Sean McVay’s Observations Are A Window Into Just How Far The Los Angeles Rams Have Fallen

The head coach spoke as if he was directing a Pop Warner squad instead of the defending Super Bowl champions. His post-game remarks were suited for a recreational league, instead of the highest level of football.

Welcome to Sean McVay’s wobbly world, as he grasps for straws in a Los Angeles Rams season which continues to find the side of a mountain, nose-first.

They’re latest pileup was Sunday’s 26-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs for their fifth-straight defeat. The last-place Rams are 3-8 and if this isn’t rock-bottom one can see it from here, minus binoculars.

“I am proud of the way those guys competed snap in and snap out and we’re going to try and build on this one,’’ McVay said.

Competing is one thing and winning is another. In the NFL, the former is a given and the latter is a must.

“There are no moral victories,’’ McVay said.

So to say the Rams are competing is admirable, but for an NFL coach to brag about it is faint praise. One year after winning Super Bowl 56, L.A. expected to build on its success instead of falling flat.

But that’s the Rams’ lot in life and to call this a Super Bowl hangover does a disservice to hangovers. A franchise which was itching to start a dynasty has been brittle and bummed.

Quarterback Matthew Stafford (neck) and wide receiver Cooper Kupp (knee) are out, the ailing offensive line wears name tags because of its turnover and the running game is equal parts gimpy and grumpy — hello, Cam Akers.

So the Rams solider on after making McVay one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches this year, to the tune of a reported $10 million a year. Unfortunately all that dough means squat with a squad which is among the game’s worst.

There were some bright lights on Sunday with the defense holding the Chiefs on five of their six trips into the red zone. Wide receiver Van Jefferson caught a touchdown pass, the first of third-string quarterback Bryce Perkins’ career.

But the real news is the Rams have lost more games in a season, with a month remaining, than in any other year since McVay arrived in 2017.

The real problem is what are the Rams going to do about it? This year is shot, and next year comes with the star-laden roster already some $5 million over the salary cap before its first snap.

Also wheeler-deal general manager Les Snead is without a first-round pick, which isn’t odd for the win-now Rams. Others point to the team having six picks, but a closer look reveals four of them being consummated once the fifth-round begins.

The Rams will get better immediately when Stafford, Kupp, and the latest to land on sidelines, wide receiver Allen Robinson (foot), get well.

Although is Stafford, who has $130 million in guaranteed money, a lock to run it back for his 14th season after missing two of the past three games with concussion symptoms.

And will McVay return after seemingly flirting with retirement after last season? A number of media outlets attempted to shower him with a mind-boggling contract worth millions and it’s one which comes minus the headaches of being a coach.

Time will tell and even the worst clock is right twice a day. The Rams, as bad as they are, have eclipsed that with three wins.

But they are underdogs on Sunday when facing the visiting Seattle Seahawks and it’s a challenge to locate any remaining games in which the Rams will be favored.

Unfortunately it doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you play the game. That mantra might fly on some levels of football, but certainly not in the NFL.