Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

The Los Angeles Rams have already lost as many games this season as they did throughout the 2018 campaign.

Less than nine months ago, they were tied with the New England Patriots in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LIII. But now they find themselves 3-3 with a negative points differential and essentially three games out of first place and two out of second place in the NFC West.

The Rams are also lucky to be .500. They barely got past the Carolina Panthers thanks in part to three Carolina turnovers in Week 1, they benefited from an in-game injury to New Orleans Saints future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees and were on the fortuitous end of a game-changing blown call in Week 2, and their Week 3 victory over the Cleveland Browns also went down to the wire.

Two of their three losses have come by double-digit margins, with both of those one-sided defeats occurring at home.

And while the schedule will lighten up over the next few weeks, it's easy to wonder if the Rams have already dug too deep a hole in what might be the best division and the better of the two conferences.

What's wrong with the Rams? It's somewhat of a perfect storm.

Quarterback Jared Goff excelled in spite of his flaws for much of 2017 and 2018 because he was so well protected and supported. Head coach Sean McVay was the 2017 Coach of the Year. His game plans enabled Goff to succeed, and the personnel that surrounded the 2016 No. 1 overall pick was arguably football's best.

Running back Todd Gurley II was a first-team All-Pro in both of those seasons and the league's Offensive Player of the Year in 2017. He had 671 more scrimmage yards and eight more touchdowns than any other player in football in that two-year span.

At Football Outsiders, the Rams offensive line posted a top-10 adjusted sack rate in 2017 and the fifth-lowest mark in that category in 2018.

And a defense led by 2017 and 2018 Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald generated a tied-for-NFL-best 58 takeaways during that span.

That's why the Rams were the league's only team to outscore their opponents by more than 9.0 points per game over those two campaigns.

But Gurley hasn't been himself because of injuries. Even before a thigh bruise forced him to miss Sunday's game against the first-place San Francisco 49ers, Gurley's reportedly arthritic knee had become a significant concern. Both his workload and his productivity dropped off substantially early this season, and he's looked uncharacteristically slow on a consistent basis. As a result, the Rams running game ranks 13th-last.

Meanwhile, both the offensive line and the defense suffered offseason losses that brought those units back to earth. The departures of veteran interior offensive linemen Rodger Saffold and John Sullivan have forced the Rams to roll with unproven youngsters Brian Allen and Joseph Noteboom, both of whom have struggled immensely. That in turn has put more pressure on tackles Andrew Whitworth and Rob Havenstein, which is far from ideal considering that the 37-year-old Whitworth is the oldest non-quarterback position player in the NFL.

Whitworth has had a strong career, but he appears to be declining rapidly. He often looked overwhelmed against the Saints and Browns, and he was penalized twice and allowed a ton of pressure against San Francisco's tough defensive front Sunday.

It all helps to explain why Goff has thrown seven interceptions and fumbled six times this season, making him the only player in the NFL with more than five picks and more than five fumbles. Only three teams have more turnovers than the Rams, and the defense has generated just six takeaways in five games since the opener.

That might be L.A.'s biggest problem of all. Because despite all those issues, the Rams are still one of 10 teams that are averaging more than 25 points per game. But they're one of eight teams that have surrendered more than 25 per outing, and they've allowed 35 points per game during their three-game losing streak.

Donald is still a star, while Dante Fowler Jr., Michael Brockers, Cory Littleton, Eric Weddle and Marcus Peters have all played well this year. But Peters has always lacked consistency, and veteran cornerback Aqib Talib was a disaster before he missed Week 6 with a rib injury.

John Locher/Associated Press

They gave up 55 points to a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team that hasn't scored more than 31 points in its other five games, they surrendered a combined 57 to Seattle and Carolina, and on Sunday they simply couldn't get off the field against a 49ers squad that was missing three key offensive players in Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey and Kyle Juszczyk.

It's the definition of Murphy's law, and the scariest part might be that Goff seems to be losing confidence. The league's seventh-lowest-rated passer hardly ever attempts to throw the ball deep anymore. He passed for just 78 yards on 24 throws in a losing effort Sunday at home, which is almost unbelievable. He attempted only three passes that traveled 15-plus yards and completed zero of them.

Rams fans can only hope that represented rock bottom, but there's plenty of evidence it wasn't an aberration.

The Rams beat the Dallas Cowboys and Saints—with some officiating help—to get to last year's Super Bowl, but they're just 5-5 in their last 10 regular-season games.

In Goff's last 11 non-playoff contests, he's completed just over 60 percent of his passes, thrown 13 interceptions and 13 touchdowns, fumbled 12 times and has got a 78.3 passer rating. For perspective, not a single qualified non-rookie quarterback had a rating below 79.8 last season.

Combine that with his dud performance in Super Bowl LIII and you're allowed to wonder if the Rams erred in giving him a four-year, $134 million extension before the start of this disappointing campaign.

Sure, it sucks that Gurley looks like a shell of his former self, that Whitworth is no longer the player he once was and that a fading Talib is hurt. It also sucks that Clay Matthews is out with a broken jaw in the midst of a redemptive season, and that they're still working to replace Saffold, Sullivan and defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh in the trenches.

But the truth is the football gods were on the Rams' side during the first two seasons of the McVay era. In terms of adjusted games lost—a formula Football Outsiders utilizes to quantify the impact injuries have on each team—they were the league's healthiest outfit during that two-year stretch—and by a wide margin over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills.

Alex Gallardo/Associated Press

Now, a good team has been picked over by vultures. The Rams are a little older and a little less deep, and injuries have taken a little more of a toll. If McVay's offense still benefited from an element of surprise in 2018, that's likely gone. His disciples are running similar offenses in Green Bay and Cincinnati, and San Francisco and Washington resemble his scheme too. Everybody wants to stop McVay and beat the defending NFC champions.

That target on their back has made life difficult, but all's not lost. The Rams have also proved to be mentally strong, and there's little doubt they believe in McVay. They overcame Gurley's injury and Goff's late-season struggles to make a Super Bowl run last year, and a couple of easy wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals (who are a combined 1-11) could be all the Rams need to get their groove back as they enter a Week 9 bye.

But the margin for error has shrunk considerably, and as hard as it might be to fathom, the Rams might simply lack the talent to recover from their worst start in the McVay era.

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.