PHILADELPHIA — For awhile there, it was beginning to look a lot like 2021.
That was the year the Rams went all-in, started fast, endured through a midseason losing streak and then went on to win the Super Bowl.
There is still a long way to go before Super Bowl LX will be played at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
But despite what coach Sean McVay and his players insisted after their collapse on Sunday against the defending Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles, it was no confidence builder.
Not in the short term anyway.
The Rams blew a 19-point third quarter lead, were set up to possibly win with a last-second field goal and then had that kick blocked and returned for a touchdown in a 33-26 defeat at Lincoln Financial Field.
“We had the game within our control kind of the whole time,” kicker Joshua Karty said, “and we come out of here with a loss, so [it] kind of sucks.”
When it comes to the Eagles, the Rams are accustomed to disappointment.
The Eagles (3-0) beat the Rams last season at SoFi Stadium. They beat them here in the snow in the NFC divisional round. And now they produced an epic comeback to send the Rams back to Los Angeles with another bitter loss.
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Gary Klein breaks down what went wrong for the Rams in their 33-26 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
It was a stunning defeat for a Rams team that an hour earlier appeared easily on its way to improving to 3-0 for the first time since their championship season.
The Rams had defeated the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans, but the matchup against the Eagles, quarterback Jalen Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley represented the first real test for a team McVay has described as the deepest in his eight-plus seasons.
The Rams again came close. And again they failed.
“These are the chances to be able to lean in and see what you’re really about,” McVay, who is now 1-6 against the Eagles, said of his team’s way forward.
Unlike last January, the temperature on Sunday was not frigid. It was sunny and warm, much like how the Rams must have felt early in the third quarter after they went ahead 26-7 on Matthew Stafford’s short touchdown pass to running back Kyren Williams.
It was a seemingly comfortable lead, even for a Rams team that had settled for multiple field goals instead of touchdowns because of poor execution inside the 20-yard line.
The Rams even had their nemesis Barkley — he of four long touchdown runs against them last season — under control.
“We were riding high — everything was feeling good,” receiver Davante Adams said, “and then to come out on the wrong side of this, obviously it’s not the way we drew it up.”
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford throws against the Eagles in the second half Sunday.
(Matt Slocum / Associated Press)
No one could have predicted the Rams would have two kicks blocked in the final minutes.
“It’s the NFL,” safety Kam Curl said, “It’s crazy.”
McVay appeared to keep calm, but like Rams fans watching their team barrel toward another loss to the Eagles, he had to be going a little nuts as his offense stalled while Hurts was passing for three touchdowns and running for another.
The Rams built a 19-7 halftime lead on Stafford’s long touchdown pass to Adams and four field goals by Karty.
They seized momentum on the first series of the second half when edge rusher Jared Verse sacked Hurts and forced a fumble that was recovered by linebacker Nate Landman.
The turnover set up Stafford’s scoring pass to Williams.
“Feeling like we had our foot on the gas,” receiver Puka Nacua said.
The Rams were in complete control.
Until they weren’t.
Hurts tossed two touchdown passes that trimmed the Rams’ lead to five points.
The Rams got the ball early in the fourth quarter, and with just less than nine minutes left, Karty came on for a 36-yard field-goal attempt. But Eagles lineman Jalen Carter blocked the kick.
Hurts’ short touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith put the Eagles ahead, 27-26.
And then Stafford, the master of last-minute drives, drove the Rams to the Eagles’ 26.
It was eerily familiar to last January, when Stafford had the Rams driving toward a potential game-winning touchdown.
This time, all they needed was a field goal.
“I was thankful for another opportunity to kind of help my team make things right and come off the field with a victory,” Karty said.
But Jordan Davis leaped high to block the kick, and then scooped the ball and ran to the end zone as delirious Eagles fans roared.
“Had our chances really in all phases probably to win that one and didn’t get it done,” said Stafford, who passed for two touchdowns, with an interception. “It’s frustrating.”
McVay and his players repeatedly cautioned that it was only Week 3.
And they are correct.
Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown catches a pass in front of Rams cornerback Cobie Durant during the second half Sunday.
(Chris Szagola / Associated Press)
No need to panic or overthink the defeat. Not with the surprisingly unbeaten Indianapolis Colts coming to SoFi Stadium next Sunday.
But at some point — likely the NFC playoffs — the Rams must figure out how to beat the Eagles.
“I hate the Eagles,” Williams said, “but they taught us something … or are putting us through something that we needed to get put through.
“I’m glad that it’s happening this early in the season because it’s only going to make us [better] for later.”
Time will tell.