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Sarah Barshop
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — After the Los Angeles Rams beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12 to become the No. 1 seed in the NFC and the Super Bowl favorite, coach Sean McVay made it clear that until the regular season was over, the team’s place in the standings wasn’t significant.
Just one week later, the Rams fell to 9-3 and out of the No. 1 spot after a 31-28 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
The Chicago Bears (9-3) are now atop the NFC because they hold the tiebreaker over the Rams with a better conference record.
It was, as Rams outside linebacker Byron Young said after the game, a “humbling experience.”
“I just feel like this a wake-up call,” Young said. “Something that you just got to learn from. I definitely think it’s something that we needed, but I don’t look at as a bad thing. I just look at it that it is motivation. It is something I’m glad that it happened. We need this.”
With the Rams favored by 9½ points, it was the second-largest upset in the NFL this season, according to ESPN Research.
“I don’t think we came in as high as we should have,” outside linebacker Jared Verse said. “I think we didn’t do the things that we quite need to do. Too many people thought of this game as one of those games where you can just kind of jump out of your gaps, do what you have to do. That’s not what it is. … It doesn’t matter if you’re going up against the Panthers, the Eagles, the top team, the worst team. It doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be better than that.”
Quarterback Matthew Stafford, who came into the game as the MVP favorite, turned the ball over three times. Stafford, who had not thrown an interception since Week 3, threw two in three pass attempts in the first quarter. He had multiple interceptions and a lost fumble for the first time since Week 17 of the 2021 season, according to ESPN Research.
“Obviously we’re not going to win a whole lot of games when I turn it over three times,” Stafford said. “[It] hasn’t been an issue and don’t expect it to be moving forward.”
After the game, McVay said the Rams still gave themselves a chance to get back into the game. Trailing by three points with 2:34 left to play, Los Angeles had the ball at the Carolina 22. After the Rams took a penalty for delay of game, Stafford fumbled while being sacked.
The Rams’ offense did not get the ball back.
“With this team, I’m always optimistic that even through some adversities throughout the game that we’ll weather the storm and figure it out,” wide receiver Davante Adams said. “… We’ve had games where on offense we didn’t play great, and the defense picks it up. … Nobody saved the day today and that’s why we ended up falling short.”