After winning the NFC West with the league's highest-scoring offense a year ago, the Los Angeles Rams set out to improve their defense. They were wildly aggressive in adding veteran difference-makers, signing Ndamukong Suh and Aqib Talib and trading for Marcus Peters.
Add the six-year, $135 million megadeal given to defensive lineman Aaron Donald just before the season began, and the Rams are one of eight NFL teams with more than $75 million invested in defense for 2018, per Spotrac.
If the Thursday night performance of that new-look defense against the Minnesota Vikings is any indication, the Rams aren't getting the return on that investment they'd hoped.