What happened Sunday in Philadelphia feels different. The Rams had it. Sean McVay‘s team was cooking, scoring on 6 straight possessions to take a commanding 26-7 lead. And then, in a flick of the wrist, it was gone, leaving behind not just a loss, but a lingering question of what could have been and an absolutely savage bad beat for anyone with money on the Los Angeles Rams to cover the 3.5-point spread.

So, where do you go from there? According to analyst Chris Sims, the locker room on Monday morning must have felt like a contemplation practice.  “Do you think the Rams come away going, ‘Hey, we can go toe-to-toe with beating them,’ or,” he continued, “do you think they come away going, ‘Man, that was a day we should have won’?” Sims argued that the Rams didn’t even play their best football, yet they still had the opportunity to win.

“Man, we could have dominated that one,” he added, “and we still couldn’t find a way to beat these guys.” The rub here is the psychological toll. This wasn’t just a loss; it was a demolition of confidence. And with the 3-0 Colts up next, the Rams need to flush that memory and fast. The most immediate challenge, as Mike Florio put it, “is to get these guys to flush this one and not let it feel like it’s hovering over them and it’s some sort of an indication that this isn’t the year they thought that was going to be.” Florio warned that “this is one of those one losses can become two if they’re not careful.”

But you want to know where it all fell apart?

Let’s look at the numbers. Matthew Stafford‘s day was a mixed bag, to put it politely. While he finished with 2 TDs, he also threw a back-breaking INT on the opening drive and completed just 57.6% of his passes for 196 yards.

After that early pick, the Rams did start strong, but they often stalled out in the red zone. They were forced to settle for 4 FGs in the first half alone, kicks that Joshua Karty mostly handled well, but which left crucial points off the board. “You can’t let them hang around,” Florio said. “They are the new you can’t let them hang around team.”

That’s a lesson the Rams learned the hard way.

Sean McVay’s message: Picking up the pieces after a gut-punch Loss

They watched as Jalen Hurts and his crew went to work. Hurts, who had a less-than-stellar start, found a 2nd-half rhythm that was frankly terrifying, going 16 of 22 for 204 yds and a 140.9 passer rating. The Eagles also converted on a series of third downs, including a 17-play, 91-yard drive that was a pure gut punch. This is what Florio called “the new you can’t let them hang around team.” (There’s concern for Barkley now)

The Rams’ defense had its own moments of brilliance. Jared Verse secured his first sack of the season, a strip-sack on Hurts that turned into a TD for the Rams. Byron Young added his fourth sack of the season. They forced four consecutive three-and-outs in the second quarter.

But the dam broke. When it mattered most, on that final drive, the Eagles’ defense, a unit that had been on its heels, stepped up. The Rams had their chance for a game-winning 44-yd FG, a kick that would have been a walk-off victory. Instead, Jordan Davis, a man who moves with surprising grace for his size, blocked the kick. He then picked up the ball and ran it back 61 yds for a touchdown, sealing the 33-26 win. It was the second time in the fourth quarter that the Eagles blocked Karty’s kick. That’s a brutal, demoralizing end to a game, for sure.

Florio noted that Stafford “did look like he got banged around yesterday. It was just a rough physical game, and it was demoralizing to go in there and have that lead and to have that moment where you feel like it’s over when you’re up 26-7.” Sims, for his part, broke down the Eagles’ offensive resurgence. “We saw it click for a quarter and a half right there,” he said, highlighting how they keep themselves in manageable situations.

“It’s never third and 20. It’s never second and 18. It’s always second and six.” The almost game-winning throw to DeVonta (1:48 left to play), a short 3-yard pass, was described by Simms as “probably his best part of the day” because of the precision required.

HC McVay has his work cut out for him, but he’s a “master messenger,” as Sims noted. “This is a team that I do think handles this.” Stafford told reporters that he has “no questions or no concerns about how we’ll respond.”

“Bunch of guys that care about each other, care about doing the stuff the right way. Trust that process that we have week in and week out going to work. Come in with the same mindset whether we won this game or lost this game.” The Eagles just have that “mojo,” Simms said, the kind of swagger we’ve seen from other great teams.

“The Chiefs had it… The Patriots were that team before that. And now the Eagles have taken the mantle of being like, ‘Yeah, even we don’t play our best. You’re going to have a hard time beating us. We don’t care who you are, Cowboys, Chiefs, or Rams.'”

Even a master can’t erase a moment like that. Thing is, the Rams need to believe Stafford when he says he has “no questions or no concerns about how we’ll respond.” The Colts, a team with an impressive 3-0 record of their own, are waiting.