Stafford’s “weird” start turns spotlight to Rams as they prepare for Bills test on Monday Night Football

What has been a defining strength of the Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay has become the center of the conversation early in 2026. Matthew Stafford, the reigning NFL MVP, has not looked like the same level of consistent, rhythm-finding quarterback through the first four games, prompting concern that something fundamental is off. In a recent breakdown, Yahoo Sports columnist Nate Tice pointed to the idea that Stafford’s season has been “weird,” suggesting the overall pattern has not been one you can simply expect to smooth out on its own.

The Rams are not approaching this as a one-game problem. Stafford’s offseason resume as MVP is real, but the early-season film has created doubts about timing, decision-making, and how quickly the passing game has been able to establish what it wants to do. Through four games, Tice’s framing implies that the issues do not add up to a simple storyline. The quarterback position can absorb a lot, but when the results swing without an obvious corrective explanation, it forces coaches to rethink their plan.

That brings the Rams to a high-visibility matchup with the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. The game matters because it is the kind of opponent that punishes hesitation and forces quarterbacks to make clean reads quickly. For McVay, Stafford’s job is not just to put up numbers, but to keep drives on schedule so the offense can avoid becoming reactive. For Stafford, the challenge is to translate preparation into the kind of consistent play that usually shows up when the offense is synchronized.

Tice’s central point is that the “weirdness” has made it difficult to bank on repetition of last year’s elite form. That matters because Stafford’s success has often been tied to the ability to find a dependable progression and keep the passing attack moving even when the game plan meets resistance. When that chain is broken early in games, the offense can lose its leverage, and the quarterback can end up dealing with more pressure than the system was built to handle.

Still, it is important to separate the conversation from conclusions. The Rams have a short window in the regular season to correct course, and a Monday night game can serve as a real diagnostic. If Stafford’s early struggles are rooted in timing and feel, a sharper start, quicker decisions, and better leverage in the pocket are the kinds of changes that can show up immediately. If the issues are more structural, it will require more than one week to fix.

What to watch next is whether the Rams can make Stafford’s reads simpler without abandoning the offense’s identity. The most meaningful indicators will be how quickly the first three-to-five passing plays come together, whether the team can sustain drives, and whether Stafford can consistently hit intermediate throws that keep Buffalo’s coverage from resetting late downs. The Bills game will not erase four games of uncertainty, but it can clarify what the “weird” part of the season actually is, and whether McVay can put Stafford back into the groove that powered his MVP run.

If the Rams get back to a cleaner version of their passing attack, the question shifts from “Why has it been weird?” to “What was the missing ingredient?” If the pattern continues, the Rams will have to address deeper concerns about execution and how their offensive approach is landing against NFL defenses that force quarterbacks to earn every completion. Either way, Monday night offers a direct, high-pressure test.