And so it ends. The 2010 St. Louis Rams, with a rookie QB, rookie LT, a WR corp filled with things you'd typically see in your fridge the day after thanksgiving called leftovers, a second year coaching staff with a putrid conservative approach, almost took this team to the playoffs. Almost, on many levels.
Yes, several times this year, I felt like if we were playing horseshoes, we would have been in decent shape... you know, we were close... which counts in horseshoes. A missed FG, a pooch punt, a few receptions at critical times, a challenge here and there... and we could all be celebrating our first playoff appearance since 2004. But it didn't happen.
The Rams went to Seattle to play a Seahawks team in worse shape than we were. The Seahawks were an absolute putrid team, and admitted to be so by any fan you could ask. They were starting a backup QB who made Tony Banks look like a pro-bowler, and he lit us up on the first drive of the game... and that is all it took. Yes, the Seahawks only needed 7 points to put us away which is an absolute embarrassment, no matter how you look at it.
Last night's loss reminded me of why I had that sick ill feeling every time we lost a game we should have won this season. A trip to Qwest Field in a championship game was something I did not want to see. I was right.
Our offensive effort last night was one of the worst performances I have ever seen in my 27 years as a Rams fan. 27 years. Yes even back in the Deiter Brock days, I can't recall such a lackluster performance. Sam Bradford made some poor decisions, but the way our WR played, you can't blame him.
DX dropped two passes that hit him in the hands. Fells had a key drop or two. As a matter off fact, with all of the talk about "Uh Oh" and getting healthy, he was virtually no where to be seen last night. Danny Amendola was covered tighter than bark to a tree and Laurant Robinson was... actually, I have no clue where he was, which has been his story all season.
And then there is Gibson, who has had good moments at times, but then there is his magical disappearing act he conducts at times, and last night was one of them.
Steven Jackson, the Rams ALL TIME leading rusher gets his number called 11 times to rush the ball, and we let Karney attempt the very first 3rd and 1... and he got stuffed.
As proud as I was for the Rams to even be in the position last night to actually win a division championship, I was equally embarrassed for the stinking pile we left at the 50 yard line of Qwest Field last night, from the selected players mentioned above, to the coaching staff for the worst coaching effort put forth since Scott Linehan was attempting to lead us. Second year slump for our coaching staff? Please god tell me this is all it was.
And to end this, there is Pat Shurmur, whose philosophy "dinked and dunked" us to 7-9 when we could have been 11-5 or 12-4... yes, his philosophy certainly has more dinks than dunks if you ask me.