5 NFL non-playoff teams that can make a run at Super Bowl 55
4. Los Angeles Rams
Quite frankly, I’m not sure where I stand on the Los Angeles Rams after what they showed in the 2019 season. Quarterback Jared Goff looked like a shell of the player that he was previously in Sean McVay’s offense, which has also caused some of the shine to wear off from the wunderkind head coach. The result was a 9-7 team that now has very little draft capital after making it to Super Bowl LIII and flopping.
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When you look at what happened with the Rams offense this past season, however, it wasn’t all on Goff, despite what you may think. Yes, the quarterback could’ve been better. However, with Todd Gurley looking like a hollow shell of himself and the offensive line taking a dramatic step back after suffering some personnel losses, everything that the Rams used to succeed went by the wayside.
So much of what made McVay special as a designer and play-caller and, as such, made Goff and the offense successful was being able to kill teams with play-action. When there is less of a threat to run and the offensive line isn’t holding up, however, that becomes more difficult to accomplish.
While all of that may be true, the Rams did finish the 2019 season strong and have a star-power defense led by Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald. If that group can stay ascending and McVay can adjust to again find ways to get the play-action game rolling — be it through dismissing Gurley or by another design — then this team has the goods to get back to the Big Game after missing out on the postseason.