Rams, Cowboys, and Chargers: Which of These 3 Are The Biggest Disappointments This Season

Before this season started, the Los Angeles Rams were labeled a superteam poised to win Super Bowl LXI, the Dallas Cowboys were finally seen as a challenger to that crown, and the Los Angeles Chargers were seen as a team that could surprise everyone.

Those assumptions were not without logic. The Rams had traded for two of the league’s best defensive players and brought back one of their homegrown defensive studs from retirement.

This had the making of a super team, which led some Los Angeles-based journalists to even claim that the franchise could go unbeaten all the way to hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Those in Dallas, Texas, have always felt that their Cowboys could do the same. However, the version of the team owner, Jerry Jones, put together this offseason had even the naysayers believing they could win it all.

Then come the Chargers, a team that has been a project waiting to perform at their best since Jim Harbaugh took over. The sad reality is that these three teams are a combined 4-14.

The Chargers are the worst team in the league after the Tennessee Titans broke their duck, and the Miami Dolphins have yet to play their sixth game. Then both the Rams and Cowboys are in the bottom half of the NFC, with a steep hill to climb if they are to reach the playoffs. So what went wrong for them, and who is the biggest disappointment this season?

The Rams’ superteam experiment forgot injuries matter

When the Los Angeles Rams traded for Trent McDuffie and Myles Garrett, and convinced Matthew Stafford to return, the prospect was enticing enough for Aaron Donald to come out of retirement.

Now, the three-time Defensive Player of the Year is left battling on his own as the defense is performing far worse than they imagined. Garrett is a while away before returning, and they just placed starting nose tackle Poona Ford on injured reserve.

If things were bad on defense, they got worse for the offense when they announced Davante Adams would miss 6-10 weeks. That is one of their best receivers going down at a crucial juncture.

Then comes the special teams. A week after waiving struggling kicker Harrison Mevis, they lost recent signing Blake Grupe to a season-ending torn ACL. Now they have brought in veteran kicker Brandon McManus.

Their injuries are just one part of the problem facing Sean McVay‘s team. The entire Rams team seems to have lost their will to dominate. That was exacerbated when they could not win against an inconsistent and struggling Arizona Cardinals last week.

The franchise seems to be in for a rude awakening after going all in on this superteam idea. The problem will only get worse when both Donald and Stafford walk away with nothing to show for it.

Jerry Jones’ Cowboys are confusingly bad

While the Los Angeles Rams focused on superstars, Jerry Jones came full circle after using up all the assets he acquired while trading away superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons.

Almost everyone praised the energy magnate for pulling this off, which led him and his organization to dream of a Super Bowl run. After their horror loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers, it seems this team as a whole is underperforming to the point where any owner would be forced to hit the reset button.

$60 million Dak Prescott and his high-flying offense from last season are nowhere to be found. Then there is the defense Jones built, which honestly looks like a unit of mismatched players trying to get something going.

Only the special teams have stayed consistent, but that is hardly a measuring stick for a team that has its two other important units struggling mightily. While most of the blame was pinned on the defense, narratives are building about whether head coach Brian Schottenheimer‘s job is safe.

The head-scratching part is that no one has a surefire clue what is going wrong. Sure, the run game is abysmal. But beyond that, it is a dilemma why Prescott can’t consistently find his two elite receivers. No one can answer why a stacked defense is underperforming.

The only sliver of hope for this team is if they do enough to somehow find a wild card ticket. The NFC East is a mess, and they could take advantage. But from what they have displayed so far, disappointment might be an understatement.

Imploding Chargers are only going to get worse

Fans of Los Angeles sports teams are having it tough this year. It was supposed to be the dawn of a new era, where dominance was part of their culture.

The Dodgers were supposed to be battling for their third straight World Series, the expectations from the two NFL franchises were sky-high, and the Lakers were entering a new era where they would flourish without being dragged by the drama that surrounded LeBron James.

The jury is still out for the latter. But otherwise, Los Angeles fans are probably hoping the NFL season finishes soon after the Dodgers’ embarrassing exit. The Rams are better than the Chargers by two games, and that is not even putting it lightly.

To their credit, they faced four playoff teams before their Bye week. But they didn’t even put up a good enough fight, and losing to two bottom-rung teams is downright embarrassing.

They will have chances to win games after they return to play, as their remaining schedule is easier. However, momentum and lack of confidence can do a lot for a team still looking for its first win.

Jim Harbaugh will likely be burning the midnight oil to figure out how to get back on track. But even if they do, it will be a season they’ll want to erase from the record books, as it has been the literal definition of disappointing.

Each team has its own argument as to which one is the most disappointing this season. So far, it is clearly the Los Angeles Chargers, as they have been bad in every game and do not look like a team that has the willpower to fight for a win.

The others at least have that, and are some good health and schematic changes away from winning consistently. The Charges can, too. But they still haven’t figured out what is wrong on all three levels. Therefore, it could be a long season for them.

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