Rams close preseason with 20-18 win at Chargers as Ty Simpson gets the start and Harrison Mevis remains perfect

The Los Angeles Rams finished their 2026 preseason with a 20-18 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, and the result doubled as a final evaluation window for a roster that is still taking shape. With the preseason slate wrapping up, the Rams used the game to test quarterback timing across the full depth chart, and to confirm that one area of the game unit-by-unit is carrying forward its momentum.

According to the Rams’ own recap of the contest, rookie quarterback Ty Simpson earned the starting job and began the game at quarterback. Simpson’s early work was followed by fellow rookie Matthew Caldwell taking over in the second half, a sequence that suggests the team wanted to compare both prospects in comparable game settings without forcing either to play the entire contest.

The Rams also faced a late-to-be-sorted quarterback decision heading into the finale. Two days before kickoff, it was still unclear whether Stetson Bennett IV would play, but in the end Bennett did not take the field in this preseason week 3 game. That matters for how fans and observers interpret the reps that did occur, since it changes the baseline for what the preseason “starter plan” looked like in the final week.

One of the most concrete takeaways in Los Angeles’ postgame framing centered on kicker Harrison Mevis. The Rams reported that Mevis was perfect during the preseason, and his performance is a reminder that special teams outcomes can be both immediate and durable during the final stages of evaluation. Even in a game that ended with a narrow two-point margin, the ability to consistently convert opportunities remains valuable as teams move into the regular-season rhythm.

Because this was the preseason finale, the meaning of the box-score margin is smaller than the meaning of the process. The Rams’ decision to run a quarterback rotation that included both Simpson and Caldwell, while not incorporating Bennett in the game, points to a staff still sorting out roles and readiness levels. It also gives the team more film to compare how each quarterback handles the transitions that come with scheming that is not fully equivalent to the regular-season opener.

As Los Angeles turns the page toward the regular season, the Rams’ key questions are likely to be less about who “won” the preseason game and more about who is prepared for when the calendar flips. The next step for the quarterback competition, specifically, is how the reps translate into practice performance and preseason-to-regular-season preparation. For Mevis, the focus shifts to whether a clean preseason track record carries into the league’s higher-stakes late-game situations, where accuracy and distance management are amplified.

For the Chargers, the takeaway is similar but on the other side of the ball: a preseason game decided by two points tends to keep coaches’ attention on execution at critical moments. Even without additional details beyond the Rams’ reported themes, the proximity of the final score reinforces why teams treat preseason week 3 as more than a dress rehearsal. It is the last chance to reduce uncertainty before the regular-season expectations become non-negotiable.