Compared to their 2021 season, you would think that the 2025 Los Angeles Rams were shoo-ins to win the Super Bowl because they scored more points, allowed fewer points, and probably had even higher regarded assistant coaches than their championship team four years ago. But the Rams lost to a Seahawks team that had a worse offense and a better defense, then Seattle won the Super Bowl over a Patriots team that had the MVP runner-up behind Matthew Stafford.
Once again, the NFL’s best quarterbacks did not win the Super Bowl.
Do the Rams have the means to build a championship-caliber defense in 2026 or are they doomed to fall short of the Super Bowl again unless Sean McVay and Les Snead are willing to address more drastic changes?
Chris Shula is not a defensive wizard
The Rams won a Super Bowl with Raheem Morris as the defensive coordinator so no it’s not a requirement to have an elite defensive play caller, but if that’s what you want then so far Shula hasn’t proven to fit the bill.
It’s more like Shula is adequate and acceptable. He’s fine. But he may have hit his ceiling already and the best evidence is sometimes circumstantial evidence:
At a time when Jesse Minter, Jeff Hafley, and Robert Saleh were tabbed to run a defense, Shula seemingly bombed about a half-dozen interviews.
Moreover, the Cardinals felt they’d rather have a coach who didn’t call plays under McVay than one who did.
Is there much trust around the league in Shula’s play calling abilities for a defense?
The 2021 team was more talented
The 2025 defense had better stats. The 2021 team had better elite players:
- Aaron Donald
- Von Miller
- Jalen Ramsey
All due respect to Jared Verse and Byron Young, but those three players are clearly better than any players on the current defense. That’s a high standard … that’s also the point.
You could probably also make the argument that Leonard Floyd is as good as Young or Verse.
Ernest Jones was on that defense and he also just won another Super Bowl with Seattle.
The gaps on the defense are also more apparent in 2025 with players at linebacker and cornerback and sometimes at safety too.
When addressing a general need for the Rams defense in 2026, adding players who are or could be ELITE is the most obvious need. Will that culminate in a Maxx Crosby trade? That’s not exactly the right positional need, but fits the mold of the need to more greats to a defense that doesn’t really have any “greats” right now.
And if you don’t agree with that, tell me that Verse and Young made the plays in the NFC Championship to close out a win like Donald and Miller made in 2021 when the Rams were counting on them to beat the Bengals.
How many NFC defenses are better?
The Rams can’t just improve. They have to be better than their competition.
What are their odds to be better than other NFC defenses by simply making minor improvements at cornerback?
- The Seahawks come back ranked #1 with Mike Macdonald back as the DC
- Vic Fangio returns to a highly-paid/talented Eagles defense
- Brian Flores comes back to the Vikings with a top-3 defense
- Another division rival, the 49ers, expect to get back Nick Bosa and Fred Warner with Morris as DC
That’s just four right off the top.
What about these teams:
- Commanders in year 3 with Dan Quinn
- Bears in year 2 with Dennis Allen
- Giants overhaul defense with John Harbaugh’s experience of building the Ravens
- Packers hire Jonathan Gannon
- Bucs back again with Todd Bowles
- How about Lions with all their defensive talent like Aidan Hutchinson and Brian Branch?
If the Rams are a top-10 NFC defense next year, they’ll have some competition.
Rams can’t “run it back”
A year ago there was a lot of hope for the Rams defense with young pieces in place like Verse, Young, Kobie Turner, and Braden Fiske, and that’s all totally valid. It’s all good.
But they can’t possibly believe after last season that they have one of the best defenses in the NFL if they bring back the same players with a new cornerback and that’s it.
Both linebackers are liabilities.
Nate Landman and Omar Speights are below-average, at best.
All cornerbacks need competition.
The Emmanuel Forbes dreams are over. Washington let him go so soon for a reason.
There isn’t a sure thing “all pro” talent on the depth chart.
You could see a player get an All-Pro nod, but there isn’t a player who enters the season with legitimate Defensive Player of the Year hope. And when the Rams had Aaron Donald, his presence meant so much to the team every offseason and every season.
Shula is limited.
Perhaps the best is yet to come. But if the best has already been seen, then it just means that offensive coordinators know how to attack him already. Based on what we saw in the NFC Championship, the Seahawks do.
The Rams will need to attack this defense on their own first and it probably starts with making difficult decisions that not everybody will agree with, but probably need to be addressed before it’s “Super Bowl caliber” again.
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