Rams Could Botch Robinson’s Future

On the first of September, the goal was the Super Bowl, but the Rams couldn’t get interested.

On the first of October, the goal was to regroup and at least make the 49ers breathe heavily, but the Rams couldn’t get interested.

On the first of November, the goal was to salvage the season by out-worming the rest of the NFC slugs to the third and final wild-card berth, but the Rams couldn’t get interested.

Today, on the eve of Thanksgiving, the Rams are 3-7 with nothing to play for except the continued employment of their coach, John Robinson.

Now, things could get interesting.

It was only a matter of time and losses before the job-security question caught up with Robinson. Given enough of both, it catches up with everyone, Tom Landry included.

Just 10 months ago, Robinson stood on the sideline at Giants Stadium, flushed by an overtime playoff triumph and hugged by a jubilant Georgia Frontiere, who bubbled over the top and declared, “You’re the greatest coach in the world!” At that moment, Robinson appeared invincible--San Francisco’s 30-3 victory was still a week down the road--and throughout the off-season months that followed, he seemed more untouchable than any Ram not wearing jersey No. 11.

Then, the Rams began losing games they were supposed to win--at Green Bay against Anthony Dilweg, at home against 0-2 Philadelphia.

Next, the Rams began getting embarrassed--28-9 at Chicago, 41-10 at Pittsburgh, 31-7 against the Giants.

Finally, they lost at home to Dallas. Dallas did it. For the Rams, this was more than a must-win game. It was a better-not-show-your-face-if-you-lose game. Last season, the Cowboys were 1-15. This season, they’re 4-7--a half-game up on the Rams in the If-Only-There-Were-a-Fourth NFC Wild Card standings.

Look around. You won’t find a more disappointing team in professional football than the Rams--and that includes some heady competition. In 1989, Denver and Cleveland played for the AFC championship. Today they’re playing out the string, buried at 3-7 and 2-8, respectively. (That was some Final Four last year; throw in the Rams and three-fourths of the NFL’s semifinal field are now a combined 8-22.) But Cleveland, by consensus acclaim, did it with mirrors in ’89 and Denver, if there’s a God, shouldn’t be allowed near another Super Bowl until the next millennium.

Crisis conditions also have been spotted in Minnesota, where the Vikings started 1-6, and in Philadelphia, where the fifth year of Buddy Ryan’s plan started 2-4. But both teams have rallied--Minnesota has won three straight to hang onto the fringe of wild-card contention with the Eagles, who have won four straight.

In Anaheim, there has been no Renaissance, no recovery, only regression. So when the jump ball is tossed up--Is Robinson safe?--the answer that returns is no longer the unthinkable one: Maybe not.

Keep in mind that this is prime finger-pointing time and general manager John Shaw, architect of the Rams’ much-assailed no-frills financial approach, is the one offering the non-vote of confidence. Frontiere, who has the final say in the matter, hasn’t yet spoken.

Robinson has made mistakes. Early on, he placed far too much confidence in the pass-rushing abilities of Bill Hawkins and Brian Smith, who have yet to prove they can sack a lunch. His decision to tinker with Kevin Greene--moving him from side to side instead of leaving him alone on the left end--disrupted the lone strength of the Ram defense. And the Curt Warner experiment never should have made it to the laboratory door.

But these crimes are misdemeanors, certainly no more significant to the Ram collapse than:

Jim Everett’s annual midseason slump. Yes, it’s back, as big as ever. In the Rams’ past four games, Everett has passed for less than 200 yards three times, has passed for only one touchdown, has had six passes intercepted, has been sacked eight times and has not completed a pass of more than 30 yards. Compare that to Everett’s six-game numbers--three 300 yard-plus games, 14 touchdown passes, five completions of 40 yards or more--and you’ll see what happened to the Rams’ quick-strike capability.

Cleveland Gary’s on-the-job training. When Robinson crapped out with Warner, the burden of the Ram rushing game fell to Gary, a virtual rookie who sat out the exhibition season with a bad back. Gary has the moves, the quickness and the resiliency to be a consistent 1,000-yard gainer, but his inexperience still shows, sometimes at the worst times. As in second-and-goal from the Dallas five, fourth quarter, game tied at 21-21.

Henry Ellard’s hamstring. You appreciate Crazier Legs more when he’s gone, as in most of the past two games. Replacement Aaron Cox doesn’t run the routes Ellard does, drops the passes Ellard catches and gets called for motion when Everett completes a 79-yard touchdown strike to Flipper Anderson.

The list goes on and on: Mike Lansford’s post-injury inefficiency. Jerry Gray’s post-injury inefficiency. Jerry Gray’s comrades in a defenseless defensive backfield. Randy Cross’ too-accurate assessment of the Rams’ defensive linemen--”not one of them could start for another team in the division.”

No one ever said the relationship between a coach and his team was a marriage. Neither side is bound to the other through better or worse. But it pays to remember where the Rams were when Robinson arrived on the scene--league laughing stocks after back-to-back finishes of 6-10 and 2-7.

Within one year, Robinson had the Rams in the playoffs. Since then, he has brought them back five times. Robinson has been flexible enough to win with the whole gamut of team personalities: running teams, passing teams, teams that could play defense, teams that couldn’t. Management ought to be flexible enough to grant him one misfire.

Ironically, this might be one time legendary Ram stinginess works to Robinson’s favor. The coach’s contract runs through the end of the 1991 season.

Ram taste buds have never much cared for the act of eating contracts.