LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Rams began their first drive of the second half Sunday with a dropped pass by Brian Quick. Then Todd Gurley tried to run the ball and gained nothing. Then Jared Goff took a sack, losing 14 yards. Then, after a punt, Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer completed a 37-yard touchdown pass to Darren Fells.

The Rams' entire season was pretty much encapsulated in those four plays.

Their receivers dropped a lot of passes, their running back didn't find any space, their quarterback took way too many hits, and in the end, a talented defense tired from carrying so great a burden.

The Rams' 44-6 loss at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum was basically a 48-minute snapshot of it all. Goff took seven sacks, tied for third-most in the NFL this season. Gurley gained 40 yards on 14 carries, finishing his sophomore season with 885 yards in 16 games. And the offense as a whole generated 123 yards from scrimmage, the lowest total by any team all season.

In the locker room after the game, Goff and his most important receiver, Tavon Austin, had a heart-to-heart talk about how they can help fix this, a task that will also fall on a new head coach.

"We've got to elevate our game to a whole other level next year," Austin said. "Everybody is going to be held accountable. Whatever coaches are in here, everybody is going to be held accountable, and we're going to go from there."

The Rams gained minus-four yards in the first quarter and four yards in the third quarter. They went three-and-out on six of the 11 drives that did not end in a turnover. And they failed to score a touchdown for the fifth time this season. It got so bad that Goff, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick, was pulled early in the fourth quarter in favor of 2015 third-round pick Sean Mannion because the Rams didn't want Goff to get hurt.

Goff was sacked 25 times in the final six games.

"He probably got hit more than me," Gurley said. "We just have to protect him."

The Rams were without right tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle), a move that prompted Rodger Saffold to start on the right side and Greg Robinson to regain his spot as the left tackle. The Cardinals, first in the NFL in sacks per attempt, brought constant pressure, from the first snap to the last. On Goff, they registered the highest single-game sack percentage against any quarterback in the last three years, according to ESPN Stats & Information. But Goff defended his linemen.

"Those guys up front gave me everything they had," Goff said. "Unfortunately, it didn't work out. But I'm very appreciative."

The Rams finished the season with an NFL-worst 224 points, 40 points fewer than the 31st-ranked Cleveland Browns, a one-win team.

The Atlanta Falcons -- under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, a premier target in the Rams' coaching vacancy -- scored 540 points.

Since the league went to 16 games in 1978, there have been only 41 instances in which a team scored fewer points than the Rams in 2016 (not counting the strike-shortened season in 1982). Since 2000, there have been only 18. The Rams also finished the season with 4,203 yards from scrimmage, easily last in the NFL and their lowest total since 1982. They've finished last in yards each of the past two years, and it didn't matter if it was Nick Foles, Case Keenum, Mannion or Goff under center.

"It's all about execution," Saffold said. "It's all about not stopping yourself in the middle of the drives with penalties. These kind of things kill plays. When you get to the end of the game, people's morale is low, the attitude is low -- it's hard to get yourself out of a hole like that."

The Rams, NFL leaders in total penalties since 2012, were again burned by key infractions Sunday. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson was called for unnecessary roughness one second before halftime, allowing the Cardinals to kick a 47-yard field goal. Goff was called for illegal motion, negating a 38-yard run on Austin's reverse that would have resulted in a touchdown. And offensive lineman Jamon Brown was hit with a holding call to negate a 13-yard catch by Lance Kendricks in a drive that resulted in a field goal.

Those were just three of the Rams' nine penalties.

Their first season back in Los Angeles ended with a 4-12 record -- the same record they had when they left Southern California 22 years earlier.

"It hurts bad," said Rams interim coach John Fassel, who lost all three of his games. "It hurts. I was expecting to win. Any time you lose hurts, but it hurts to lose in the fashion that we did because people are going to ask, 'Did the team quit? Did they not prepare? Did they not care?' Before you ask that, I will just say, in my opinion, whether it's correct or whether it's naive, preparation this week was great. ... Today, we just weren't good enough. Offensively, again, we just couldn't get anything going."