GLENDALE, Ariz. — The Los Angeles Rams looked so astonishingly incompetent in their 41-10 loss to Arizona on Sunday, and so immediate, that the players left the locker room afterward in stunned, miserable silence.

“It was one of those days that was really humbling,” head coach Sean McVay said after the game. “Luckily, we didn’t feel a lot of that stuff. But tough times don’t last long, tough people do. There’s a lot of things that have gone … not necessarily according to plan in the first couple of weeks. Today was not something I expected. …

“I’ll be honest with you, there’s nothing positive about it. The only positive is that this game is over now and we can move on.”

This is a football team that hasn’t started a season 0-2 since 2011, six years before McVay was hired as head coach. In fact, it’s the worst loss in general manager Les Snead’s 12 years in L.A., a testament to what injuries, lack of depth, unpreparedness, lack of technique or fundamentals can do to a football team that entered the 2024 season with positive momentum and sky-high expectations.

In fact, over the past five seasons, only two teams — the 2023 Texans and the 2022 Bengals — have made the playoffs after starting 0-2. Since 2015, 74 teams have started 0-2. Of those 74, eight have made the playoffs.

GALLING DEEPER

Key Takeaways as Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr. Flares Against Rams

“I think you get back to work,” McVay said after the game. “There’s a lot of football left. There (are) a lot of things that you experience for the first time. How you deal with it is the most important thing. … This is one of those days. That knot in your stomach is a bitter pill to swallow. This is what we signed up for, we didn’t just sign up for the positives — for the team to stay healthy. All I know is how to try to get back to work (and) keep my head up. Come up with some better solutions. There (were) clearly not enough answers for our players to have success today. …

“I’m not even worried about 0-2. I’m worried about how we play better football. That wasn’t a good product today. That wasn’t something we’re okay with.”

The Rams are without their starting left tackle (third-string Warren McClendon started Sunday with Alaric Jackson suspended), their starting left guard (Jonah Jackson, who started the season at center, is filling in for the injured Steve Avila, but it’s clear the screen-and-stretch game isn’t the same without Avila), and rookie Beaux Limmer is starting at center. Solid right guard Kevin Dotson is playing despite a lateral ankle sprain/foot injury. Right tackle Rob Havenstein just returned and was still limited in practice for much of the week. Star receivers Cooper Kupp (who limped off at halftime and then had a running boot on his left leg in the locker room) and Puka Nacua (PCL sprain) are out, in Nacua’s case likely beyond the minimum four games. Starting cornerback Darious Williams is on the injured list with a hamstring issue. Reserve Cobie Durant is nursing a toe injury and did not finish the game. Obviously, all of this has a huge impact on the Rams’ overall level of play.

Still, Arizona was clearly the better-coached and better-coordinated team on Sunday. They were more physical and versatile on both sides of the ball. They had more dimension; their run game crushed the Rams for 231 yards (5.8 per carry) from a variety of personnel and points of contact. LA’s defensive line lacked tackles, couldn’t consistently win the point of attack, looked really undersized and couldn’t bring down quarterback Kyler Murray on a first touch. The pass rush, and then the unfolding layers of defense behind it, seemed ill-prepared to defend Murray from out-of-structure — meaning he could create pass plays on the move and exploit missed takedowns, then target cornerbacks and safeties who had lost their receivers downfield.

“We just couldn’t tackle him,” McVay said. “There were opportunities. You look at some of the plays, I mean, we had three guys around him (and) he got away and hit an off-schedule touchdown. Does the same thing on third down on our sideline. We just couldn’t get him, his athleticism shined. He made a lot of plays. You have to give him credit and we have to learn from it.”

Murray had five passing plays of 20-plus yards against the Rams defense, including two of his three touchdowns (on the third, an 18-yard pass to Elijah Higgins, Murray held on to the ball for a whopping 8.55 seconds, according to Next Gen Stats). Murray also finished the game — substituted early for backup Clayton Tune — with a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

Kyler Murray was most effective on longer developmental plays, completing 10 of 12 passes for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns on dropbacks of more than 2.5 seconds.

Murray also completed all four passes he threw while running (8+ mph) for 119 yards and 2 touchdowns.#LARvsAZ | @AZCardinals

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 15, 2024

Arizona wore its plan on its sleeve all offseason with how it built its offense, and even did so this week after the poor debut of rookie first-round receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. It was all painfully obvious week that Cardinals offensive coordinator Drew Petzing planned for Harrison early and often, and he did: Harrison had two touchdowns and 130 receiving yards on his first four touches, and after that the game seemed far out of reach.

“We just didn’t play well enough,” said starting safety Kam Curl, “we just didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win the game.”

I asked McVay after the game if he thought the defense was adequately prepared for how the Cardinals would attack them; he sighed but didn’t directly answer the question afterward. Surprisingly, first-year defensive coordinator Chris Shula noted Arizona’s versatility in the run game this week, including how they can control the ball and possession clock and stay away from the opposing team, in response to a question I asked him on Thursday. Arizona had the ball 36:54 and the Rams had it 23:06. Everyone knew what was coming. The Cardinals did it anyway.

The Rams converted just two third downs in 11 attempts, and their lack of a run game allowed their offense to get off the field quickly on average. While we accept that as true, it’s also fair to wonder if the defense, despite knowing how the modern Cardinals play football, was unprepared, or if they simply couldn’t execute? More NFL teams are now playing with heavier personnel and leaning on the run game (including at quarterback), and this coaching staff has always been one step ahead of the changing cycles of the sport. Why don’t they, or this roster, seem ready now?

On the other side of the dismal affair, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked five times — three of them on third down. The Rams opened 0-for-5 on third down and converted just one of their first seven attempts, plus were 0-for-2 on fourth down. Stafford remained in the game, a questionable decision given his poor protection, the lopsided scoring and his health, which is crucial to saving the Rams’ season. McVay said he considered pulling Stafford but opted instead to run the ball on his own because backup Stetson Bennett was unfamiliar with some of the handoffs and exchanges the Rams would have to execute.

Dennis Gardeck fires Matthew Stafford before one of the Cardinals’ five games on Sunday. (USA Today)

McVay called only runs on the Rams’ final series, the last of the day’s weary, white-flag-waved plays. But not before Stafford returned for the offense’s next-to-last series with a 31-point deficit, a dismal three-play stretch in which Stafford was stripped on second down and Arizona’s defense won the ball back.

“Today wasn’t good. You can’t f— … Matthew,” McVay stopped himself from changing his choice of words, “You can’t hit him that fast. We’ve got to be able to do it right.”

Lead running back Williams rushed for just 25 yards on 12 carries, with one touchdown (2.1 yards per carry). By contrast, Williams rushed for 301 yards in two games against the Cardinals last season. The offensive line couldn’t generate the push needed to get into a rhythm on the ground, and eventually, as the pressure mounted, the Rams — who stuck with 11 personnel (No. 2 tight end Davis Allen is nursing a back injury and did not play) — sacrificed at least two “eligible” receivers in a running back and tight end to chip in or help block on a regular basis.

The Rams get Jackson back next week and hope to be at least a little healthier on the right side of the line with time. But the San Francisco 49ers loom large, a team that plays like a kick in the ass even as it struggles with injuries of its own. The style of football the Rams played on Sunday won’t cut it.

“These are the moments that test you,” McVay said. “I know when I look back at the moments of growth that I’ve had, they never came in the good times. They only came in moments like this. You get a knot in your stomach. You have a choice: Do you want to attack it? Or do you want to give up? And I’m betting on a lot of these guys that they’re going to be the kind of guys that are going to pick their heads up and get back to work. These are humbling moments.”

(Top photo of Sean McVay: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)