Following another embarrassing and disappointing loss, the St. Louis Rams sit at a pedestrian 4-7. Despite being down only 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, the Rams failed to gain any momentum in hopes of a comeback before succumbing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-7. Starting in place of Case Keenum, who is still in concussion protocol and was limited in practice today, quarterback Nick Foles posted an abysmal stat line: 30-46 for 228 yards and three interceptions one of which was returned 24 yards for a touchdown; rookie Sean Mannion eventually got his first reps of the season. When discussing their chances of making the playoffs, head coach Jeff Fisher stated that “mathematically, we’re not eliminated.”
Speaking of Fisher, the Rams are headed for their fourth straight losing season with Fisher at the helm. They must win their last five games to not only make the playoffs, but avoid that daunting fourth losing season; this is no easy task as the Rams face the 9-2 Cardinals, and the surging Buccaneers, 49ers, Seahawks, and Lions. When asked about his job security, Fisher had this to say: “I’ve been doing this for probably short of 20 years, and I’ve never gone into a game or a into a season worried about my job security. That would be unfair to the organization and unfair to the players. So I’m not worried about that.” Now to Fisher’s credit, they played a tough and talented Vikings team and a Ravens team that has lost seven games by an average of only 4.6 points on last second field goals and is 3-0 in a tough division. Regardless, he has six winning seasons to his credit in 19 years as a head coach (his first year in Houston in 1994 he served as an interim). What’s more disappointing is the fact the Rams were 4-3 a month ago and looked like a playoff team despite the porous offensive play. Should the Rams finish with a losing record, it only makes sense to fire Fisher: Fisher will enter his fifth and final year of his contract next season and it is extremely rare for an organization to bring back their coach for a fifth year after four losing seasons. However, Fisher will be due $7 million next year and it is unlikely that owner Stan Kroenke will eat that money by firing him. The Rams are 31st in total offense and last in passing offense; if the season ended today, their 180.9 yards per game would be the fourth lowest in franchise history.
While Kroenke has that decision to make going forward, he announced this morning that he has proposed making a second team his full partner in hopes of getting an NFL franchise to LA. Due to his long history with San Diego Chargers owner Dean Spanos, it seems the Chargers will be his partner in this deal as those in Kroenke’s camp have reported lobbying for a deal involving the Chargers and Rams playing at a $1.86 billion stadium in Inglewood. Kroenke has hurdles to jump through in order to accomplish this: Spanos and Raiders owner Mark Davis are currently committed to building a $1.75 billion in Carson; the NFL requires teams seeking relocation to acquire three-fourths of the league’s 32 owners and both parties are believed to have the nine votes needed to block a team from relocating. Should Spanos ditch Davis for the Rams’ plan, Davis and the Raiders have the power to sue Spanos and the Chargers: under California law, there is a possibility of legal attachment between Spanos and Davis, “preventing him and the team from cutting Davis and the Raiders loose without incurring various potential liabilities” as reported by ProFootballTalk. The wildcard here is St. Louis, who has committed $150 million in addition to Missouri’s $240 million to the building of a new stadium that, if built, has secured National Car Rental as a sponsor to put its name on the stadium to the tune of $158 million over 20 years. There is cause for concern in St. Louis, however. According to a debt repayment schedule submitted by the stadium task force, lead by Governor Jay Nixon, the city will be repaying more money ($215 million) and for much longer (through 2051) than previously reported on top of the $6 million a year that is still being paid to the Edward Jones Dome. The news of Kroenke’s proposition to Spanos come on the same day he met with Nixon as Kroenke has avoided meeting with supporters of the downtown St. Louis stadium. Kroenke was, recently, also encouraged by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to begin communicating with Nixon and Dave Peacock, the former Anheuser-Busch executive and co-chairman of Nixon’s stadium task force.
The NFL and members of the league’s influential Committee on Los Angeles Opportunities, pushing for a vote on which team or teams could move, will hold meetings in January to determine who will move.
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