The Seattle Seahawks (10-3) suffered one of their worst losses in recent memory to the Los Angeles Rams (8-5) Sunday night and fell back to second place in the NFC West after the San Francisco 49ers’ (11-2) victory over the New Orleans Saints (10-3).

The Seahawks also dropped their first road game of the year, fell back to the No. 5 seed in the NFC and were denied from clinching a playoff spot. Running back Rashaad Penny sprained his ACL and the team as a whole looked terribly unprepared and outmatched. Here are a few additional takeaways from the game.

Wheels fell off offensively after the opening drive

The Seahawks managed a field goal on their opening drive and did not score offensively again until the fourth quarter when they kicked another field goal. They were held without an offensive touchdown for the first time all season. Russell Wilson and his cohorts never established a rhythm and often found themselves punting away. Wilson was under duress from the Rams’ ferocious pass rush and his receivers could not consistently get open and had a few drops as well. Penny’s injury may have played a factor in the results, but the Seahawks offense could not capitalize on the opportunities given to them. They will have to return to form to compete in the postseason and fast.

Almost no pass rush whatsoever

The Seahawks’ pass rush reverted to their inept form that was on display for most of the season before Week 10. The defense landed no sacks on Jared Goff, and this contributed significantly to the hefty production of the Rams’ offense. There were a few moments of pressure, but not nearly enough to even keep Seattle in the game, let alone win it. The Rams offensive line kept their signal-caller clean and he made plays when he needed to. The same cannot be said for Seattle’s pass rush. Speaking of the defense…

Defense gave up three touchdowns in the first half

This is not a recipe for success. The secondary was routinely gashed for big gains by the Rams’ receivers and looked thoroughly outmatched for the majority of the game, but this was especially evident in the first half. All three of the Rams’ first-half TDs came from sustained, high-yardage drives and the third one came right before halftime. The Rams received the second-half kickoff and largely controlled the game from there thanks to the sizable lead they built up.

Quandre Diggs was the lone bright spot on defense

Diggs had two interceptions of Goff, the first being a pick-six when Seattle was down 21-3. Jason Myers missed the extra point, but this play had the potential to be a massive shift in momentum for the Seahawks. Unfortunately, the offense could not take advantage of the big picks from Diggs and the rest of the defense certainly did not help matters. This was a solid game from the veteran safety and it could provide something for him to build on even more.

This was one of the ugliest Seahawks losses of the Pete Carroll era

Seattle could not establish a run game, sack the quarterback or consistently cover the Rams’ offensive weapons. Pete Carroll prides his reputation on his teams being able to execute in these situations and Seattle was poor in all categories tonight. Not even Wilson could provide many heroics, and this team just looked wholly unprepared for one of the most important games of the season. It is not uncommon for Carroll’s teams to lose, but they rarely get blown out. It is even rarer to see them get blown out on primetime in December. They did Sunday night against a division rival, and they must recover from it and defeat the Panthers (5-8) on the road next week.

[lawrence-related id=52464]