When is Close not Good Enough Anymore?

Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.

I hear that phrase on a daily basis in the military. And it's a phrase that I've begun to associate with Jeff Fisher's tenure through 3 plus seasons.

Each year under Fisher, the Rams have been the youngest team in the NFL. As fans, we were continually told that patience would be required. That the team was maturing. That they were turning a corner. Phrase it however you will, but this fan base has grown to accept moral victories as if they were a tally in the Win column.

This season in particular, the Rams have been very Jekyl and Hyde. Per usual, Jeff Fisher had his team playing well within the division, but the other 3 games are a mixed bag of missed opportunities and horrible preparation. As far as records and rankings go for the Rams, it's been business as usual in the 2015.

Unless it's a divisional game, fans have no idea which team is going to show up. In year 4 of a regime, that is unacceptable. I'm not saying that Jeff Fisher is a bad coach. I actually think that he is one of the better minds in the NFL. But I also think that he sometimes struggles to get the best out of the group of millenials that he has assembled during his time in St. Louis.

One thing I'm certain of is that the Rams and their fans have given Fisher a really long leash to work with. To an extent, I get it. He inherited arguably the worst roster in NFL history following their horrid 5-year stretch where they went 15-65. We all wanted to get better, and accepting 'improvement' and 'progress' in the first 2-3 years of a rebuilding process is normal.

But here we are in year 4 hearing the same thing. All you have to do is look at Fisher's post-practice presser yesterday to see that.

I feel like we’ve gotten better.

But, I think we have a good feel for the direction we’re headed, especially when you consider you’re going to build this thing around (RB) Todd (Gurley).

Well at least we finally know what direction the team is heading. It only took getting into your 4th season to figure it out.

Sorry coach, but I'm not tolerating Horseshoes and Hand Grenades anymore. It's year 4 and your team is rolling into the easiest part of the 2015 schedule. Stop talking about improvement and show us.