The Los Angeles Rams will be a favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for a second time in their home stadium in Super Bowl 61. Following Super Bowl 60, the Rams are currently +900 favorites which leads the NFL heading into the offseason. Still, if the Rams are going to take that next step and win a second Super Bowl with Matthew Stafford, they\u2019ll need to improve in key areas to ensure they accomplish their goal. Here are five things that the Rams need to do to give themselves the best chance at playing in Super Bowl 61.<\/p>\n
Throughout the 2025 season, cornerback play and the secondary were consistent issues on the defense. It was a need heading into the season, a need before the trade deadline, and it ultimately was the team\u2019s downfall. It\u2019s true that a good pass rush can benefit an average secondary. However, the issue is that the Rams cornerback group wasn\u2019t even average. The Rams were relying on a 32-year-old Darious Williams, 30-year-old Ahkello Witherspoon, and a former first-round bust in Emmanuel Forbes. It simply wasn\u2019t good enough.<\/p>\n
At the end of the day, the Rams need to do a better job balancing out the pass rush and coverage units. It\u2019s hard to fix everything in one offseason and the Rams fixed the run defense. Now they need to fix the secondary. They don\u2019t necessarily need a lockdown player at cornerback. With that said, they need to add a player that can at least hold their own to some extent and be trusted to cover for a period of time.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t to say that the Rams didn\u2019t prioritize winning the division this past season. At the same time, the division was well within their grasp and they let it slip late in the year. Over the past three seasons, the Rams have lost playoff games that they may have won had it been at SoFi. The Rams arguably beat the Detroit Lions at SoFi in 2023. An argument can be made that the Rams beat the Philadelphia Eagles in 2024 in non-blizzard conditions. Winning three consecutive road games on their way to the Super Bowl was always going to be a tall ask this past season.<\/p>\n
If the Rams can earn the one seed and a bye week, that\u2019s an added bonus. Even if they can\u2019t, winning the division and earning one home playoff game on Wild Card Weekend is a huge advantage. There\u2019s a reason only four teams have done it since 2000 and no team has done it since the NFL expanded to a 17-game season. If the Rams are going to make the Super Bowl, winning the division has to remain a priority.<\/p>\n
The Rams very likely have one more realistic shot with Matthew Stafford at quarterback and that\u2019s next season. This isn\u2019t to say that the front office should be reckless, but if the opportunity presents itself, they need to swing big. In a sense, it\u2019s a spot where they fell short this season. There\u2019s a very real possibility that we\u2019re sitting here in five years and wondering why the Rams front office sat on two first-round picks while Matthew Stafford was playing at an MVP level.<\/p>\n
Again, the Rams don\u2019t need to mortgage their future or do anything crazy. However, they can\u2019t be content or be afraid to take a big swing. Whether it\u2019s a pass rusher like Maxx Crosby, an experienced cornerback like Trent McDuffie, or someone else, the Rams need to take a swing that could get them over the top at the end of their current window.<\/p>\n
There were times this season where the Rams seemed to lack the proper leadership and maturity. Too many times, they got sucked into their own hype and seemed to believe that just showing up was enough. Before the biggest game of the season in Week 16, Puka Nacua went on a controversial podcast and tried to get the hosts into the practice facility. During the playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Jared Verse was quoted saying that the defense lost it after the first drive when the Seahawks scored.<\/p>\n
Those are all things that we haven\u2019t seen during the Sean McVay era. The Rams have always been a mature team and had strong leadership. That\u2019s not to say that the Rams had bad leadership, but it\u2019s something that they lacked with an overall young roster. This past season will be a good learning experience for a lot of young players. With that said, they have some maturing to do this offseason. If the Rams are going to take that next step, they need to play every game with purpose and show more maturity in spots.<\/p>\n
5. Put a focal point on special teams<\/p>\n
The Rams lost too many games this past season because of special teams. Their first loss of the season came in Week 3 because of multiple blocked field goals. Against the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game, it was a muffed punt by Xavier Smith that was the turning point. The Seahawks had the number two special teams unit in the NFL. In college football, Indiana had the fourth-best special teams unit. Special teams matter more than head coaches want them to.<\/p>\n
Bubba Ventrone was recently hired as the Rams\u2019 special teams coach. However, the moves can\u2019t stop there. The Rams need to draft players on day three with a focal point on special teams. While the Rams found some stability with Harrison Mevis, they never trusted him beyond 50 yards and Ethan Evans was inconsistent down the stretch. The Rams don\u2019t need to have the NFL\u2019s best special teams unit. With that said, they need one that won\u2019t cost them games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Rams will be a favorite to hoist the Lombardi Trophy for a second time in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,84504,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":{"0":"post-749455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-rams","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-los-angeles","10":"tag-los-angeles-rams","11":"tag-los-angeles-rams-analysis","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-losangelesrams","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-rams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116063844691293359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}