Jayden Daniels sat in front of the microphone after the Washington Commanders' game against the Los Angeles Rams and appropriately summed up the team's current situation.

"It's frustrating," he said.

For the second time in three games, the Commanders had multiple chances to beat what many considered to be a superior team in the closing minutes of regulation. They had a lead in the first half and two shots at tying the score in the final six minutes. But the same problems they have had all season came up again. And for the second time in three games, those attempts fell short in a 20-13 defeat to the Rams, dropping their record to 2-5-1 at the halfway point of the season.

"We have not nailed our complementary football," head coach Dan Quinn said after the game. "And I'll keep saying it until we do. We're halfway through the season, and that all has to click."

The Commanders' final two drives ended with a turnover on downs and a fumble recovered by Rams linebacker Byron Young as Chig Okonkwo tried to pitch the ball to a teammate to keep the final play alive.

The Commanders have a short week coming up as they prepare for a Thursday night matchup against the New York Giants, which Daniels has already said is a "must-win" game.

Many of Washington's lingering issues, from the presnap penalties to struggles against No. 1 receivers, were prevalent against the Rams, but they all play into the Commanders' biggest problem of struggling to play four consistent quarters of football. At times, they looked competitive and arguably more impressive against the Rams. They scored on their first two drives and held the Rams, who had the fourth-ranked offense, to just three points until the closing seconds of the first half.

After their touchdown in the second quarter, though, the Commanders did little on offense as Myles Garrett, who had three sacks and a fumble in his return, and Aaron Donald led a relentless pass rush from the Rams. They had 313 yards for the afternoon, but 157 of that came on their first three possessions. Meanwhile, Matthew Stafford had 228 passing yards, 150 of which went to Puka Nacua, and the Rams' offense, while flawed with two turnovers, did enough to take the lead twice in the second half.

"Today I felt like was a gut check," K'Lavon Chaisson said in the locker room. "They [the Rams] were running the same play all day, feeding the same person the ball all day. As a defense you've got to…figure out how you're going to stop that and not let it happen anymore."

For a while, it seemed like the Commanders did have answers for the Rams' star power on either side of the ball. They drove down to the Rams' 19-yard line on their opening drive -- Daniels was 3-of-4 on the possession -- and kicked a field goal. The Rams got to the Commanders' 14 and kicked a field goal of their own, but a 45-yard screen catch-and-run from Rachaad White on the following possession helped set up a seven-yard touchdown grab by Van Jefferson to cap off an 80-yard drive.

Even at their best, though, there were opportunities the Commanders could not capitalize on. Chaisson forced a fumble from Nacua in the second quarter that Nick Cross picked up and ran to the Commanders' 45-yard line. One play later, though, Garrett knocked the ball away from Daniels' grasp on a scramble and Omar Speights recovered with just over two minutes left. The Rams turned that into a field goal to make the score 10-6 at halftime.

The Rams started the second half by force-feeding the ball to Nacua, which became a theme for the rest of the game. He caught back-to-back passes of 12 and 15 yards on their opening touchdown drive of the third quarter and then converted a third-and-11 with a 19-yard catch in the fourth quarter. He found the end zone later in the afternoon, beating Trey Amos with an impressive seven-yard catch in the back of the end zone.

Nine of Nacua's 19 targets came in the final two quarters.

"Great player, great catch," Amos said of Nacua's touchdown. "Just gotta have better technique."

The Commanders' issues on offense continued to linger in the second half. Only one of their final six drives -- their last of the game -- went more than 40 yards downfield. They found themselves deep in scoring territory after Cross intercepted a pass from Stafford, but they only moved four yards to get Drew Stevens in range for a 41-yard field goal.

The Commanders had three shots to tie the score in the fourth quarter, all of which ended in frustration. They got to the Rams' 40-yard line before being forced to punt; a pass to Jefferson on fourth-and-17 was batted away by Emmanuel Forbes; and White's pitch on the final play was recovered by the Rams as time expired.

The Commanders have four days until their next game, so it's a chance for them to turn the page quickly and keep their season alive. But they know they are losing time to correct their mistakes.

"We gotta go," Quinn said. "We have to play all three phases together … We're too far along to not have it working together."