2015 St. Louis Rams: Looking At The Schedule After Week 8 Of The NFL Season

The Rams came out of week 8 with their first back to back wins of the 2015 NFL Season. As depressing as that sounds the early schedule was one of the toughest in the league. It is no real surprise it took until now for them to string together back to back wins. Their home victory over their longtime rival San Francisco 49ers left no doubt as to who was the bottom of the NFC West this season. The Rams remained unblemished within the NFC West, and above .500 in November for the first time under Jeff Fisher.

The Rams offense still struggled a little through the early going, including a potential scoring drive killing turnover from Tavon Austin. The offense did manage to put 20 points on the board before halftime, including a successful "two minute drill" drive for a touchdown with 18 seconds remaining. The Rams offense continues to struggle on third down, getting a majority of its production from explosive plays by Tavon Austin or Todd Gurley. The wide receivers and Jared Cook continue to struggle with drops at the most inopportune times.

The defense thoroughly dominated an outmatched 49ers team. The 49ers moved the ball down the field well on their first possession, but couldn't punch it into the end zone as the Rams defense continues to be stout inside the 20. The defense forced a safety and held the 49ers to 189 total yards of offense. The Rams held the 49ers to just 38 yards rushing on 21 total carries (including runs by Colin Kaepernick). Take away the carries by Kap and the Rams allowed just 10 yards on 15 carries from running backs. Of course the 49ers were without their top RBs for the entire game, so take those numbers with a grain of salt.

Let's take a look at the Rams 2015 Schedule.

At 4-3 the Rams are squarely in the middle of their most favorable stretch of the 2015 schedule. The upcoming game against the Minnesota Vikings could prove to be a good test, as the Vikings enter the game with a 5-2 record. This game is not only one of the potentially tougher games remaining on the schedule, it also has some very serious playoff implications as the Rams sit just behind the Vikings in the wild card seeding.  Let's take a closer look at the next two weeks.

The Rams will hit the road to take on the Vikings in Week 9. The Vikings bring a 5-2 record into the contest, although two of those victories came against the lowly Detroit Lions and none have come against teams with a winning record. The 3-5 record of the Kansas City Chiefs is the closest to a winning team the Vikings have beaten in 2015. They did nearly upset the Denver Broncos, losing by a score of 23-20, so it is difficult to gage this team based on their record alone. They seem to be similar to the Rams in they have a solid running game, a emerging defense, and a spotty at best passing game. This game could serve as a good litmus test for both teams.

In Week 10 the Rams will return home to play host to the Chicago Bears. The Bears are struggling this season, currently sitting at 2-5 with wins over the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs. The Rams should be favored in that matchup, and it may feature the return of Chris Long to face off against his brother Kyle. Matt Forte is still a solid running back for the Bears, and Alshon Jeffrey will be a good matchup for the surprisingly stout Rams secondary.

If the Rams can manage to get victories over their next two weeks they will be in excellent position to make a playoff push down the stretch. With games against the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals, and Seattle Seahawks representing the toughest remaining regular season matches 2015 looks like a good opportunity for the Rams to finally break their playoff and winning season droughts. If the Rams are going to make the playoffs though, it would be nice to see some production from Nick Foles and the passing game. As good as the Rams defense and Todd Gurley have been so far, the Rams aren't going to be able to rely on them alone.

Thanks for reading and as always, Go Rams!!!