Rams are still stunned, saddened after a standout season ended just short of another Super Bowl

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Rams could return next season with nearly every important contributor to a team that fell just a few big plays short of another trip to the Super Bowl, and they have the resources to add even more playmakers.

That doesn’t make the current players feel any better about their agonizing 31-27 loss to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC title game on Sunday.

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These Rams (14-6) realize they had a team good enough to be something truly special — and getting so close only makes it tougher to fail.

“It always feels like a surprise,” right guard Kevin Dotson said Monday. “Since I’ve been here, we have such supreme confidence that when we do lose, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is out of left field. I can’t believe that we lost.’ … Even at the last moments of the game, when we had 30 seconds left, I’m thinking, ‘Hey, we still might win this.’ I’ll take that. It can hurt every time, but to have that feeling of confidence in everybody on my team, I think it’s worth it.”

The Rams were a Super Bowl favorite when they sat at 11-3 in mid-December with Sean McVay leading one of the NFL’s most complete rosters.

That was as good as it got, however: Back-to-back losses dropped Los Angeles from first to fifth in the NFC standings. After the Rams grinded out two road playoff victories, they made just enough mistakes in Seattle to fall short of their goal.

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The Rams’ season ended with letdowns from the same areas that were clearly their weaknesses from early on in the season, yet were never fixed.

The special teams units made their final mistake in a season full of brutal errors when Xavier Smith muffed a punt return and gifted a short field to Seattle for a third-quarter touchdown.

The secondary struggled at key moments while Sam Darnold passed for 346 yards and three TDs without an interception. The Rams’ strong pass rush couldn’t make up for the defense’s coverage woes, and smart offenses relentlessly picked on Los Angeles’ weakest links.

McVay then made two more errant decisions at crucial times, failing on a short fourth-down attempt for a TD with 4:59 to play before…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/rams-still-stunned-saddened-standout-215745263.html

Author : GREG BEACHAM

Publish date : 2026-01-26 21:57:00

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