The most important thing the New Orleans Saints needed to happen on Sunday outside Caesars Superdome happened exactly as they planned: The NFC South Division-leading Falcons lost to the Chargers.

The most important thing that needed to happen to the Saints in the Superdome was to be rewritten: New Orleans dropped a 21-14 decision to the Rams on a day when the Saints (4-8) were within one game of the division lead could have come close.

The Saints had snapped their two-goal winning streak under interim head coach Darren Rizzi and knew a host of costly hiccups were as much to blame as the Rams (6-6).

ATTACK: It was a tough day for the unit, especially in the red zone where it failed to score touchdowns on its two drives. Some of the credit goes to the Rams defense, which held New Orleans to 4.8 yards per play, 327 yards and 5 for 15 on third downs. But a first-quarter touchdown (12-yard pass from Derek Carr to Alvin Kamara) was wiped off the board due to an ineligible downfield penalty (left tackle Taliese Fuaga). The drive continued backwards when right tackle Trevor Penning was penalized for a low block, and kicker Blake Grupe missed a 36-yard field goal attempt that would have saved at least something. The running game was solid (143 yards on 31 carries), Carr wasn’t sacked and the offense didn’t commit a turnover, but the red zone’s inefficiency was evident at the end.

DEFENSE: Defensively, the Saints did well to eliminate the chunk play; A 46-yard pass was the only play allowed longer than 20 yards. But the run game leaks reared their head again (Los Angeles totaled 156 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries after entering Sunday averaging 95 rushing yards per game) and the Rams scored touchdowns on all three possessions in the red zone. A pair of timely, back-to-back penalties (neutral zone violation against defensive end Chase Young, pass interference by cornerback Alontae Taylor) helped the Rams tremendously on their final touchdown drive, the former coming on third-and-10 and the latter on third-and-5 . Give the unit credit for keeping Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and his receivers in check; Stafford completed 14 of 24 passes for 183 yards and was sacked twice. But his two touchdowns in the fourth quarter were red-zone connections as the Saints were unable to force field goal attempts.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Grupe’s missed field goal wasn’t the only mistake. Rams returner Jordan Whittington returned three kickoffs for 100 yards and came dangerously close to returning one for a touchdown. The kickoff coverage wasn’t an issue and fortunately Whittington didn’t score, but that needs to be addressed. Grupe’s miss stood out, but so should the fact that he hit two 54-yard throws.