The Los Angeles Rams have inched forward, one step at a time, following the reset in the aftermath of the Super Bowl LVI win. After missing the postseason in 2022, it's been frustrating baby steps. Sean McVay's squad lost in the Wild Card round in 2023, the Divisional Round in 2024 and the Conference Championship in 2025.
Can they take that next step and get to the Super Bowl in 2026? According to edge rusher Jared Verse, only the Rams are stopping it from happening.
"We keep beating ourselves," he told [DJ Siddiqi in a recent interview](https://r.org/2026/05/05/we-have-all-the-pieces-jared-verse-discusses-rams-super-bowl-aspirations/). "When you stop beating yourself up, you win, it's easy to win. We have all the pieces we need. We got great DB's, we got great linebackers, our defensive line is the best. We got amazing outside linebackers. If you ask me, we got the best outside linebackers. I'm a little cocky in that aspect, bro. We got amazing safeties, quarterback is the reigning MVP, amazing running back, o-line, wide receivers, kick returners, kickers, punters, snappers. I don't care. We got the best of the best.
"The only thing that can stop us is ourselves. After the season, I told everybody once we got back, I said, 'We gotta stop beating ourselves.' During the first week back, everyone's always ready and everything like that. This is the second week back, and I wanted everyone to tackle today, and it was harder than I expected the second week back, when we can really measure success and how hard you're willing to go."
The refrain is similar to Verse's comments after the season, when he shouldered the blame for the defensive collapse against the Seahawks in the NFC Championship game. It's clear that Verse still believes the Rams lost that tilt more than Seattle won it.
"They have a good offensive team. I think the defense, they have a great defensive line," Verse said when asked about the Seahawks. "They got great players. But like I said before, it was nothing that we didn't expect, or they didn't throw anything at us that was a left hook or anything like that. It was just things where we beat ourselves. We didn't do this, we didn't do that, a drop here, a missed tackle there, doing this after the third. It was just a lack of execution on our part."
Verse underscored that to leap to the top of a division that houses the Super Bowl champs and a playoff squad in San Francisco, the Rams can't continue to stub their own toe.
"It's easy to go up against a team you should beat because you have a more talented roster," he said. "When both rosters are excelling, the Seahawks have a very talented roster. The Niners have a very talented roster. When you put two talented rosters against each other, or all three of us against each other, it's who executes better.
"The second and third time we played the Seahawks, they executed better, it's as simple as that. That's why we lost. Against the Niners when we play them in Australia — they match up in the 2026 season opener — we got to execute better."