One of the best lessons the Madman ever learned about TV-watching was taught by the mid-2000s ABC series “Lost.”

It was incredible when it first started. It remained quite good for quite a while. But at some point, it began to slowly devolve into hot garbage. We’re not sure exactly when that shift began, or why. But we know it happened. By the end, we were hate-watching to get to the finale.

This exercise taught us a lesson: If you no longer like a show, stop watching. We’re reminded of this notion as we watch what not long ago was a prolific Rams offense spit and sputter this season.

Coach Sean McVay arrived in 2017 and took the league’s lowest-scoring offense and did a complete 180, making it the highest scoring in his first season. He appeared to have orchestrated a reclamation project on young quarterback Jared Goff, who looked lost as a rookie but made the big second-year leap that is now the goal of any team with a young signal-caller.

Proving that wasn’t a fluke, the Rams did it again in 2018, producing the second-highest scoring offense and advancing to the Super Bowl. Then the Patriots happened, stifling the Rams in a dreadful 13-3 drubbing.

And in the six games since, the Rams offense hasn’t looked the same. This season, their offensive production by points scored has fallen to 11th. Granted, Todd Gurley hasn’t looked fully recovered from a late-season knee injury last year and now is nursing a thigh bruise, missing Sunday’s game.

Yet, we can’t pin it all on Gurley, because the offense still clicked last season with backup C.J. Anderson. Malcolm Brown wouldn’t have to be a world-beater to rise to the level of C.J. Anderson. Yet, here we are.

Last season, Gurley finished with the fourth-most fantasy points overall. Goff was 18th, Robert Woods 35th and Brandin Cooks 41st. This season, Cooper Kupp, who was hurt much of last season, is the only one in the top 50 at 14th.

Is there reason to believe the Rams can turn it around? Or if we flash-forward to the future, have they begun a “Lost”-type descent into weekly frustration? Goff looks like he has regressed. He is throwing touchdowns on 2.8% of his passes, more akin to his disastrous rookie season (2.4) than the past two (5.8). And his struggles will drag down the receivers, particularly the downfield targets Woods and Cook. If Gurley can’t get fully healthy or recapture his explosiveness, that compounds the problems.

Yet, their fantasy trade values are too low to shop and their upside still too high to just outright drop. They have you trapped in this fantasy purgatory. The best thing you can do is park them on the bench and find an alternative. Grab Preston Williams or Zay Jones and hope for a fantasy pop. Get Kirk Cousins hoping he has hurdled his early struggles.

Then wait, watch and hope that the Rams you have don’t remain a “Lost” cause.