Lewis Cox's West Brom analysis: Consistency feels so far away for badly faltering Albion

I wrote in these very column inches last week that if the 3-2 Swansea success could not spark some momentum or act as a springboard then there might be nothing that can.

Owner and chairman Shilen Patel watched on from the directors' box at Loftus Road and he cannot have enjoyed what he saw.

Albion slumped to 16th with a sixth straight defeat away from The Hawthorns. This dreadful run has fallen well below acceptable and threatens to fully derail the entire season and potentially Ryan Mason's tenure.

Four of those losses have been in or around London. Talk about capital punishment. You can only take your hat off to Saturday's sold-out 1,700 away allocation who at the moment continue as gluttons for punishment.

We are well into December, almost at the midway point of the Championship season and the questions over Mason and his squad's ability to put together a run of wins - or even just two - grow louder by the week.

Many, understandably, by this point have given up on this group of players under the current management turning it around. It may still be tight in the Championship and the gap to the top six may remain within reach, relatively speaking, but it was hard to leave QPR believing the club is going anywhere fast.

Saturday's desperate 3-1 defeat in Shepherd's Bush contained Albion defending best compared to that of hungover Sunday league efforts.

Yet that was not even Mason's chief gripe. He described his side's first-half performance at Loftus Road as "passive" and was at a loss to explain why.

There was no level of fired-up. No sign of flying out the traps or mixing it with the hosts.

In fairness, QPR were equally as limited in a dour first half that was the poorest spectacle of the entire season and warranted a stalemate, but the Baggies left the back door open for Jonathan Varane to shuffle into the box and head home unopposed on the stroke of half-time. More terrible timing.

Mason's take of "passive" could have been stronger - indeed you could use many unprintable words - but it felt like a diplomatic answer for minimal effort, lacklustre and with zero spark. He was spot on.

The head coach felt his side were better in the second half. They were, but not enough to undo the hosts, a fellow limited mid-table outfit.

That was chiefly down to horrible schoolboy defending that gift-wrapped the home side their second and third goals.

Alex Mowatt was played into a bit of trouble and ceded possession for Rumarn Burrell - the Rs frontman who was the game's standout player and hails from Great Barr - to score the second. It was a second goal of that kind Mowatt has been caught for this season after the late Ipswich winner at Portman Road.

Aune Heggebo's stunning header - as good a centre-forward goal as you will see - pulled one back with 15 minutes to go but that was made redundant by Burrell's late second, which came via a hapless error from the poor George Campbell, compounded by goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith's inability to clear.

Few predicted Wildsmith to be involved from the off as Mason made a bold call to drop No.1 Josh Griffiths in the wake of his error in the Swansea see-saw seven days earlier.

It was a surprise, perhaps not a huge surprise, as academy graduate Griffiths has made big errors this term, but he has also excelled in spells and won his side points.

Wildsmith, who failed under Tony Mowbray last season in the spring, was unable to take his chance and now Mason must wonder how things will go between the sticks at Southampton on Tuesday night.

It certainly does create another unneeded narrative in that department.

But Mason got it right when he said there are enough problems with the side and squad in general rather than any individual errors.

The head coach has so much to sort and how much time he has left to address that will only be clear within the four walls of the boardroom at The Hawthorns with the Bilkul top brass.

An incapability to "go again" and build on a positive is a real concern and suggests a mental weakness.

For several weeks of this season Albion could not attack or score a goal. That was rectified but the disease has spread further back and the goals and chances conceded are now painful to watch.

Southampton and Sheffield United are the opposition in the next five days. Both have found form. Albion and Mason need some form - desperately.

But even the most optimistic Baggie will struggle to believe regular wins are around the corner.