WANTED: A FALL GUY : Who Deserves Blame for Ram Crash of ‘87?

In July, the Rams promised a season of Super Bowl or bust, claiming that anything less than the Lombardi Trophy in their lobby window would be a disappointment.

So here they sit at home in late December, seeking words to describe their innermost feelings and thoughts in the wake of a 6-9 season that ended in the rain Sunday night with a 48-0 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

Linebacker Jim Collins came up with embarrassing and bizarre, words that don’t quite measure up to, “Thank you Mr. Commissioner.”

Any year that Charles White beats out Eric Dickerson for a rushing title is a strange one, considering the two players spent the first seven games on the same team.

Certainly, the Rams will write this off as the no-fault season, an aberration in football that usually coincides with the expiration of each collective bargaining agreement.

And that’s the problem with dissecting the Rams. It’s so easy to pass the blame. So who bites the bullet for the lost season?

Coach John Robinson?

Was it his fault the greatest runner in the world came to training camp dinner dressed in a paternity suit and tie, only to announce an odd day-even day participation schedule for the season unless the present contract stained with his signature was torn to bits and rewritten?

And how was Robinson to know that splendid cornerback LeRoy Irvin was looking over Dickerson’s shoulder the whole time, biding his time and waiting his turn? Was it Robinson who gave up the winning touchdown pass to Minnesota’s Hassan Jones in Game 2 or was it Irvin, emersed at the time in a funk only he could fathom.

Was it Robinson who called for the players’ strike? Is it Robinson who negotiates player contracts? Wouldn’t he help if he could?

Eric Dickerson?

Was it his fault that the greatest running back in the world was stuck on a team that accepts financial counsel from Pic ‘n’ Save? Did he, as did the coach, breach team unity with his claim that 13 striking veterans had crossed the picket line and returned to the team, when in fact at least six had voted to stay out as a team the day before?

Shouldn’t the Rams have resolved Dickerson’s money mess before the season started instead of waiting until he started poking fun at the coach, leaving the Rams with little choice but to deal him to Indianapolis Oct. 31? Wasn’t superstar Dickerson only speaking out for all the Ram subordinates who couldn’t?

LeRoy Irvin?

Was it his fault that the Rams, as he claims, threatened to call a loan note unless he signed a contract that he knew was bad? Wouldn’t you pull a hamstring if someone did that to you? Is it his fault that his team plays in the same division as the 49ers, whose owner, Edward Bartolo Jr., passes out playoff bonus incentives like after-dinner mints?

“They have a lot of incentives to win games and we didn’t have any incentives,” Irvin said of the $10,000 each 49er received for winning the division title.

Does money really talk so loudly?

“Oh yeah,” Irvin said. “DeBartolo’s got a billion dollars to do that kind of stuff. They’ve got a good football team, but that’s his own deal. He can do whatever he wants to his own team. He motivated them to want to play better and they did play better.”

Georgia Frontiere-John Shaw?

Is it the owner’s fault that she runs an efficient, cost-effective organization that actually doesn’t mind turning a profit? Is it her fault that players sign contracts and then refuse to play under the terms?

Doesn’t she kiss them on the sideline? And what’s wrong with ice buckets as Christmas presents? If John Shaw ran your company, wouldn’t he be voted executive of the year?

Also, is it Georgia’s fault that her coaches failed to prepare for the strike and eventually assembled a team of so many dock workers and bartenders?

Ernie Zampese?

Was it the new offensive coordinator’s fault that in the third week of season he was teaching the new offense to a quarterback named Bernard Quarles? Or that Jim Everett needed to grow up? Or that Ron Brown’s 40-yard dash time and dropped balls per game both average about 4.2?

The Rams have no one to blame. And everyone.

In the first days of a most important off-season, they wrestle with the burden of responsibility and who must assume it.

There is no time to lose.

The Rams recovered from Dickerson well enough to win five of their last seven games, though victory came against the likes of Atlanta and Detroit, the teams picking 1-2 in the next National Football League draft, by the way.

The Ram season essentially ended with the Dickerson trade, when they sold today for a better tomorrow. Yes, Charles White won the rushing title. But Dickerson and the Colts won the title in the AFC East. Trophy case closed.

So now it’s time to turn up the heat. For Dickerson, the Rams will get five picks in the first two rounds this season and next, but go to the draft board with the same advisory team that came up with Donald Evans and Mike Schad the last two years.

It’s hard to argue with Ram picks in later rounds. Guard Tom Newberry, a second-round pick in 1986, should have made the Pro Bowl this season. This year, cornerback Clifford Hicks, third round; linebackers Larry Kelm and Doug Bartlett, fourth round; safety Michael Stewart, eighth round; linebacker David Smith, 10th round; and defensive end Fred Stokes, 12th round, all made the team.

But never have the stakes been so high. Robinson has said that four of the first six picks must play next season. And although he refuses to criticize his scouting department, led by personnel director John Math, Robinson has promised to take a hands-on approach to the draft this season. That means personal trips to scouting combines, all-star games, tryouts.

Gone are the days of stopwatch hunches and crossing national borders for No. 1 draft choices.

“If we’re taking 15th, then we’ll take the 15th-best player, unless it’s a quarterback,” Robinson said. “We’re going to have the football coaches analyzing a player playing football. We’re not going to get them involved in measuring the size of biceps.”

And White’s success this season has apparently not swayed Robinson’s desire to draft a top running back, should a Lorenzo White or Gaston Green be available in the middle of the first round, where the Rams will be picking.

Charles White, for all his fortitude, turns 30 in January. Remember, too, that the end of his career is only one bad urine sample away, the Rams having promised that one more drug relapse will prompt his release.

White’s struggle with cocaine is a daily one. He admitted that he returned to play during the strike not because he disagreed with the issues but because of a personal battle with idle hands and time.

The strike lasted 24 days. An off-season is six months. White said he plans to set up an off-season counseling program with NFL drug adviser Forest Tennant in West Covina.

Still for White, July must seem like forever away.

There is also at least one more load of dirty laundry to air. The Rams have made overtures to Irvin and his agent, Ernie Wright, and seem inspired to resolve his contract situation. Irvin still thinks his future is elsewhere. Irvin received a one-game suspension in early November for “conduct detrimental to the team.”

“I don’t feel like I’m going to be here next year,” he said. “But maybe I will.”

The way things have gone this year, that’s almost reconciliation.

But Irvin senses that times and uniforms will be a’changin’. A team that wins with older players is veteran. A losing team with older players is dying.

The Rams were losers this season.

“It makes everyone wonder, ‘Where am I going to be next season?,’ ” Irvin said. “It makes for a long off-season. There will be some changes. Some guys won’t be here next year.”

Robinson, though, denies that there will be wholesale changes.

“I don’t see it as a housecleaning,” he said. “Everyone over 30 is not suspect.”

Maybe a little nervous, though. Seventeen Rams will join the 30-and-older club before next season’s opener.

Veteran guard Dennis Harrah, a leader in more ways than one, has announced his retirement after 13 years in the league.

Defensive end Gary Jeter, who is approaching 32, will make a retirement decision after 30 days. The Rams, actually, want Jeter back. Despite his age, he’s still their best pass rusher and led the team this year with seven quarterback sacks.

Others on the bubble include:

--Safety Nolan Cromwell: He turns 33 next month and has certainly slowed considerably after 11 seasons in the league. Once one of the most feared and talented safeties in the game, Cromwell has survived in the recent years in the umbrella of the Rams’ zone defense. He’s likely to have a heart-to-heart with Robinson and decide. Cromwell made $400,000 last year and might have to come back for less.

--Tight end David Hill. Still a pretty good blocking tight end, Hill figured to be gone soon after his close friend Dickerson was traded. Hill lasted the season but turns 34 in January. He also had just 10 receptions this year for 101 yards.

--Linebacker Carl Ekern. He soon will turn 33, and his play seemed affected by the strike layoff this year. In his favor, Ekern is smart and runs the Ram defense. Plus, coordinator Fritz Shurmur loves him.

--Defensive end Reggie Doss. This 10-year veteran has hung around longer than anyone expected. But the Rams need pass rushers desperately and figure to draft for some, leaving guys like Doss, 32, in a lurch.

--Wide receiver Kevin House. The team’s third wide receiver, used mostly as a decoy, caught six passes all season. He’s 30 and slowing.

Yes, it figures to be a busy off-season. Twenty-two Rams will become free agents Feb. 1, a list that includes Cromwell, Brown, linebackers Mel Owens, Mike Wilcher and Jeter, and tackle Jackie Slater.

Still more exciting is the prospect of six top draft choices sitting down for contract talks with Shaw and Co. sometime next summer. Remember, this is the team that couldn’t keep Eric Dickerson happy.

And John Robinson will be watching closely, wondering what it takes to keep up with Bill Walsh without opening your own wallet.

“I told the team that if we’re ever going to win a championship, we got to play at a level that these guys are playing,” he said of the 49ers. “We played the Bears when they were at the highest level (1985) and the 49ers at the highest level. That’s the standard you have to set. How you arrive at it, no one quite has control over it.”

Not with the Rams, at least. But remember: Anything less than a great draft this year will be a disappointment.