THE QUARTERBACK QUESTION : RAMS : It Wouldn’t Seem Like Training Camp If This Position Were Settled

The forecasts don’t indicate whether the NFC West pennant that flies over Rams Park these days will survive the next strong wind from the north, where the San Francisco 49ers reside.

It’s not like the somnolent 1970s, before the Rams moved to Anaheim, when they didn’t even own a pole from which to fly a flag but yawned their way to seven consecutive division titles. As training camp continues Monday with two-a-day drills beginning at Cal State Fullerton, Coach John Robinson seems to sense that he must improve his product to stay ahead of the 49ers, who can be expected to rebound from their post-Super Bowl malaise of 1985.

His three seasons have shown steady progress, from 9-7 to 10-6 to 11-5, but he said, “The greatest error is to assume that you start out where you left off last year.”

Heaven forbid. In the ’85 NFC title game, the Rams ran into the brick wall that was the Chicago Bears, who left them for dead, 24-0, and swaggered into Super Bowl XX.

Actually, Robinson felt pretty good about his team even after sorting out the debris left on Soldier Field. To reach the next Super Bowl, the Rams seemingly need improvement at only one position: quarterback.

One of Robinson’s largest disappointments was Dieter Brock’s failure to come through in a big game, despite the wind and the cold and the Bears. Brock played as badly that day as nearly everybody but Robinson had been saying he’d played all season.

Brock also was ineffective a week earlier in a 20-0 win over the Dallas Cowboys, but his performance was largely camouflaged by Eric Dickerson’s NFL playoff-record 248 yards rushing, the Rams’ defense and the Cowboys’ self-destruction.

Robinson went to Chicago hoping that Brock, the NFC’s third-most efficient passer, had gotten the bad game out of his system. After the Bear debacle, he had to wonder how many were still left.

Robinson’s doubts about Brock were evident three months later. The Rams signed Steve Bartkowski, 33, a free agent who was cast out by the Atlanta Falcons, a team in no position to discard any morsels with meat still on the bones.

Robinson has said: “Dieter Brock’s the starting quarterback . . . (but) the situation at quarterback is very competitive.”

He allows for the possibility that improvement at quarterback could be provided by Brock himself, although Brock has been idled recently by a sore back, a problem that bothered him off and on last season.

Brock spent much of the off-season improving his footwork so he can drop back quicker and avoid being sacked 55 times, as he was in ’85.

He will never be Fred Astaire, but Robinson said: “I liked what I saw. We want to make sure we do not take sacks.

“The second (problem) was a lack of strike potential. We didn’t make big plays. Once we got concerned we were taking sacks, we tried to get the ball off sooner.”

Bartkowski, whose surgical right knee is suspect, is no more nimble than Brock. The third quarterback, Steve Dils, is somewhat more mobile, and so is rookie Hugh Millen, a third-round draft choice from Washington who signed his contract Thursday.

But the best wheels the Rams had at quarterback now belong to the rival 49ers, and Jeff Kemp is in position to make the Rams regret the trade. With Joe Montana coming off shoulder surgery, Kemp’s prospects brighten, and he probably will be stage center when the 49ers come south for an exhibition game at Anaheim Aug. 18.

San Francisco Coach Bill Walsh apparently liked something in Kemp that Robinson didn’t.

Walsh said: “The people chasing the quarterback now are so much quicker than they once were (that) a quarterback has to be quicker in his reflexes and his movement to deal with them and avoid them.”

Robinson would settle for someone who can drop back, read the coverage and unload a strike before Richard Dent arrives.

Brock? Bartkowski?

Both have strong arms, but Bartkowski has a more delicate touch, throws few interceptions and has spent 11 years looking at NFL defenses.

Dils? He reads well, his arm is adequate for a medium-range attack and his legs are live and sound.

Finally, it would require enormous courage for Robinson to override the anti-Brock sentiment and assign him the starting spot again, no matter how spectacular he may be in exhibition games. But Robinson might do it anyway.

And why shouldn’t the Rams have uncertainty at quarterback? It’s a tradition. They haven’t had the same starter for consecutive full seasons since Roman Gabriel in 1970-71. Robinson has had 9 starters in his 10 seasons as a head coach at USC and Anaheim.

“My No. 1 concern is to make the position successful,” Robinson said.

To that end, he has hired the highly regarded Dick Coury, who will coach the quarterbacks but whose further input into the offense is uncertain. Coury is a passing coach, Robinson a running coach. The Rams passed less than any other team in the NFL last season.

“We will pass more,” Robinson has promised. “We will be more wide-open. We want (passing and running) to be more equal weapons for us.”

There are other considerations, of course.

Eric Dickerson missed all of training camp and the first two games in last summer’s 47-day holdout, then struggled for most of his 1,234 yards.

“I could make a wild prediction that he will have his greatest season,” Robinson said of the man who set the NFL’s single-season record with 2,008 yards in ’84. “He’s putting the necessary ingredients together in his mind.”

Robinson will try to relieve the pressure on Dickerson by running more often from a two-back set, with either Barry Redden or recently acquired veteran Rob Carpenter at fullback. Robinson said Thursday that Redden will be listed as the starting fullback, even though he missed the club’s mini-camp last spring.

Also to be determined:

--How to employ George Andrews, the former left outside linebacker whose knee injuries the last two years gave Mike Wilcher a chance to become a fixture. Wilcher led the Rams with 12 1/2 sacks last season.

--Whether Pro Bowl center Doug Smith is really over the mysterious nerve ailment that knocked him out late in the season, when unsung Tony Slaton filled in so well.

--When highly talented safety Vince Newsome, now in his fourth year, can crack a starting lineup that has veterans Nolan Cromwell and Johnnie Johnson.

--And whether wide receiver Chuck Scott, a second-round draft pick in ‘85, can overcome his disappointing rookie season after losing 15 pounds, and take up some slack if Henry Ellard’s contract dispute continues.

The Rams’ strength remains their offensive line, now reinforced by a second young fivesome that figures to include their first two draft choices, Mike Schad and Tom Newberry. Schad is still unsigned, but Newberry agreed to terms Friday and will be in camp Monday.

Robinson has called the backups, semi-seriously, “The 12th best offensive line in the league.”

But most of all, Robinson is looking for the intangible, arrogant attitude that swept the Bears to the title.

“I watched our (‘85) highlight film, ‘One Step Closer,’ ” he said. “We have to find whatever Chicago found coming out of the San Francisco (NFC title) game in ‘84, when they got beat, 23-0.

“It wasn’t new players. They did something to improve themselves, and 85% of it happened before the first preseason game. That’s what we have to do.”

Ram Notes Rookies, veteran newcomers and some other veterans will work this week at Cal State Fullerton, then all other veterans are due to report next Saturday. . . . Scrimmages with the San Diego Chargers are scheduled Thursday at San Diego and July 31 at Anaheim Stadium. The first exhibition game will be Tuesday night, Aug. 5, against the Houston Oilers at Anaheim, followed by a 13-day break before a Monday night game with the San Francisco 49ers Aug. 18, also at Anaheim.