback Josh Wallace to move into range for Chad Ryland’s game-winning 43-yard field goal as time expired.
On first down, Jacoby Brissett’s pass to Jalen Brooks was hauled in at the Rams 45-yard line. Wallace’s right shoulder made glancing contact with Brooks’ helmet as the wide receiver was hitting the ground, enough for the officials to tack on 15 yards, putting the ball at the 29 with 41 seconds remaining.
Three plays and 4 yards later, Ryland nailed his sixth field goal of the game in six tries, handing the Rams their first loss since 2014 when not allowing a touchdown.
The Rams still don’t have a sack from Donald or Garrett, who didn’t get a single stop in his LA debut and has been sidelined since.
The team they built over a spectacular offseason hasn’t even been serviceable in the regular season and they got more bad news Monday: Adams will miss up to 10 weeks with a torn hamstring he sustained late in the game.
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With contributions from AP Sports Writer Greg Beacham in Los Angeles.
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