SEATTLE -- Tavon Austin learned something about Los Angeles this season.

"It’s very tough here," the Rams' receiver said. "Your rope is very short. I can say that. Your rope is very short. But that’s how I like it, though. L.A. needs to be winners. And that’s where it starts. Us knowing the pressure is on, we have to pick up our stuff."

Rams players, experiencing their first season in the nation's second-largest media market, learned that lesson on Monday, when longtime coach Jeff Fisher was fired in the wake of mounting losses and escalating pressure. Three days later, the Rams -- with a short week, an interim coach and, predictably, a banged-up roster -- suffered a 24-3 loss to Seattle.

It gave them nine losses in a span of 10 games, with their past four essentially being blowouts.

"It’s already difficult enough having three, four days to prepare for a game, and then you deal with your head coach getting fired," Rams running back Todd Gurley said. "But at the end of the day that’s no excuse. They had to play ball just like we did."

The Rams, 4-10, have two home games left in what has quickly become a lost first season in Los Angeles, one of them on Christmas Eve and the other on New Year's Day.

Now they have to search for motivation.

"I think the players understand that what they put on tape will be important for them for jobs with the Rams or jobs somewhere else next year," interim coach John Fassel said. "... Hopefully guys see the rest of this as an opportunity to prove themselves, and to other employees, 'I'll fight through this, and I'm going to be darn good when things aren't so great.' That's what I'm going to do."

"You’re playing for your job," Gurley added. "That next head coach, whoever comes in, is definitely going to see your effort on film. If he don’t like it, you might not be here."

The Rams, guaranteed a 10th consecutive losing season, have learned that about this market. The patience is thin, the interest fleeting. Los Angeles went more than 20 years without an NFL team and didn't really miss it all that much. By moving out here, the Rams gave themselves a larger national spotlight. But it also created more pressure to win and maintain the short attention spans in their new city. It also created a lot more noise when they fail, which sometimes gets people fired.

They hope to carry that knowledge into next season.

"If something don’t happen right, we all will be out of here," Austin said. "That’s the truth about it. That’s what I’ve learned about L.A."