Goff finished the Lions game (also the Rams’ last win) with 17 completions in 33 attempts for 207 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Not exactly world-beating, but not a harbinger of disaster, either. The harbinger of disaster came against the Bears in Week 14, when Chicago’s top defense turned Goff into a pumpkin, intercepting four of his passes (it could have easily been more), locking up his receivers in oppressive and multiple coverages, and rendering Gurley so irrelevant, Goff had nowhere to go. Still, this was a third-year quarterback against what is looking more and more like a historically good defense. When I watched the tape and wrote about that game last week, that’s what I saw.

It was also apparent that Goff would have to turn things around against an Eagles defense that has been decidedly middle of the pack through most of the season. Philadelphia came into Sunday night’s game ranked 23rd overall in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted defensive metrics–23rd against the pass, and 15th against the run. That Goff was not able to solve this defense–and that this defense had more new wrinkles that seemed to perplex him–gives cause to amplify concerns not only about Goff’s potential, but how NFL defenses are not reacting to McVay’s offense.

Instead of covering the Rams tight and potentially biting on play-action and backfield motion, Philly continued the Detroit/Chicago trend of backing into coverage, taking away Goff’s primary reads, and forcing him to think beyond where he’s used to thinking in the timing of the down. Goff completed 35 of 54 passes for 339 yards, but failed to throw a touchdown pass for the second straight game, added two more interceptions to his 2018 resume, and wasn’t able to take anything the Eagles’ defense didn’t want to give him. Perhaps still affected by what the Bears did to him, Goff had a bunch of what looked like mental meltdowns that turned into throwaways–that would have been at least in the vicinity of his receivers earlier in the season.

At the end of the first half, Goff had three straight red zone incompletions to receiver Josh Reynolds (No. 83)–the guy who’s essentially been Kupp’s replacement. None of the throws was close to the receiver, though each time, Reynolds was single-covered.

Notice on the first play, with 18 seconds left in the second quarter, that the Eagles are playing back in coverage. They aren’t giving Goff an early and easy defined read; they’re forcing Goff to decipher things later in the play. Cornerback Rasul Douglas (No. 32) has Reynolds covered pretty well here, but if Goff wanted to draw Reynolds out of coverage with a ball thrown underneath (a timed fade, perhaps), this could have been a touchdown. As it was, Goff looked like he was just hurling the ball out of bounds in frustration.

Before the next play, you can see defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz exhorting his defense to move back. Here, Goff is facing three deep defenders to either side and another in the middle–basically, the Eagles are forcing him to think his way through an open receiver. Again, Goff’s response is to bail out of the play entirely.

The Eagles went with the same defensive concept on third-and-10. Again, Reynolds was single-covered. Again, Goff couldn’t seem to work his way out of what he was seeing. When you have a quarterback making this many repetitive mistakes that basically amount to giving up, you have a major problem on your hands. Either Goff is playing scared, or McVay is telling him to throw the ball into the 300 section of the stadium whenever he doesn’t get a read he likes, but at this rate, he’ll have 20 throwaways a game.

With all that in mind, Goff’s final overthrow to Reynolds–a potential game-tying play if complete–seemed to be a fait accompli.

When I watched Goff’s college tape, I saw a quarterback who was prone to certain repetitive issues that would be highly problematic if they surfaced during his NFL career. I noted that his internal clock sped up under pressure, that he was far too often a “see it and throw it” player who relied too much on pre-determined reads, has a target in mind from the snap and isn’t flexible enough to adjust when receivers slip, slow down or are jammed at the line of scrimmage. and throws wild and high when his mechanics get off-kilter and is prone to throw multiple interceptions when this happens.

That Goff has peeled his game back to the point where these issues are again paramount has to be highly disconcerting for a team that at one point this season seemed to be the odds-on favorite to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl. And if it’s true that opposing defenses have figured out McVay’s machinations, it will be up to Goff to transcend that schematic battle with his own ability to improvise.

Based on the evidence, there’s not a great chance of that happening. As the Rams’ last three games have proven, Jared Goff still has a lot of work ahead of him.