The Los Angeles Rams invited anyone with three hours to spare to enjoy a fish fry on Monday evening.

Anyone who was eager to take the offer in a game against the Miami Dolphins ended up with indigestion.

It was the offense that was supposed to carry the Rams into a new era, but Los Angeles head coach Sean McVay couldn’t get his group over the line Monday in a 23-15 loss.

With a fourth straight win up for grabs, the Rams didn’t score a touchdown behind quarterback Matthew Stafford. Any ideas of getting from a terrible 1-4 start to the playoffs have been put on hold with the current 4-5 record.

Stafford has played 50 regular season games with the Rams. He has now failed to orchestrate a touchdown drive in just two of them.

“It was a little bit of this and a little bit of that,” Stafford said of the team’s problems on offense. “We did very good things and were not good enough in some areas. I would say we were inconsistent.”

The Rams were supposed to be about the offense this season, and if anyone was wondering why, all they had to do was look to the stands on Monday. Superhero defensive tackle Aaron Donald was on hand to watch his former teammates, who looked as chiseled as ever in retirement.

A young Los Angeles defense should be going through growing pains this season, and the offense, filled with top players, should help things along.

If Donald was impressed by any group, it was by his past defense. Miami won with just 238 yards of total offense, well below the Rams’ 327 yards. The Dolphins got the job done despite passing for just 208 yards and a Tua Tagovailoa interception.

So while the Rams have Stafford, wide receivers Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp and running back Kyren Williams, there is a new group of players looking for top billing.

Edge rusher Byron Young and defensive tackle Kobie Turner played as rookies alongside Donald in his final season. Edge rusher Jared Verse and defensive tackle Braden Fiske were called up after Donald announced his playing days were over.

The Rams already had a Fearsome Foursome in the 1960s, and while this base defense isn’t the same as that one, today’s young group may still be known as the Ferocious Foursome as it continues to develop.

Can the Rams still make the playoffs? Monday’s loss gave them a 13 percent playoff chance. Another sign of their bad luck.

Los Angeles built up hope after a rocky start largely due to a flurry of injuries to the offense, including Nacua and Kupp, not to mention multiple starters on the offensive line.

But center Jonah Jackson, left guard Steve Avila and right tackle Joe Noteboom all came off injured reserve to play this week, and yet Stafford was rushed all night by a Dolphins defensive front that had underperformed this season. Stafford was sacked four times, while Nacua and Kupp combined for 16 receptions, but none for TDs.

It was just one loss, and yet it seems inevitable that change is in store for the Rams. After all, Kupp was rumored to be a trade possibility, and then the deadline passed while he was still in Los Angeles.

The reality is that the front office has indicated that it is willing to look at all options to build a better future.

For all that McVay has done in eight seasons as a head coach, he has yet to develop his own quarterback. Stafford is signed through 2026, with no indication the Rams will move away from their star in the slightest. But he won’t play forever.

In a season like this – with games remaining against the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers and the first-place Arizona Cardinals – there is a hunger to know what will happen next.

“There was an execution that needed to be better,” McVay said of his offense, which he agreed was “sloppy.” “These are the things we have to clean up if we want to be the type of (effective) team we are from an offensive perspective.”

The Rams are just 1.5 games behind the suddenly popular Cardinals in the NFC West and a game behind the second-place 49ers. There remains hope.

But as it turned out on Monday, it’s best to be careful about what’s on the menu.