Ram Fan Writes Scenario With Happiest of Endings

The best Ram fan I know keeps one of those week-by-week pro football logs folded up in his wallet, partly for reference but mainly for reassurance.

That way, the Rams’ road to the playoffs is never more than an arm’s length away.

“The Rams can still make the playoffs,” says the best Ram fan I know. “Sure they can. In the NFC, they can. Look at the standings.

“The top three teams--’Frisco, Chicago and the Giants--nobody’s going to catch them. And the Washington Redskins, they look like they’re going to get one wild card. But after that, look at all the 3-5 teams you’ve got. Tampa Bay is 4-5, but they’ve played one more game than the Rams.

“It all depends on what the Rams do these next two weeks, if they beat the Giants and Dallas. Now I know with the Giants, they’ve got to play the best game they’ve ever played, and the Giants are going to be ticked off by being knocked out of the playoffs by the Rams last year. That’s a big ‘if.’

“But if the Rams can win these next two, they’ll be right in there. Look at the rest of the teams, the rest of their schedules. Green Bay. Tampa Bay. New Orleans. Atlanta. They’ve all got it tougher than the Rams. The Rams have got to start winning, naturally, but 8-8 in the NFC just might make the playoffs.”

The best Ram fan I know has been talking this way ever since he attended Sunday’s game against the Houston Oilers and watched the Rams play their first decent day of defense this decade.

His eyes have seen the glory of a Bobby Humphery pass deflection at the goal line.

He has been given a reason to believe.

He has been mapping it out.

“If they win nine games, they’re in,” he tells me. “That means they have to win six more games. That means they’re going to have to beat ‘Frisco once. They can do that. Have you seen any of the 49ers’ games this year?

“There have been at least five games that they could’ve lost as well as won. Four of them, Joe Montana gets the ball with less than two minutes to play and pulls the game out.

“Somebody’s going to beat them. New Orleans had ‘em beat. I still don’t know why they didn’t run the clock out instead of throwing incomplete passes. New Orleans had the ball, ‘Frisco was out of timeouts, and there were 58 seconds to play. All they have to do is run the ball.

“But they throw a pass, it’s incomplete, and they punt to ‘Frisco with 40-some seconds left, Montana hits a couple of out patterns, and they kick a field goal with nine seconds left.

“I tell you, they had them beat.”

I try telling the best Ram fan I know that the 49ers and the Giants are both 8-0, and that he’s asking the Rams to do something no one else has been able to do all season.

Precisely.

“If they put it together, they’ve got a shot to beat the Giants,” he says. “I don’t know the point spread, I’m sure the Giants are favored, but I used to play these football cards at work, and I used to pick the Rams every time they were underdogs. Eighty-five percent of the time, I won at that.

“The Ram offense is good enough. They can score some points on that defense. Two of the last three times they’ve played, the Rams have scored 31 and 45 points. The Giants still have a tough defense and Lawrence Taylor--they’ve got to keep Lawrence Taylor out of there--but Irv Pankey usually does a good job against him.

“I think the Rams have a shot. If I was in Las Vegas and somebody gave me four points, I just might put a buck-fifty on that one.”

I have to tell the best Ram fan I know that I still have my doubts.

“Look at it,” he says. “The Rams are the home team, the Giants played Monday night, they’re coming off a short week, and they have to travel down to Anaheim.

“Several years ago, I read an article that said the team that plays on Monday night and then goes on the road loses a lot more than it wins. It was right around 70%. So the Rams have a few things going for them.”

I don’t have the heart to mention that a month ago, Cincinnati played on Monday night, traveled to Anaheim and beat the Rams in overtime, 34-31.

The best Ram fan I know doesn’t need any reminding.

“The Rams should’ve won that Cincinnati game,” he says with a tinge of disgust. “To come back like that and put the game into overtime. . . .

“That really hurt, especially when you look at the trouble Cincinnati’s been having ever since.

“But Cincinnati’s a team you just can’t figure out.”

The best Ram fan I know didn’t become this way overnight. It has taken more than 20 years of offsides calls on Tom Mack and blocked Tom Dempsey field goals and crazed Dieter Brock passes into Soldier Field snow drifts to forge such fiery devotion.

He still can’t understand how George Allen’s ’69 Rams could go 11-0 and then not win another, including that Polar Kapp playoff disaster on Minnesota tundra.

He still can’t understand how the Rams could ever let go of Chuck Knox, “a great defensive coach.”

He still can’t understand why the Rams can’t rush the passer.

But he keeps coming back. That’s what it means to be a Ram fan, he figures. You have to learn to forgive--and try to forget.

“Even the last year under Malavasi, when they were 2-7, 2-8, I still rooted for them,” he says. “I went to the Kansas City game that year, and we were walking across the parking lot where there were these girls selling bags with L.A. LAMBS printed on them. They wanted you to wear them over your head.

“I said I didn’t want one but they kept on pushing: ‘Go on and have some fun.’ I told them, ‘No way, they’re going to win this game.’ And they did. It was the only home game they won that year.”

A little show of faith can sometimes go a long way, says the best Ram fan I know.

“Can you imagine?” he says, pointing out a stat he dug up the other day. “In 1975, the Ram defense allowed 135 points. That’s 135 points in a whole season. Can you imagine putting that defense with the offense they have now? Wouldn’t that be something?”

Such are the dreams Ram fans dream.

And with the defense the Rams are stuck with in real life?

“Well, I’m looking for 9-7,” says the best Ram fan I know. “That’s a wild-card spot. We’ll know a lot more after these next two weeks. But like I said, I think they’ve got a shot.”