By Cedric Williams
In each of Jeff Fisher’s first three seasons as head coach of the St. Louis Rams, one of the main problems the team had was it got off to a slow start every season, and by the time the season was just a little past half over, the Rams already had a 3-6 (or worse) record, which left them with little to no shot at making the postseason.
This season though, St. Louis’ main problem wasn’t a slow start — the Rams had a 4-3 record after back-to-back home wins over Cleveland and San Francisco — which left some believing the team might even be able to end its 10-year playoff drought.
But then November came, and the Rams just disintegrated — losing five straight games to completely fall out of the playoff picture and ensure that the franchise would suffer through its 12th straight non-winning season. St. Louis did have a shot at finishing 8-8, and ending a nine-year drought of outright losing seasons, if it could have won its final game. But the Rams blew a comfortable halftime lead and wound up losing in overtime in a rematch against the 49ers.
Such is life for the perpetually 6-10 or 7-9 St. Louis Rams.
“It’s taken time,” Fisher said in his final official press conference of the season Monday afternoon at Rams Park. “It was not a good situation when we got here. We’ve had inconsistent quarterback play. We’ve started a number of quarterbacks. Our focus has been in the division and to compete with the division. We’ve shown that we can do that, we just have to be more consistent outside of the division.”
The Rams were 4-2 against the NFC West in 2015, but just 3-7 against the rest of the league.
League-Worst Pass Offense Was A Major Problem All Season
St. Louis’ main offseason acquisition was quarterback Nick Foles, a player the team received in a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for former No. 1 overall draft pick Sam Bradford. And Foles was pretty good through the first month of the season.
He even had a three-touchdown game in a Rams upset win over the then-unbeaten and eventual NFC West champion to be Arizona Cardinals. But following that game, things just seemed to fall apart for Foles, who eventually lost his starting job by late November to backup QB Case Keenum.
Foles actually wound up starting two more games due to a concussion injury suffered by Keenum. But the former University of Arizona standout was just atrocious in those two games, passing for a combined 374 yards, with no touchdowns, and four interceptions. Keenum was a little better and Fisher said on Monday that he would go into the offseason as St. Louis’ starter at quarterback. But that still couldn’t keep the Rams from having the worst passing offense in the entire league — a group that averaged an almost laughable 175.3 pass yards a game.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us this offseason,” Fisher said. “That’s where we’ve got to go. We’ve got to score points…points and third down efficiency and red zone are very, very important to us.”
Todd Gurley, Aaron Donald Were Top Young Players That Made Earned Trips To The Pro Bowl
Whatever problems the Rams have been having getting production out of their quarterbacks or offensive linemen, or even offensive coordinators (considering they fired Frank Cignetti in December), the club hasn’t had any trouble getting top notch play from a couple of their most recent first-round draft picks.
2014 No. 13 overall selection Aaron Donald was perhaps the best defensive tackle in the entire league this season, leaving some to believe he might be a candidate for NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Donald proved himself almost unblockable this season and finished the year with a team-leading 11 sacks, which is an almost unheard of number for a full-time defensive tackle, which is a big reason why Donald earned his second-straight trip to the Pro Bowl this year.
“I’ve said this week after week, but this was a very, very dominating (performance) up front by Aaron,” Fisher said on Monday. “It was really, really impressive. He gets my vote for defensive MVP. It’s nothing against J.J. Watt or anybody else, but maybe they’ll have co-(winners) because he played really, really well.”
And this year’s No. 10 overall selection, running back Todd Gurley is also going to the Pro Bowl, after leading all NFL rookies in rushing yards (1,106) and rushing touchdowns (10), despite playing in just 13 games this season. Many consider Gurley a strong candidate to win the NFL Rookie of the Year award and on Monday, it was announced he had been voted Rams rookie of the year by his teammates.
Foles Could Be The Backup QB, Or He Could Be Gone Next Season
Before he had even played his first game as a Ram, the team signed Foles to a two-year contract extension worth $24.5 million. Obviously, the Rams front office executives believed Foles to be the quarterback of the future.
But Foles played himself out of that job this season, with a string of dismal performances that forced Fisher and the coaching staff to bench the fourth-year veteran quarterback. Fisher stated on Monday that the team plans to bring Foles back next year, but you just have to wonder if a team with talent and depth problems can afford to keep a backup quarterback making more than $12 million a year.
Will The Rams Ever Get Over The Hump? Will They Be In St. Louis When They Finally Do?
Some of the best teams in the entire league play with the Rams in the NFC West, and the team has shown it can play with those teams, evidenced by their 3-1 record against 13-3 Arizona and 10-6 Seattle this season. But the Rams just haven’t done very well against other teams in the league, even some of the not-so-good teams, who seem to struggle against everyone else, but somehow manage to play their best football of the season when they face St. Louis.
It’s maddening. But it’s been 12 years since the last time the Rams had a winning record and nine years since the last time they didn’t have a losing record. At some point, that’s got to change. The question is when.
“We have a lot of decisions to make,” Fisher said. “We’ve got some key free agents that we have to get back. That’s going to be our focus.
“There’s been discussions. There’s been negotiations and discussions. It’s been on-going. I’m confident that (Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Chief Operating Officer) Kevin (Demoff) and (Senior Assistant) Tony (Pastoors) will get those things done.”
The other question is whether the team will be in St. Louis when, and if those things ever do get done.
On Monday, the Rams filed the necessary paperwork with the league for relocation to Los Angeles (the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders did as well). And it’s well known that Rams owner Stan Kroenke would like to build a new stadium and move the team to L.A. as soon as next season. So nobody knows for sure at this juncture where the team will be in 2016.
Not even Fisher, who said he went out of his way to not know the answers to any relocation questions.
“I shared with the team today, I’ve been through this experience before,” Fisher said. “We have to take the approach and with the assumption that everything’s taking place here in St. Louis until we’re told otherwise. I don’t have any more information than you guys do.
“I’ve chosen not to ask questions, so I can tell the truth when I’m asked questions. I don’t know, but we are moving through the normal offseason protocol right now with the wrap up, physicals and whatever surgeries that we have to have and moving through the staff issues, and we’ll go on.”
Cedric Williams, a lifelong St. Louisan and proud UMSL alum, has been a full-time reporter/photographer covering St. Louis area sports for nearly two decades. Most recently, he has been working as a credentialed beat writer covering the NFL, as well as college and high school sports for the St. Louis American, Patch.com, and other outlets from around the area. Please share any comments, questions, or feedback with Cedric at cedricwilliams510@gmail.com. His work can be found on Examiner.com.