Forget the jet lag: What happened to the NFLs best offense?

The Los Angeles Rams’ ambitious travel experiment turned a 16-hour flight across the Pacific into a 20-point humiliation at the hands of their rivals.Yes, Aaron Donald stayed home.Yes, Puka Nacua had more tackles than Myles Garrett.Yes, the defense was carved apart underneath and safety Quentin Lake was left alone on an island.All of that deserves scrutiny after a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in their season opener in Melbourne, Australia last Thursday.But amid the autopsy of Chris Shula’s defense and Sean McVay’s ill-fated decision to drop his team into Australia roughly a day before kickoff, one glaring issue has been buried somewhere over the Pacific:What happened to the best offense in football?The Rams didn’t merely struggle at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.They looked stale, disjointed and remarkably predictable for an offense with the fingerprints of McVay, Kliff Kingsbury, Nate Scheelhaase and Dave Ragone all over it.Matthew Stafford played his worst game since joining the Rams in 2021.

The reigning NFL MVP, who piloted the league’s No.1 offense last season, finished without a touchdown pass, snapping his streak of games with at least one at 17, and never seemed comfortable deciphering San Francisco’s defense.But this wasn’t all on Stafford.

There’s plenty of blame to go around.Start with McVay.For all the discussion about jet lag, travel didn’t call a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line early in the third quarter.Trailing 17-7 and desperately needing a touchdown, McVay put the ball in the hands of his 38-year-old quarterback, who has hardly made sneaks a defining feature of his 18-year career.Stafford hasn’t scored a rushing touchdown in 1,411 days, dating to Oct.

30, 2022, when he ironically scored one against the 49ers in another blowout loss.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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