The Los Angeles Rams are facing a humbling potential reality about Matthew Stafford. He is on the verge of a historically dubious honor.
“Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford lost his fourth start of the season on Sunday. When he loses his fifth, he’ll reach a career milestone he’d prefer not to have,” Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote on October 20.
“Stafford has a career record of 122-122-1 as a starting quarterback. Those 122 losses are the second-most in NFL history, behind only Vinny Testaverde, who went 90-123-1. With another loss, Stafford will tie Testaverde for the most ever, and with two more losses, Stafford has the record all to himself.”
—@willcolon66 on the Rams’ QB and the team’s struggles to start the season 😬
Stafford only reached the .500 mark as a starting quarterback last season with the Rams.
“Once Stafford breaks the record, it will be a long time before anyone else comes close,” Florio wrote. “The next 10 quarterbacks on the career losses list are all retired: Eli Manning with 117, Drew Brees with 114, Brett Favre with 112, Philip Rivers with 109, Matt Ryan with 109, Fran Tarkenton with 109, Archie Manning with 101, Warren Moon with 101, Norm Snead with 100 and Kerry Collins with 99.”
Unfortunately for Stafford and the Rams, that may just be the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Rams Get Humbling Reality Check About Matthew Stafford
ESPN’s Benjamin Solak examined “what’s wrong with the Rams,” and he came to the conclusion that it was “not much.” However, many of their offensive issues are Stafford-related. That is a problem for a team that went all-in around the reigning Most Valuable Player.
“The biggest swing is in explosive play rate, where neither the run nor the pass game is creating as big of gains as they did last season,” Solak wrote.
“Stafford’s completion percentage over expectation on deep passes has changed from plus-5.8% in 2025 — one of the league’s highest marks — to minus-8.5% in 2026. That’s an enormous swing, and into that drop-off go many of the Rams’ biggest gains. So far, it seems like a small sample issue to me, not the result of declining arm strength.”
Only 24% of his throws went byeond the line to gain, the lowest he’s had in a game since the 2018 season.
Solak was willing to attribute that more to a small sample size than to an underlying issue.
However, the greater concern was Stafford’s lack of mobility, with Solak writing, “What has been missing since before 2025, but was covered up and is now finally getting exposed.
“Stafford can’t move. He was never the most mobile quarterback, but the Rams were willing to use him on boots in the past. In 2024, 16.8% of Stafford’s pass attempts were on the run — an above-average number! That fell to 13.9% in 2025 and is down to 9.6% in 2026. Sure, designed rollouts are down — but it isn’t just that. Stafford has zero scrambling passing yards on the season per NFL Next Gen Stats. He has yet to break the pocket and complete a pass on a scramble drill. The last quarterback to log no scramble passing yards through six weeks of a season was 2022 Tom Brady — the final season of a pocket passing titan.”
Solak noted that the Rams’ offensive success in the passing game was not based on Stafford’s scrambling ability.
However, Stafford’s inability to make up for the other issues this Rams offense has is significant.
Rams Get Blunt Words About Matthew Stafford as Ominous History Looms