Rams’ Super Bowl hangover isn’t over

Unless the Rams win out, they will have a losing record since the Super Bowl

There’s a 99-percent chance that by the end of this season, the Los Angeles Rams will have a losing overall record since winning the Super Bowl. Unless the Rams win their last 6 games, they will have a losing record since winning the Super Bowl.

The Rams are 20-25 since winning the Super Bowl. If they lose even one more game, they will finish 2024 with a post-championship losing record.

How, and when, can the Rams pull out of their Super Bowl hangover?

How quickly we forget

The Rams had one of the best runs in NFL history from 1999-2001. Then they had a stumble (7-9), a recovery (12-4), and a few middling seasons prior to then having arguably the worst 5-year run for a franchise in NFL history between 2007 and 2011.

• 3-13
• 2-14
• 1-15
• 7-9
• 2-14

This is not an issue exclusive to the Rams, they’re just a very famous and extreme example that happened within this century.

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Broncos

They won back-to-back Super Bowls in ‘97 and ‘98, but the team didn’t win a playoff game again until 2005. Since winning the Super Bowl in 2015, the Broncos have been perhaps the worst team in the NFL.

Bucs

They won the Super Bowl in 2002, but didn’t win their next playoff game until they won the Super Bowl in 2020.

Giants

Aside from winning the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, the Giants have only won ONE other playoff game total since their 2000 Super Bowl appearance. That’s 24 seasons, 2 Super Bowl championships, a wild card win in 2022, and 21 seasons where the Giants either missed the playoffs or were immediately bounced.

Saints

After winning the Super Bowl in 2009, the Saints only won one playoff game in the next seven years. It took them nine years to get back to the NFC Championship game, as Rams fans will remember.

Ravens

After winning the Super Bowl in 2000, the Ravens only won one playoff game in the next seven years. They didn’t get back to the AFC Championship for eight years. And then after winning the Super Bowl in 2012, Baltimore won only won playoff game in the next seven years, often missed the playoffs altogether, and didn’t get back to the AFC Championship game until last season. Even the 2019 Ravens team that went 14-2 didn’t win a playoff game.

As you can see, it is far more common for a team to win the Super Bowl and suffer 7-8 years of mediocrity than it is to become the Patriots or Chiefs.

Then comes the question, “What ties those teams like New England and Kansas City together for so long?”

The simplest explanation is usually right. Quarterback, head coach, division opponents.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Do the Rams have their long-term quarterback?

When Tom Brady was 37, he finished 5th in MVP voting, the Patriots went 12-4, and he would go onto beat the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

Matthew Stafford is 37 next season. What are the odds he plays for another nine years like Brady?

The questions are more about whether or not Stafford plays for the Rams—or any team—next season than if he could help the Rams win three of the next five Super Bowls like Brady did with New England.

As the Patriots found out post-Brady, replacing him has not been so easy. There was Cam Newton, there was Mac Jones, and now there’s Drake Maye. Even if Maye becomes a great quarterback, it could still be another 3-5 years before the team is good enough to reach the Super Bowl.

That 5-year break in between Brady’s last season and Maye’s second season (when he might be good) isn’t just painful for those fans, it’s completely washed away any aura surrounding the Patriots.

The Broncos lost John Elway, then Peyton Manning, and the Rams had Kurt Warner until they didn’t. But interestingly many of the other examples provided above didn’t follow that storyline:

• The Saints had Drew Brees, he just couldn’t get over the NFC Championship hump again; similar to Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay
• The Ravens and Bucs won with defense, not a QB
• The Giants had Eli Manning and what else can be said except that he had two incredible postseason runs and very little else

Will Stafford be able to play 3 more years? With the Rams? L.A. maybe waited too long to make a change at quarterback, not because Stafford is toast but because the team would probably struggle to form a championship unit around him while he’s still good enough to win the Super Bowl.

Is Sean McVay built for losing?

Very few coaches experienced as much winning as McVay did in his first five seasons at the helm. So going 5-12 in 2022 almost broke his spirit (he’s all but said this himself) and then 10-7 was a breath of fresh air that seemed to spark his fire again. However, what if the Rams go 6-11 or 7-10 this year?

And then Stafford leaves.

And then Cooper Kupp leaves.

And it’s like, “Okay, the Rams might go 9-8 next year if all goes right”.

Is McVay in it for the 5-year plan?

That will be a parallel story for the Rams — “Will Sean McVay retire?” — because Sean McVay has allowed it to be a story.

NFC Worst again?

I’m not going to ignore the fact that the Patriots dominated the AFC East and the Chiefs have been winning the AFC West while the Raiders, Broncos, and Chargers have all been terrible-to-mediocre. Usually terrible.

Now that Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton are in the division with Andy Reid, maybe that will change. It seems to already have changed. But that certainly helped Reid and Mahomes dominate the division from 2018 to now.

Can the Rams expect the same long-term boost from the NFC West?

It’s early to say, but the 49ers have been a consistent threat to win the NFC for the past 5 years, the Cardinals maybe finally found a good formula for Kyler Murray, and the Seahawks are hoping that the defense returns to form with new head coach Mike Macdonald.

In actuality, the NFC West is still one of the worst in the NFL because even if there’s no terrible teams, there are no great teams. It would be a shock to see an NFC West team in the NFC Championship this year, let alone the Super Bowl.

But if any of these teams, including the Rams, goes off in 2025, they’ll stand a good shot to maybe stand well above the pack.

The question is just: Do any of these teams stand a chance to get their head coach and quarterback in order soon? Is Brock Purdy that good? Is Jonathan Gannon that good? Are Mike Macdonald and Geno Smith that good?

Maybe not. So the door is open for the Rams, but who will be standing there when they open it?