The Los Angeles Rams went into the fourth quarter of Sunday’s game against the Steelers down 14-10. After their safety with 12:40 left in the game, they were down just two points. Yet, at no point in the fourth quarter did Todd Gurley touch the ball.

The game was never out of reach for the Rams at any point on Sunday despite it feeling like they were down 20 points. The most they ever trailed by was seven points. Still, Sean McVay didn’t feel it would be wise to get Gurley involved, especially at the most critical times in the game.

His last touch came with one minute left in the third quarter – a carry that went for minus-4 yards. The play before that, he rushed for 6 yards before fumbling it out of bounds. McVay has never been one to put a player in the proverbial dog house, and that certainly wasn’t the case here.

So why exactly didn’t Gurley have a single touch in the fourth quarter? He wasn’t even so much as targeted on a pass. That’s a good question, because there’s no way it had to do with his production.

He picked up 73 yards on 12 carries and the offensive line, which was a complete mess on Sunday, played its best in the running game when it was moving forward, not retreating in pass protection.

McVay didn’t say exactly why Gurley didn’t get the ball in the fourth quarter after the game, but he did use a lot of the same phrases he’s used in the past; the offense didn’t “get into a rhythm, there was really no flow.”

“That was kind of just the rotation. Sometimes, it’s where we’re getting on – because I’m on both sides of the headset and there’s a lot of trust for our coaches to really be able to say, ‘Who’s in’ and I’ll kind of click back on and we know what we’re going on,” McVay said, struggling slightly to find the right words. “I thought Todd really had some tough, hard-earned runs. We got some drives going, but then at the end of the day, we ended up being in some two-minute situations at the end of the game and it was kind of hard to get back into any sort of flow running the football.”

It was much of the same from the young head coach afterwards, but there are legitimate questions about his usage of Gurley – primarily because of the way the Rams have been adamant about the running back not being injured.

Whether Gurley was hurt, tired or McVay felt he wasn’t the Rams’ best option, the decision to go away from him on arguably his best game of the season was a curious one. It’s not as if Los Angeles completely abandoned the run, either. Malcolm Brown carried it three times in the fourth quarter.

Gurley wasn’t even on the field for the first two drives of the fourth quarter. For a running back making as much as he is – more than all but one other RB in the NFL – you’d think he’d be on the field for every drive in the final 15 minutes.

McVay isn’t going to suddenly say Gurley is on a “pitch count,” or that his knee is giving him trouble. The Rams have denied both of those factors all season, and coming out of a bye, there’s no reason to believe he’s banged up or not healthy.

Whatever the reason, it’s hard to understand why the Rams wouldn’t lean on one of their best playmakers in a close game late.