The Rams have to play their starters against the Cardinals in Week 18 and the reason has nothing to do with playoff seeds. It’s because Sean McVay, Matthew Stafford, and the Rams can’t go into the playoffs having lost four of their last six games with handouts to teams like the Panthers, Falcons, and Cardinals. Just imagine how bad that’s going to look for Stafford and McVay in January if L.A. ends up losing their first playoff game.
That’s when fans start asking if Stafford should return next season. Yes, Stafford. The potential MVP. The Rams can’t go two months without a win over a playoff team and multiple losses to bad teams and expect everyone to believe they should “run it back” in 2026.
Fans will probably question the direction of the team if the Rams lose in the wild card round regardless of what happens in Week 18, but if Stafford and McVay don’t come out and have one good game in Week 18, then the last positive memory people will have of the team will be at least a month old. And maybe beating the Lions is the only good memory since beating the Seahawks and Bucs in November.
- Lose to a Panthers team that is 0-3 against the other NFC West teams
- Blow a 16-point fourth quarter lead and lose to Seattle
- Lose to a Falcons team on MNF that had nothing to play for other than pride
It won’t matter if the Rams lose to the Cardinals with backups in Week 18. Nobody will excuse a loss to the Cardinals, even if it’s with Jimmy Garoppolo or Stetson Bennett. McVay can’t expect to lose to an Arizona team that has lost 13 of its last 14 games and then around to his players and coaches and say, “We’re great! Trust me!”
“Oh, we’re playing,” McVay said Monday night after the Rams’ 27-24 loss to the Atlanta Falcons. “Yeah, they’re playing.”
“No, they were going to play anyways,” McVay said. “We need to play. We need to play better football. So I don’t know what the consequences are in those different types of things, but we got to play better.”
Stafford’s Week 18 game against the Cardinals is still just a tune up for the playoffs because the real stakes are making sure that the Rams aren’t one-and-done when they go to Carolina, Tampa Bay, or Philadelphia in less than two weeks.
If the Rams don’t win a playoff game — really multiple playoff games — imagine the criticisms of the recent past that will come out after a wild card loss:
- Won a Super Bowl in 2021 (needing hero plays to win the last 3 games)
- 5-12 disaster in 2022
- 10-7 in 2023 (Lose wild card to Lions, started 3-6)
- 10-7 in 2024 (Beat Vikings in WC, lose to Eagles in DIV, started 5-6)
- ??? in 2025 (Went from 1 seed on 12/18 to eliminated from NFC West title on 12/28)
The Rams were 9-2 and it seemed like 14-3 was realistic and 13-4 was the worst case scenario but now L.A.’s just trying to avoid 11-6. They have to have a strong win in the wild card and a strong win in the divisional round and get to the NFC Championship game, or people will start reviewing how disappointing the last four years have been.
In 2023, the Rams never held a lead in the wild card loss to the Lions. They gave up touchdowns on each of Detroit’s first three drives.
Why were the Rams a wild card team in 2023? Because they lost 6 of their first 9 games.
In 2024, the Rams beat a Vikings team that fans were already calling broken and overrated going into the playoffs because of Sam Darnold’s 31-9 loss to the Lions in Week 18. Then they trailed the Eagles for over 51:00 minutes of the divisional game and the only reason that L.A. held a lead for a few minutes in the first quarter is because Philly missed an extra point.
Why were the Rams a 10-7 four seed in 2024? They started 1-4 and only won the NFC West because of a strength of victory tiebreaker over the Seahawks.
And if you’re blaming weather for the loss to the Eagles, well what do you expect the weather to be like if the Rams have to travel to Seattle, Chicago, or Philadelphia in round 2? L.A. could still be going to Philadelphia or Chicago in the wild card!
Why are the Rams talking about wild cards instead of hosting a playoff game? They lost to two NFC South teams that could both still miss the playoffs with a losing record.
McVay and Stafford can’t now go into the playoffs saying that the last time they tried to win a game, Stafford threw three interceptions and the Rams lost to a Falcons team that lost to the Jets in Week 13.
Because even if beating the Cardinals is not an accomplishment, losing to the Cardinals would be an embarrassment that the Rams can’t afford to risk anymore. And it might flip the confidence against any team that L.A. plays in the wild card round from “We have to play the Rams” to “We get to play the Rams”.
Of course, there’s still the distinct possibility that the Rams will have their best playoff run in Sean McVay’s coaching history and that none of these losses matter in the long run.
- Beat up a team in the wild card round
- Go on the road again and beat the Seahawks or the 49ers or the Bears in the divisional round
- Give fans a real show in the NFC Championship game
Anything less than a competitive showing in the NFC Championship game will have fans seriously questioning if the Rams should be running it back in 2026.
Oiling the machine against the Cardinals in Week 18 has now gone from a luxury to a necessity.
