Rams-Cardinals final score: L.A. loss puts playoffs in jeopardy

The Los Angeles Rams need to win against the teams they should beat. They didn’t do that on Sunday as Sean McVay lost to his former protege Mike LaFleur and the Arizona Cardinals, 18-16. The Rams lost on a walk-off field goal by Chad Ryland at the final second, one minute after taking a late one-point lead thanks to hero punter Ethan Evans.

It was another heartbreaking loss for the 2-4 Rams, as their season is about as close to life support as it can get, falling to last place in the NFC West. Behind the Cardinals.

McVay and defensive coordinator Chris Shula were out-coached by LaFleur, and the Rams need to look at themselves for this loss. Penalties, turnovers, and a lack of urgency was L.A.’s identity on Sunday, and it led to a fitting defeat. McVay told the media after the game, “We beat ourselves”.

An Offensive Embarrassment

A week after giving up 45 points to the Detroit Lions, the Cardinals held the Rams to 16 points as their offense was inefficient against one of the worst rated defenses through five weeks.

Matthew Stafford went 25-of-33 for 222 yards, 2 touchdowns, and no interceptions. But that stat line wouldn’t paint a picture of how inept L.A.‘s offense was for the duration of the game. It took a late touchdown pass to Colby Parkinson just to get to 16 points, with kicker Blake Grupe injured early in the first quarter.

The Rams were unable to kick field goals after that, going for two points on their initial touchdown, leading to a sack-fumble of Stafford.

There’s a growing trend that this Rams offense can’t seem to get going except when trailing or later in the game, and that happened again in Week 6 as the Rams failed to get much going on offense until the fourth quarter.

16 points is rarely enough to win in the NFL and it wasn’t enough to win on Sunday. This is an exciting victory for Arizona and an embarrassing loss for the Rams.

The Rams should be concerned as McVay looks to be regressing as a playcaller. The offensive mastermind used to attack defenses on third and long. Now, the coach calls screens that have a higher chance to lose yards than gain the needed first down.

This game was expected to be a “get right” style game for L.A. Instead, the Rams looked flat throughout the day.

Defense Was OKAY, Not good enough

L.A.’s defense was without Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett, and they were still the stronger unit than the Rams’ offense. The defense kept the Rams in the game, a reoccurring theme this year, by holding the Cardinals to six field goals and no touchdowns.

However, the defense still allowed SIX scoring drives to the Cardinals. Including not being able to get a stop on Arizona’s game-winning drive for an easy 43-yard field goal by Ryland.

The bend don’t break defense would have been effective for the Rams, but they needed their offense to score touchdowns for that style of defense to work, and the offense left much to be desired as Stafford didn’t break 100 passing yards until the fourth quarter.

Arizona came into the game with the idea of keeping L.A.’s offense off the field, and they did that. Arizona lined up with bigger personnel to run the ball, and the Rams relied on their smaller defensive backs while the Cardinals played more physical than L.A. and controlled the clock.

The silver lining for the Rams is that they kept the Cardinals out of the end zone, but they didn’t give their offense much of a chance to get in rhythm or expose the Cardinals questionable defense.

A lost season?

The Rams fall to 2-4 and have more questions than answers. The question L.A. has answered is they look more like a bad team than a good one, and if this keeps up, people will lose their jobs. The Rams entered 2026 looking at the Super Bowl. Through six weeks, the Rams sit well outside the playoff picture as they aren’t looking at the Super Bowl, they are looking at a lost season.

Should heads roll? That’s not something you would think after a loss to the San Francisco 49ers in Australia, but through this season the Rams have continued to look like worse. Not better.