How Rams staved off humiliation, saved Super Bowl hopes with epic comeback

Just in the nick of time, the Rams stopped their season from becoming a collection of excuses.

For why a roster built to chase a championship was already chasing the rest of its division. For why another trip to Philadelphia ended with another reminder of everything they still couldn’t do. For why October had barely begun and a team with such grand ambitions was already running out of room.

Call it what you want, but with so much money poured into the roster and so much hope pinned on a Super Bowl run, the Rams were staring at something far more troubling than a slow start Sunday.

They were on the brink of disaster.

Instead, they finally found a way to beat the Eagles.

And in doing so, they might have saved themselves from a humiliating year.

The Rams’ 24-20 comeback victory Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field deserves to be viewed through that lens. They erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit against the opponent that keeps turning their aspirations into frustrations. They also pulled themselves back from a place that would have made the coming weeks considerably more desperate.

“Plenty of plays where we didn’t get the result we wanted,” quarterback Matthew Stafford said. “But we got the result we wanted at the end of the game.”

Consider the alternative.

A loss would have dropped the Rams to 1-3, three games behind the unbeaten 49ers, who already own a head-to-head victory over them. The Seahawks, at 3-1, would have been two games clear.

Then consider who comes next.

Buffalo visits this week, bringing the possibility that a bad start could have become a 1-4 crisis before the Rams even reached the middle of October.

There is a difference between having time to recover and giving yourself a realistic chance to do it. Especially when the teams you are trying to catch keep winning.

The Rams were dangerously close to learning that distinction.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the Rams finally looked like the team we expected them to be.

And they did it without Myles Garrett, still recovering from knee surgery, and Aaron Donald.

Those two difference-makers are expected back. Thanks to Sunday’s late-game heroics, they could return to a team positioned to pursue everything it set out to accomplish, rather than one spending the rest of its season trying to undo the damage.

“There were so many things that we can clean up, but for our group to come alive when they did and find a way to make the plays, and so many different guys, I’m really proud of them,” said McVay.

No, their season would not have officially ended Sunday. Nobody hands out elimination notices after four games. There would have been the usual reminders about how much football remained, how quickly things change and how the answers were somewhere inside their own building.

All true.

All increasingly difficult to sell.

For a team coached by Sean McVay and quarterbacked by Matthew Stafford, with expectations that extend well beyond merely surviving the regular season, another loss would have demanded some uncomfortable questions.

How good are they, really?

And when were they going to prove it?

Philadelphia made those questions particularly pointed.

The Eagles had become the opponent against whom the Rams kept explaining what went wrong instead of demonstrating what had changed. Close calls. Missed opportunities. A play here, a mistake there. Eventually, the particulars matter less than the pattern.

Sunday threatened to become another entry in that file.

Then the Rams’ defense stopped Philadelphia on fourth down at the Los Angeles 2-yard line, keeping a 20-10 deficit from becoming something worse. Stafford and the offense finally seized the opening. Kyren Williams scored twice in the fourth quarter, and Byron Young helped slam the door with two sacks on Philadelphia’s final possession.

“I think a lot of teams would have folded in those situations,” McVay said. “I think our defense kept giving us a reason to believe.”

And the Rams finally had a result they could build on.

That does not excuse everything that preceded the comeback. Stafford’s two interceptions, damaging penalties, and special-teams mistakes helped create the emergency. Those problems require attention even when the flight home feels considerably better.

But there is value in discovering that a game can still be rescued when so much has gone wrong. There is even more value when the rescue comes against the team that has so often made you pay for those mistakes.

At 2-2, the Rams still have ground to make up. San Francisco has established an early cushion. Seattle is ahead of them. Beating Philadelphia did not erase the standings or guarantee that the Rams have found themselves.

It did change what this week can mean.

Beat Buffalo, and the Rams can start discussing momentum, consecutive victories and whether the uneven opening month helped reveal something useful about their team.

Lose, and there is still a manageable path forward.

That is the breathing room they earned Sunday. The opportunity to correct their flaws before the standings turn them into fatal ones.

For most of the afternoon, the Rams looked headed toward another round of excuses.

They left Philadelphia with a season worth talking about.