The Los Angeles Rams turned a flat, frustrating first half into a statement second half on Sunday, November 1, 2026, beating the Los Angeles Chargers 24-9 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in the Week 8 battle for Los Angeles. Trailing 9-3 late in the second quarter, the Rams scored 21 straight points, shut out the Chargers after halftime, and moved to 4-4, while the Chargers fell to 0-7 and remain the NFL's only winless team.

Key Points

• The Rams beat the Chargers 24-9 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, November 1, 2026, in the first regular-season meeting between the Los Angeles rivals since 2022.
• Los Angeles trailed 9-3 before scoring 21 unanswered points, including a go-ahead touchdown with 19 seconds left in the first half.
• Matthew Stafford threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Puka Nacua in the third quarter after Trent McDuffie's interception of Justin Herbert.
• Herbert threw his league-leading 10th interception of the season, and the Chargers were held scoreless in the second half.
• The Rams improve to 4-4; the Chargers drop to 0-7 and are still searching for their first win of the 2026 season.

What Happened

For most of the first half, this looked like it might be the Chargers' day. The visitors, still hunting a first win, led for long stretches behind kicker Cameron Dicker, whose three field goals built a 9-3 advantage. The Rams, by contrast, could barely move the ball. They did not record a first down until 1 minute 26 seconds remained in the half, and at halftime they trailed in total yardage 219-90 despite leading on the scoreboard.

The turning point arrived in the final 86 seconds before the break. Stafford, who had been intercepted on the opening drive, found Tutu Atwell deep down the left sideline for 40 yards — the Rams' first first down of the game. One play later he hit Nacua for 13 yards to the Chargers' 1-yard line, and Kyren Williams bounced into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown with 19 seconds left. Brandon McManus added the extra point, and a half that had belonged to the Chargers ended with the Rams ahead 10-9.

The Rams took the second-half kickoff and never looked back. Blake Corum carried five times on the opening drive of the third quarter, including four straight runs to start it, and finished the possession with a 23-yard touchdown run up the middle, bouncing outside to the left, to make it 17-9 with 10 minutes 42 seconds left in the quarter. Then the defence delivered the decisive blow: Herbert, looking for tight end Charlie Kolar, was intercepted by cornerback Trent McDuffie, his second interception of the game and his league-leading 10th of the season. Two plays later, Stafford hit Nacua on a quick screen to the left, and Nacua followed his blockers, broke a tackle and reached the end zone for an 18-yard touchdown. With 3 minutes 41 seconds left in the third quarter, the Rams led 24-9, and that was how it finished, with neither side scoring in the fourth quarter.

Background and Context

The two Los Angeles franchises share a stadium but rarely share a regular-season field. Sunday was their first regular-season meeting since the 2022 season, and the stakes were very different for each side. The Rams entered 3-4, searching for back-to-back wins and trying to stay in the NFC playoff conversation. The Chargers entered 0-6, still looking for a first victory in a season in which their offence has ranked among the league's worst, averaging about 15 points per game before kickoff.

Those trends held for a half. The Chargers' defence frustrated Stafford early, intercepting him on the first drive when Tarheeb Still picked off a pass intended for Konata Mumpfield on the left sideline. Dicker's leg did the rest of the early scoring, and the Chargers even ended the first half with a long Hail Mary attempt that fell short — a play that summed up a season in which they have moved the ball in spells without finishing drives. All nine of their points came from Dicker's field goals; they never reached the end zone.

The second half told a different story. The Rams scored touchdowns on three of four possessions across the late second quarter and third quarter, a 21-point run that flipped a six-point deficit into a 15-point lead. Stafford finished the first half 10 of 14 for 95 yards with an interception, but his most important throws came when the game was slipping away: the 40-yarder to Atwell, the 13-yarder to Nacua, and the screen that Nacua turned into the clinching score. Nacua finished with 10 catches for 82 yards at the point of the third touchdown, the steady outlet as the Rams finally found rhythm.

Rams Chargers 24-9: How the Second Half Was Won

The decisive sequence was less about one spectacular play than about sustained control. Corum's second-half opening drive gave the Rams something they had lacked all afternoon: a running game. After managing just five rushing attempts in the first two quarters, the Rams leaned on Corum for five carries on a single drive, and his 23-yard score changed the shape of the game, forcing the Chargers to chase it. Herbert's second interception then handed the Rams a short field, and Stafford needed only two plays to punish it.

On the other side, the Chargers' offence stalled completely after halftime. Herbert had completed 14 of 20 passes for 181 yards with one interception in the first half, but the second half produced no points at all. The Chargers' problems under offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel have been a season-long theme, and Sunday added another chapter: long stretches of competence, followed by drives that ran out of steam. Their 9 points on Sunday were their lowest scoring output in a game they had led for so long, and the shutout second half left them winless through seven games.

There was one injury concern for the winners: Rams cornerback Jaylen Watson left in the third quarter with a shoulder injury and was listed as questionable to return. His status will be one to watch as the Rams prepare for Week 9, but on the night the defence did its job without him, holding a Chargers offence that had outgained Los Angeles by 129 yards in the first half to nothing after the break.

Reactions

The broadcast tone around the game shifted sharply at halftime. Where the first half had been framed as another frustrating afternoon for a Rams offence that could not earn a first down, the second half was framed as a team finding itself at exactly the right moment. Analysts pointed to the two-minute drill before halftime — four straight Stafford completions for 65 yards, capped by Williams' touchdown — as the moment the game changed, and to McDuffie's interception as the moment it was settled.

For the Chargers, the reaction was bleaker and more familiar. Another week, another game in which the defence kept them in it and the offence could not finish. Herbert's 10 interceptions through eight weeks lead the league, and the second of them on Sunday, thrown into coverage intended for Kolar, directly produced the touchdown that put the game out of reach. The Chargers have now lost seven straight to open the season, and the questions around their offence will only grow louder in the week ahead.

Why It Matters

For the Rams, this was a win that keeps their season alive. At 4-4, they stay within reach of the NFC playoff race and, just as importantly, they showed they can win a game in which almost nothing works for a half. Teams that reach the postseason usually have at least one victory like this one: ugly for 28 minutes, decisive for the next 20. The second-half running game, the opportunistic defence and Stafford's calm in the two-minute drill are all things a team can build on.

For the Chargers, the defeat deepens a crisis. An 0-7 start leaves almost no margin for error, and the pattern of the loss — early promise, no touchdowns, a second-half collapse — is the pattern of their season. With the trade and coaching questions that always follow a winless start, the Chargers now face a week in which every decision will be scrutinised, and a locker room that must find a first win before the season slips entirely out of reach.

What Happens Next

Both teams now turn to Week 9. The Rams will try to build on the second-half formula that beat the Chargers: run the ball with Corum and Williams, get Nacua the ball in space, and let the defence create short fields. The Chargers, meanwhile, must find an answer on offence and a first win, with Herbert's turnover count and the red-zone struggles at the top of the list. Sunday's result also sets up the rest of the late-season race in Los Angeles: one team moving back to .500, the other still waiting for a reason to believe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was the final score of Rams vs Chargers? The Rams won 24-9 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, November 1, 2026. The Chargers led 9-3 before Los Angeles scored 21 straight points.

Who scored the Rams' touchdowns? Kyren Williams scored on a 1-yard run just before halftime, Blake Corum scored on a 23-yard run in the third quarter, and Puka Nacua caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford.

How many interceptions did Justin Herbert throw? Herbert threw two interceptions against the Rams, taking his season total to 10, which leads the NFL through eight weeks.

What are the Rams' and Chargers' records now? The Rams improved to 4-4, while the Chargers fell to 0-7 and remain the league's only winless team.

Where was the game played? The game was played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the shared home of both Los Angeles franchises, with the Rams as the designated home team.

Read more Week 8 coverage: Lions beat Vikings 19-15 to end unbeaten run, Cardinals stun Cowboys 33-30 in overtime and Josh Allen passes Jim Kelly for Bills passing touchdown record.