Rams' stunning collapse against Seahawks could sink fairytale season

The massive implications of the Rams' brutal "Thursday Night Football" loss

As unstoppable as the Rams have seemed this season, it’s clear that their contention window has an expiration date. The only starting quarterback in the NFL older than the 37-year-old Stafford is Aaron Rodgers, while the 32-year-old Adams has been slowed by hamstring and oblique injuries. 

And while they might be projected to have the seventh-most cap space in the NFL, they will have to use a significant portion on an extension to Nacua. The NFL’s all-time leader in yards per game will be entering the last season of his rookie contract and likely seek a deal along the lines of Ja’Marr Chase’s recent four-year, $161Mextension with the Cincinnati Bengals. 

None of this is to say that the Rams will fall off a cliff in 2026, but it’s hard to imagine them having a better opportunity than they have this year. The rest of the NFC has either been decimated by injuries, whether it be the Green Bay Packers seeing All-Pro Micah Parsons go down with a torn ACL, the San Francisco 49ers losing both Nick Bosa and Fred Warner from their defense or, in the case of the defending champion Philadelphia Eagles, massively underperforming. 

If the Rams were to lock up the top overall seed, they would need to win just two games in SoFi Stadium to advance to the Super Bowl. While that pathway exists, it would require the Rams to win out against the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta Falcons and the Seahawks to lose to either the Carolina Panthers or the 49ers. 

To further complicate matters, a Seahawks loss to the 49ers would drag San Francisco back into the mix and give them the division if they are able to also beat the Indianapolis Colts and the Chicago Bears.

Simply put, the Rams no longer control their destiny and are now staring at the prospect of winning three straight road games to reach the Super Bowl. While the Rams are 6-1 at home this season, their mediocre 5-3 road record includes losses to the Panthers, Seahawks and Eagles, three potential January destinations if the Rams are wild-card entrants. 

Though the Rams have had postseason success on the road in the Sean McVay era, including a last-second defeat of the Tom Brady-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers during their 2021 championship run, only four teams have ever won three straight road games to make the Super Bowl. If the Rams are unable to become the fifth, they will look back at their collapse against the Seahawks as the turning point in a potential storybook season.