Loss to Bengals Has Rams Rethinking Defense : Pro football: Robinson promises that there will be some adjustments to put more pressure on the opposing quarterback.

Even John Robinson, the ever-optimistic Ram Coach, has to squint nowadays to find a glimmer at the end of the tunnel.

Can the Rams be as mediocre as their 1-3 start appears?

A day after his team’s 34-31 overtime loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Robinson was talking about dire consequences and schematic changes almost as much as he was seeking to point out the silver lining.

Rose-colored glasses aren’t quite as effective when your team is three games behind the 4-0 San Francisco 49ers and has shown little capability of shutting down passing attacks. Does Montana-to-Rice ring a bell?

“Obviously, we’re shaken by what has happened to us,” Robinson said at his weekly Monday media luncheon. “We just have problems we have to solve, and if we solve those problems I think we can be a very good team.

“If we don’t solve those problems,” Robinson warned, “we’re headed for a dismal season.”

After Sunday, the Rams’ offense was ranked No. 1 in the league. The redesigned defense was ranked last, yielding 389 yards per game.

Robinson and defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur set a system in which they hoped to team up linebacker Kevin Greene with one of the Rams’ big young defensive linemen on one side of a four-man line, giving the defense a consistent push every pass down. But partly because of injuries to Bill Hawkins and Brian Smith--the big, young candidates for the job--and Greene’s holdout rustiness, rush has been non-existent, the scheme has bombed.

After Bengal quarterback Boomer Esiason’s 471-yard passing performance, the most ever yielded by the Rams, this team is throwing up its hands and basically getting ready to start all over again.

“Why can’t we get more pressure?” defensive end Doug Reed repeated, “I can’t answer that. I just have nothing to say.”

Robinson said he hasn’t decided what the defense will do differently, only that it is time for a change. It could mean more blitzing by the linebackers, or switching around the four-man rush assignments, or more of the five-linebacker Eagle defense the Rams used so much in the past years.

Although this week’s opponent, Chicago, largely disdains the pass, Robinson said he wanted a solid pass rush in gear to better deal with pass-oriented teams such as Atlanta and Houston down the road.

“We clearly have to do something to begin to put pressure on the passer,” Robinson said of a defense that has only eight sacks. “Our initial plan to try to get more pressure this year has not succeeded. We’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

Robinson did not rule out the possibility of trading for a pass rusher, but said that those elite kind of quarterback-hunters that could solve the Rams’ malaise are hardly, if ever, offered on the market.

So how hard is it to revamp a scheme the Rams have worked on from Day 1 of training camp after four games?

“After the game Sunday, not difficult,” Robinson quipped.

The Rams have been through worse slides than this, Robinson emphasized, most recently last year’s four-game free-fall after a 5-0 start.

“I don’t mean to create the impression that we’re saying, ‘Whoops, let’s try something else.’ We have to adjust what we do,” Robinson said.

“The key issue for us is to keep doing a lot of the things we’re doing OK, so we’re not abandoning the ship and trying to find a new one in the middle of the sea.

“I still have those hopes, and I still believe that this football team can win . . .

“The biggest thing is we don’t slide as a team, that we believe in ourselves. The solutions don’t come from the doubt.”

DEFENSIVE STATISTICAL COMPARISON

The Rams’ disappointing 1-3 start is directly attributable to poor pass defense. Last in that category among the 28 National Football League teams last year, the team fared even worse this year.

OPPONENTS’ PASSING

1989:

Att.: 136

Compl.: 84

Yards: 1,184

TDs: 9

Pct.: 61.8 1990:

Att.: 148

Compl.: 93

Yards: 1,106

TDs: 5

Pct.: 62.8 OPPONENTS’ POINTS

1989: 88

1990: 111

RAM INTERCEPTIONS

1989: 3

1990: 2

RAM SACKS

1989: 6

1990: 5

RAM RECORD

1989: 4-0

1990: 1-3

Source: Los Angeles Rams

RAM NUMBERS

HIGHLIGHT: BOOMER ESIASON

He wasn’t exactly a complete stranger to either the Rams or their fans--they had watched some of his magic on television since 1985--but Boomer showed Sunday’s Anaheim Stadium crowd conclusively why he was the AFC’s top-rated quarterback the last two seasons. The Bengal left-hander completed 30 of 40 passes for a club record 471 yards in his team’s 34-31, overtime win. Not even nemesis Joe Montana of the 49ers has ever thrown for that many yards against the Rams--his best being 458 yards last December. It was Esiason’s third 400-plus-yard performance as a pro.

SEASON TO DATE (Four-game totals)

FIRST DOWNS

RAMS: 81

OPP: 82

RUSHING YARDS

RAMS: 371

OPP: 426

PASSING YARDS

RAMS: 1,241

OPP: 1,184

PUNTS/AVERAGE

RAMS: 18/41.7

OPP: 15/39.6

RUSHING

RAMS:

ATT: 110

AVG: 3.7

TDs: 4

OPP:

ATT: 112

AVG: 3.8

TDs: 4

PASSING

RAMS:

ATT: 146

CP: 84

TDs: 10

OPP:

ATT: 136

CP: 84

TDs: 9

PENALTIES/YARDS

RAMS: 23/158

OPP: 19/163

FUMBLES/LOST

RAMS: 8/5

OPP: 11/6

INTERCEPTIONS/YARDS

RAMS: 2/44

OPP: 3/16

SCORING BY QUARTERS

RAMS

1: 28

2: 35

3: 24

4: 24

OT: 0 TOTAL: 111OPP

1: 17

2: 45

3: 13

4: 33

OT: 3

TOTAL: 111POSSESSION TIME

RAMS: 28:49

OPP: 31:51