St. Louis Rams 10, Washington 24: Disappointing Road Loss Surfaces Fisher Era Worries

A week ago following the Rams' inspiring 34-31 season opening victory over the Seattle Seahawks, I said this:

The first road game of the year is up next with a trip to the most dysfunctional franchise in the league in Washington. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but there's an obvious opportunity to get to 2-0. The next three after that prior to the bye could be really tough, so it's a big opportunity to get in front of the schedule in a comfortable way.

Bear in mind, the Rams have beaten the Seahawks in three of the last four seasons. This game, in and of itself, hasn't been the back breaker for the Rams. The two 7-win seasons and a 6-win season of the last three years featured wins like today where the team seemed to have turned a corner.

The question is if they can extend the performance and rack up a couple more in a row than they've been able to in years past.

After two games, I'm struggling to see the difference between the 2015 St. Louis Rams and the 2014 St. Louis Rams, the difference between the 2015 St. Louis Rams and the 2013 St. Louis Rams. At least for today, there are an awful lot of similarities.

There's an identity crisis for a team that's supposedly supposed to be built for the running game that saw Benny Cunningham as the primary RB in Week 1 go for 45 yards on 16 carries and Tre Mason as the primary in Week 2 go for 26 on just seven rushes.

There's an identity crisis for a defense its top CB, Janoris Jenkins, yet again burnt to a crisp, run over in the first half and unable to end a drive in a 3rd and 13 situation down by a touchdown late in the 4th quarter.

These aren't things good teams do.

The question is why the Rams can't do these things now in the fourth year under Head Coach Jeff Fisher. Gone are the personnel excuses. Gone are the injury excuses. Gone are the draft needs underserved.

This is the team Fisher designed from scratch. This is the result he was aiming for.

I understand why optimistic fans were upset to be called ignorant for being as such. The problem is that history, and now two games of reality in 2015, enforce that. It's going to take wins to break the cycle of mediocrity. Multiple wins. Not one big win over a quality opponent.

Today's 24-10 loss to Washington should tell us as St. Louis Rams fans not to hold our collective breath.