Rams eliminated from playoff contention, lament ‘frustrating’ season

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — A season after playing in Super Bowl LIII, the Los Angeles Rams will not appear in the postseason.

On Saturday, the Rams were eliminated from the playoffs after losing 34-31 on a last-second field goal to the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium.

“It’s extremely disappointing,” Rams quarterback Jared Goff said after the game. “You never envision something like this when you start the year. It’s not even close to the standard that we want to hold. It’s sickening.”

The Rams dropped to 8-7 and are now only the second team since 2009 to lose in the Super Bowl and then miss the playoffs the following season. The Carolina Panthers, who lost to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50, accomplished the same unfortunate feat in the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

“It’s frustrating,” Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald said. “Any time you lose it’s going to be frustrating.”

After winning back-to-back division titles, this is the first time in Sean McVay’s three seasons as coach that the Rams have failed to earn a playoff berth.

“I mean it’s fresh right now,” said McVay, when asked about his disappointment in missing the playoffs.

Before the season, Rams coaches and players expressed confidence that they would move past their 13-3 loss to the New England Patriots in last February’s Super Bowl, and that they would not fall victim to what is commonly referred to as the “Super Bowl hangover.”

“This team is focused on this year,” McVay said before the season opener. “Producing one day at a time.”

Goff wasn’t so sure about the notion of a Super Bowl hangover. When he reported to training camp in July, he said, “I wouldn’t know because I’ve never been to one before this year, but I think we will be just fine.”

On Saturday night, after losing to the 49ers, Goff remained adamant that the Rams uneven season was not due to any lingering effects of their long, and ultimately disappointing, 2018 season.

“We were in plenty of games and had plenty of chances to win games,” said Goff, who has passed for 19 touchdowns, with 16 interceptions, this season. “The ball goes here or there a couple of times and we’re having a completely different conversation right now. … It has absolutely nothing to do with what happened last year”

Over the offseason, the Rams signed veteran free agents Clay Matthews and Eric Weddle to add experience to their defense and returned outside linebacker Dante Fowler Jr. on a one-year deal worth $12 million. The organization affirmed long-term commitments to McVay and general manager Les Snead, who signed contract extensions that keep them with the team through the 2023 season, as well as Goff, who signed a four-year extension worth an NFL-record $110 million in guarantees.

Matthews did not anticipate joining a team that would miss the playoffs.

“It’s obviously very disappointing,” Matthews said about the season. “I just don’t think we played consistently throughout the year. I think at times — I mean we played like the number one team in the conference, and at other times we played like a team that had no business being out there. Unfortunately we’re in the position we are today because of that.”

The Rams won three straight to open the season before they suffered a defensive meltdown in a Week 4 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which led to their first three-game losing streak since McVay became coach in 2017.

The Rams made a splash in October when they traded cornerback Marcus Peters to the Baltimore Ravens and acquired cornerback Jalen Ramsey in a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick.

With Ramsey’s addition to the defense, the Rams then rebounded with back-to-back victories over the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals, but returned from their bye week with a lackluster loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After the Ravens blew the Rams out 45-6 on Monday Night Football in Week 12, the season appeared doomed. However, the Rams rebounded with sound wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks before an embarrassing loss in Week 15 to the Dallas Cowboys, which set up Saturday’s must-win game against the 49ers.

“We had our moments,” Rams running back Todd Gurley said. “We just couldn’t figure it out.”