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With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the Rams needed a win in the worst way on Sunday night – especially after the Vikings and 49ers had already won earlier in the day. They seized the opportunity and beat the Bears 17-7, improving their record to 6-4.
The Rams entered Week 11 at No. 18 in Doug Farrar’s power rankings for Touchdown Wire, so surely this victory would be enough to push them up at least a few spots, right? Not exactly. They stayed put at No. 18, which is the lowest position for any 6-4 team.
In fact, the Rams are ranked behind four 5-5 teams in the power rankings: the Steelers (17), Panthers (16), Titans (15) and Eagles (14).
Here’s Farrar’s explanation for putting the Rams where he did.
Incredibly, the Rams came into their Sunday night game against the Bears without having scored an offensive touchdown in 19 straight drives. Things didn’t get any better on their first drive, when Todd Gurley fumbled on his team’s first play from scrimmage. Jared Goff ended the Rams’ second drive with a truly awful interception to linebacker Roquan Smith on a sideline throw. Sean McVay’s offense finally broke the streak on their fifth drive of the evening, when Gurley scored on a 1-yard touchdown run. The Rams kept their postseason hopes alive with a 17-7 win, but not all is well with that offense. Per Next Gen Stats, Jared Goff was pressured on just one of his 18 dropbacks, but he was able to complete just 11 passes in 18 attempts for 173 yards, no touchdowns, that really bad pick, and a couple of decent throws called back by penalties. The heat map shows a quarterback who can’t carry the offense on his back, and the dropback total reveals a coaching staff well aware of that fact.
There’s no doubt the Rams are struggling to find their identity on offense, and they certainly aren’t deserving of being ranked inside the top 10. However, putting them behind the Panthers, who were blown out by the Falcons and who the Rams already beat in Week 1, is surprising.
The Steelers beat the Rams, so that makes some sense, but the Titans and Eagles have worse records than Los Angeles and hardly look like playoff contenders.
All the Rams can do is take care of what they can control by winning the games on their schedule. Next up is a big test against the Ravens on Monday Night Football. If they win that game, they’ll definitely make a jump in every analyst’s power rankings.
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