NFC PLAYOFFS: VIKINGS 28, RAMS 17 : Without a Clue : Rams at a Loss as to Why Passing Game, and Most Everything Else, Fails Them

Alert Nancy Drew. Call in the Hardy Boys. Anybody have Philip Marlowe’s number? The Mystery in the Metrodome remains unsolved.

Nobody--certainly not any of the Rams involved in Monday’s 28-17 playoff loss to the Minnesota Vikings--could explain what happened to their old pal, the forward pass. A week ago . . . the greatest show on earth. Just ask the San Francisco 49ers, who watched the Rams happily resort to air travel for their many scores.

Against the Vikings . . . a vaudeville act.

Somehow, the Rams lost their ability to complete passes Monday. They also lost the National Football Conference wild-card game, which wouldn’t have been so terrible if they only could figure out how they did it.

Why, for example, did it take until 6:01 left for Ram wide receiver Henry Ellard to catch his first pass?

“Is that what it was?--Wow,” quarterback Jim Everett said.

Or how in the world did Everett complete only 19 of 45 passes?

Since when does Ellard get 18 passes thrown his way--and catch only 4?

And is it irony, or what, that Everett recently pencilled in the names of Viking cornerback Carl Lee and strong safety Joey Browner on his Pro Bowl ballot? Lee and Browner, by the way, spent the afternoon thanking him with interceptions galore and textbook pass coverage of Ellard, a Pro Bowl selection himself.

Strangest of all, was the lack of Ram reasons for any of this. Specifics took a hike. Generalities had a field day.

About the only explanation you could get out of Ellard was that “we might have gotten in a little bit of a hurry.”

A hurry to what? Get out of town? Go outside the Metrodome and play in the snow? Ellard wasn’t sure.

“Me and Jim Everett--we just missed on things early,” he said. “We were just 1 or 2 inches apart.”

Everett wasn’t much better. Like Ellard, he complimented the Viking defense, especially Browner, who had two interceptions Monday, and Lee, who shadowed almost every Ellard move. As for specifics, Everett kept asking for a chance to review the films, which seemed odd, because he was actually at the game.

“We were probably trying to force a few things,” he said.

This was a mistake, according to assorted Viking defenders. If there’s one thing you don’t do, said cornerback Reggie Rutland, it’s challenge the Vikings. They take it personally, he said.

The Rams tried. Offensive coordinator Ernie Zampese called Ellard’s number almost 20 times. You can understand the logic: The Vikings admit they play man-to-man coverage nearly 95% of the time. The Rams figured that if anyone could beat a single defender, it would be Ellard.

So they took their chances with Lee . . . and lost. Rutland could have told them that much.

“I wouldn’t pick on Carl Lee,” he said. “I wouldn’t pick on me, either.”

You also don’t try any funny stuff with Browner. Everett did and Browner has two interceptions to show for it.

“The first one (a first-quarter pass intended for Willie Anderson), I just tried to force one behind (Browner),” Everett said. “He made a good effort to come back there and get it.

“I didn’t really think he would get back to it.”

Either did Coach John Robinson, who simply said, “Touchdown,” when Everett threw to Anderson.

Instead, a pass that might have given the Rams an early 6-0 lead became a turnover, and later, a Viking score, as Minnesota took the ball and drove 73 yards for a touchdown.

Browner was at it again on the next Ram possession. This time he picked off a pass intended for Ellard. One play later, the Vikings scored their second touchdown.

“The second interception, (Everett) probably stayed with Henry too long,” Robinson said.

Agreed, Everett said.

“I think Henry and I got our wires crossed on that one,” he said. “My mistake.”

Robinson spent part of his postgame speech praising Browner, going so far as to call him the league’s best defensive player.

But one thing Robinson wouldn’t do, was point fingers. He could have. Everett missed open receivers. Open receivers, including Ellard, dropped passes.

“We had people that were open by a step, but the ball just didn’t seem to connect,” Robinson said. “Whether it was the receiver or the quarterback, it doesn’t matter. We just didn’t make those plays when we had the opportunity to make those plays.

“But Jim Everett has had a great season for us,” he said.

Don’t tell that to Everett, who considered himself the reason for the Ram loss. He described his performance as “not very good.”

“I’m disappointed. I’m very disappointed,” he said. “It’s sad that we have to end on a note like this.”

Everett wasn’t in much of a mood for silver linings. When informed of the popular “missed-by-inches” theory circulating about the Ram locker room, Everett smirked.

“We’re not playing horseshoes,” he said.

They’re also not playing any more games this season, an item that serves as a bigger mystery than Ellard’s absence or Everett’s three interceptions.

“We’ll just remember what if felt like to be in this locker room after this loss,” he said. “We’ll just remember the feeling (that) we have now to motivate us during the off-season.”