Jim Alexander: Consider this: Two more completed passes, on that heroic last-ditch drive through the snow last week in Philadelphia, and Matthew Stafford and the Rams would be playing the NFC championship game Sunday in SoFi against Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders.

Instead, what turned out to be a pretty darned exciting Rams season is over, and now we’re wondering if not only Stafford but Cooper Kupp will be back with the team in 2025. And while that sounds drastic, it’s business as usual in the NFL, where careers are short, guaranteed money is rare and the salary cap is punitive.

And I’ve been hearing plenty of responses from fans of another sport without a salary cap – guess which one – but I suspect we are about to see the downside of cost certainty and enforced parity: Even if you badly want to win, which I suppose is different from wanting to win badly, the rules might work against you.

Anyway, as for this parity … we now have most of America convinced that the league’s officials are in the Kansas City Chiefs’ pockets. Similarly, during the hegemony of the Patriots over the first two decades of this century, New Englanders figured the league was targeting their team and the rest of the nation groused that Brady, Belichick and Co. got every break known to mankind. (Mention, for example, the “Tuck Rule” in certain circles and watch the veins pop and conspiracy theories form.)

Anyway, circling back to my original point, the Rams came awfully close to continuing their storybook season but now have to determine just what the roster will look like going forward. Meanwhile, the Chargers had their own playoff disappointment – again – but there are plenty of signs of hope over there as Jim Harbaugh and Joe Hortiz plan their roster upgrades.

In other words, L.A.’s truly an NFL town again. Mirjam, what do you see for these teams in ‘25?

Mirjam Swanson: I’m optimistic about both teams going into next season.

I trust the Rams’ braintrust to figure out how to maneuver, with or without Matthew Stafford – though it would be great to have him back for another go. He’s still one of the NFL’s baddest dudes at quarterback, but like with his pal Cooper Kupp, another aging star, the future is hazy. What we know about the Rams is they keep puzzling until a picture comes together. And, sure, obviously in the past few years, Stafford and Kupp have had a ton to do with it – but as long as Sean McVay is coaching and Les Snead is general managing, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Just look at this season. And last season. They’ll find a way to compete and give us a compelling story to tell.

And as you mentioned, the Chargers are trending upward too. Great vibes at The Bolt, where Jim Harbaugh can’t stop telling people this Chargers’ team was his favorite ever. Ever! Not that he’s comparing, but this team, boy, he loved this team.

Admiration aside, and almost unfortunately for Harbaugh, next season’s team won’t be this season’s team. It should be better. I trust Joe Hortiz, who’ll be in his second season at GM, to hit on their seven picks in the 2025 NFL draft like he did last season when they selected Ladd McConkey and Joe Alt. And go out and find more reliable weapons for Justin Herbert, who was able to really rely on only the rookie McConkey this past season – and still made it to the playoffs (where, yes, he picked a bad time to have a really bad game).

It’s going to be a fascinating, important free agency for both teams – but I think they’re both trending the right way. And that’s fun.

Jim: The offseason is maybe more important than the regular season, as strange as that might sound, and in some cases it’s almost as much fun. And that might certainly be true in Las Vegas, where reports are that Pete Carroll has a three-year contract to be the Raiders’ next head coach.

Meanwhile, this interesting nugget came out of yet another Dodgers introductory news conference Thursday, when Andrew Friedman indicated the team’s offseason spending spree was intended in part to prevent having to depend on trading deadline deals to bolster their roster. I suppose that makes sense; you don’t have to give up your prospects when you sign free agents. Still, it’s risky to try to anticipate now what you’re going to need in August. Is this the baseball equivalent of stocking up on provisions in case of disaster?

And one of the beauties of what the Dodgers have been able to accomplish since current ownership took over in 2012, as president and CEO Stan Kasten noted the other day, is that they’ve been able to upgrade the organization on multiple tracks, developing an envied player development system and creating a perennial contender at the same time.

I had to search for the quote, but this is what Kasten said: “I think we have advantages that other cities don’t have. I’ve always acknowledged that, for instance, because of the size of our market, we can also put a team on the field today while building a minor-league apparatus. We’ve said that from the start, but it’s never easy and it’s not easy here. It takes a lot of work from very smart, dedicated people, which we have.”

You have the advantages, you use them, right?

Mirjam: Definitely. But as much as the market can do for a team, that doesn’t mean success is going to just fall in your lap. Ask the Lakers – they’re not fielding a juggernaut every season, to the dismay of their fan base and its galactic standards. Or the Clippers, who’ve never even been to an NBA Finals.

But for all the inherent advantages, what’s so impressive is the advantages they’ve created.

I remember Andrew Friedman promising to bring on the “Golden Age” of Dodgers baseball, a pretty big promise. Man, has he delivered! Recently, The Athletic quoted another exec talking about the Dodgers’ organization: “They are elite at everything.”

From scouting to analytics to performance science to marketing … why wouldn’t the best of the best on the field want to sign on here? Why would they take a chance with any other organization that isn’t as “elite at everything”?

But the pressure is now too. Because they still have to win. And baseball is funny like that – everyone (who isn’t a Dodger fan) is going to love to hate the superteam that’s assembled in L.A. Which is not bad for the game. That’s the nature of things; dynastic eras define our sports. Sure, parity keeps people honest, but it’s not necessarily as interesting.

Jim: Once, the Lakers were like that, too. (How’s that for a transition?)

In fact, I received a text from an old friend this week making precisely that point – that what the Dodgers have done to turn themselves into a baseball behemoth is pretty parallel to the way Jerry Buss reinvigorated the Lakers, and the Forum, and arguably the NBA as a whole, after he purchased the team and arena from Jack Kent Cooke in 1979. (Alas, the Kings were part of that purchase as well, only they didn’t start to take off until Bruce McNall purchased them from Buss.)

And maybe it’s not a coincidence that Earvin Johnson was in on both Lakers and Dodgers golden ages, the maestro of Showtime who is now part of the Dodgers ownership group.

Given that history it’s kind of … not sad, not depressing, but just strange, that the Lakers basically have become just another team, even as Jeanie Buss maintains the franchise tradition of signing (and satisfying) superstars and as the fan base maintains the Laker Exceptionalism mindset, that the team’s next great dynasty is right around the corner. (Lakers fans and Raiders fans seem to have that much in common. To both, the 1980s were the good old days, and why isn’t it possible to replicate them?)

Reality can be harsh. These Lakers are in the middle of the Western Conference pack, and while Thursday night’s thumping of the Celtics had to have been tremendously satisfying for those who showed up for the renewal of the traditional rivalry, the chances of these Lakers again drawing even with Boston in overall championships aren’t great. Defensive stalwart Jarred Vanderbilt’s return will help, but it’s not going to be a game-changer, I don’t think.

LeBron James’ passive-aggressive way of sending messages to Rob Pelinka – “We have to play close to perfect basketball” to win, he said earlier in the week – probably isn’t going to result in a trade-deadline move to make the roster more championship worthy. They are who they are, and staying out of the play-in round for a change will be a triumph.

Or am I finding too much fault in this roster?

Mirjam: I think they’ll make a move yet, they have to fortify their center position, for starters. They don’t need to blow it up, though. Because, yes, avoiding the play-in might be something of a triumph, but it could also give them the runway to do something special. If they’re both healthy, LeBron and Anthony Davis in the playoffs is different than LeBron and AD in the regular season; they’ll find another gear … or, I think they will. I think 40-year-old LeBron’s still got that in his tank. But he won’t forever. Time is of the essence. So, yes, wherever and however they can improve, improve.

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Not that there’s a trade out there that automatically puts them on par with OKC, which is running away with it in a pretty darn deep Western Conference. But with LeBron and AD leading the charge, they should still have a puncher’s chance, and they should feel obligated to prepare themselves as best as possible for that.

Like the move for Dorian Finney Smith, that’s going to pay off. More of that, more of those types of sensible, small moves that aren’t especially splashy but that fit the goals of a team that isn’t across-the-board elite or exceptional, but as you wrote, Jim, “another team” that should be trying to make the most of its odds and do like the Rams always do and figure out a way.

Jim: The difference: Rams GM Les Snead has earned our trust. Rob Pelinka? Ehhh … not so sure.