Again, Rams on Outside Looking In : Interceptions Carry Vikings to 28-17 Win

Monday was a good day to stay indoors here, except for the Rams, who proved once again that neither snow nor sleet nor even climate-controlled heat can keep them from their appointed playoff-round loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

In past Viking losses, the Rams at least had excuses-- our toes were blue, Fran Tarkenton was really an Eskimo, our quarterback’s tongue is stuck on the goal post .

But you didn’t need a weatherman to know which way the wild-card winds were blowing at the Metrodome, where the Vikings did a scalpel and forceps job on the Rams, winning 28-17. Outside, snow squalls wrapped the city in a 20-degree white blanket. Inside, it was 69 degrees.

For the dozen or so Rams who have sung this swan song before, the loss was painful and perfect.

“It’s always . . . next year,” cornerback LeRoy Irvin said. “All I am is a contender. That hurts. Nine years in the league, six or seven times to the playoffs, and I’ve never been a champion. I guess I’ll be a contender all my life.”

Unless, of course, Irvin either gets traded (“You hear the rumors”) or the Rams learn how to work out of the lower brackets. This was the fifth playoff appearance in 6 years for the Rams, but only once have they advanced to the National Football Conference title game, the 1985 season, at which time they were pounded by Chicago, 24-0.

Some Rams really thought this was the season, what with their special blend of youthful spirit and talent.

But the Vikings emerged the superior team. They beat the Rams to every punch, every ball and every cornerback. Wade Wilson, who spent the week defending his right to play quarterback, outclassed the Rams’ Jim Everett in every way, completing 17 of 28 passes for 253 and 1 touchdown.

The Vikings didn’t make a mistake on offense. Wilson fumbled once on a sack, but a teammate recovered.

“They played a flawless game,” said Everett, who didn’t.

Viking safety Joey Browner, a student of John Robinson football at USC, seemed to be playing with Ram crib notes in his back pocket.

He turned the game over to his offense early, twice looking deep into the eyes of Everett and stealing a quarterback’s intentions.

Browner, phantom of the secondary, robbed the Rams early and often, swiping a pass from Flipper Anderson’s hands on the 1-yard line after Everett had driven his team to the Minnesota 25 on the opening drive.

“He came out of nowhere,” Anderson said. “I never saw him, and I don’t think Jim saw him either.”

Jim didn’t. The Vikings took the ball 73 yards the other way, scoring on a 7-yard Alfred Anderson run with 6:47 left in the quarter.

Then came 21 seconds that changed the Rams’ world.

Everett came out firing on first down from his 22, looking for Henry Ellard over the middle. But Browner, hanging back to lure Everett, stepped in front of the pass and made the interception at the 31, returning it 14 yards to the Ram 17.

“The first one was a great defensive play, the second one was a bad throw,” Everett said, critiquing the first 2 of his 3 interceptions.

Allen Rice blew through the middle of the Ram defense on first down, scoring on a run with 6:26 left. Ram corner Jerry Gray knocked the ball from Rice’s hands as he crossed the goal line. Gray cried for a replay. Gray cried alone.

Robinson could only watch from the sidelines, and wish Browner had never left the fold.

“I think Joey Browner is the best defensive player in this league,” Robinson said. “He had a great game.”

Down, 14-0, in the House of (Ear) Pain, the best the Rams could do but “crawl back into the game a couple times,” as Robinson put it.

His offense, meanwhile, was as paralyzed as the traffic outside. Ellard, who had 86 catches for the season, made his first Monday with 6:10 left in the game and his team trailing, 28-10. That’s taking a player out of the offense.

The Vikings assigned Pro Bowl cornerback Carl Lee to Ellard, and Lee slipped the receiver on like a glove. Everett threw 18 times to Ellard and came out with 4 receptions. The Vikings liked the ratio.

Lee took Ellard on with macho man-to-man coverage, and took Ellard from the game.

Ellard said Lee harassed him at the line of scrimmage, knocking the timing out of his timing routes.

“I tried not to let it bother me,” Ellard said. “It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

The Rams would have preferred later. After a season in which the Rams had brilliantly aligned Ellard to keep him out of double coverage, Ellard had finally met his match.

Irvin could only admire Lee’s work from the sideline.

“I told Carl Lee afterward that he deserved to be in the Pro Bowl,” Irvin said. “I said forget what other guys are saying. He’s the best in the game right now, in my opinion.”

Their main offensive valve, Ellard, shut off, the Rams could only make cursory attacks at the Vikings’ lead.

The Ram defense, which sacked Wilson 5 times, dominated the second quarter and kept the Rams in the game, at least through halftime.

In the second quarter, Greg Bell’s runs of 22 and 20 yards set the Rams up on the Viking 3-yard line, leading to Everett’s scoring pass to Damone Johnson. That cut the lead to 14-7, giving the Rams second-half hope. It was short-lived, though, as Minnesota took the second-half kickoff and drove 84 yards in 14 plays for the touchdown that ended all hope, a 1-yard Anderson run with 9:25 left in the quarter.

“I think they began to doubt they could win after that,” Viking right tackle Tim Irwin said, capturing perfectly the game’s flow.

The Rams could only get as close as 21-10, on a 43-yard Mike Lansford field goal late in the third quarter. But now the end was near.

The Vikings broke the game open early in the fourth quarter on a 5-yard scoring pass, Wilson to Carl Hilton, the touchdown possible because of Anthony Carter’s 46-yard reception to the 5 on third and 10. Carter had badly beaten Irvin on the play.

“I played as hard as I could,” Irvin said.

Not good enough. Again. In the locker room, 34-year-old tackle Jackie Slater sat and wondered how many more years he could afford to say, “Wait until next year.” He’s been saying it for 13 years now.

“I don’t think my career is going to go very much longer,” Slater said, packing his bags for the final time this season. “I’m optimistic about the future of this football team, of being there before I’m done.”

For now, though, old Rams are done, and new ones look ahead.

“Maybe we should learn to play better early in the season and get the home-field advantage,” Everett said. “But I think we’ll remember how it feels in this locker room.”

Ram Notes

Patti Houck, wife of Rams’ offensive line coach Hudson Houck, died late Sunday night at Long Beach Memorial Hospital after a lengthy bout with cancer. . . . Retirement talk? Gary Jeter, who completed his best season with 11 1/2 sacks, said he is seriously considering retirement. “I’m getting tired of coming up short,” the 33-year-old Jeter said. “I’m really going to have to think about it. It was a good year, one of my best seasons. But I’ve never been to a Super Bowl and that’s what I play for. I’m going to evaluate the situation. It might be time to do something else.” . . . Also, cornerback LeRoy Irvin, who finally got his contract problems solved this year, thinks the Rams may unload him in the off-season. “It could be the domino theory,” he said. “That’s what might happen. You never know. And you hear rumors, too.” . . . For the day, Everett completed 19 of 45 passes for 247 yards with 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. . . . The Vikings are 5-1 against the Rams in the playoffs.