Rams Wring Out the Season : Pro football: They put the Saints in the playoffs by losing, 20-17, on field goal in the last seconds and finish 5-11.

The Rams played out the final moments of 1990 Monday night sticking loyally to their script.

If you’re going to spend the previous four months kicking away football games and getting used to under-achieving as a way of life, why should the last day of 1990 be any different?

They moved the ball on offense, but went long periods without moving it into the end zone. At times they played unyielding defense, but collapsed when it counted most.

They supplied most of the excitement, but watched as the New Orleans Saints beat them, 20-17, on a 24-yard field goal in the final moments to earn only their second playoff berth in franchise history, edging out the Dallas Cowboys.

The Rams, who entered this season expecting to challenge for a Super Bowl title, finished 5-11, in a tie for third place in the NFC West, owners of a top-five pick in the ’91 draft and plenty of bad memories.

As the game ended, the Superdome crowd threw confetti and the Rams could only wander off the field of celebration, pack up their things and think about doing a few script revisions for 1991.

“Our game tonight was pretty much like our season has been,” Coach John Robinson said. “We screw up a lot of details and deny ourselves any real chance to win because of some of the errors we made.

“And that really severely hurt us in this game. But we played hard, and I think we give evidence that we can be a good team next year.”

Indeed, on the scale of Ram losses, this one had the Rams thinking positively and looking into the near future with visions of greater things. As 1990 disappeared, the Rams insisted they had these reasons to believe in 1991:

--Running back Marcus Dupree got his first NFL start, showed no signs that this was his first major action in five years, and gained 42 yards in 13 carries against a keyed-up Saint defense.

“I didn’t do everything I wanted to do, but I did some of them,” Dupree said. “But I’m not satisfied. I want to dominate in this league.”

--Perhaps buoyed by owner Georgia Frontiere’s announcement last Friday that Robinson would continue as coach next year and almost certainly far beyond, the Rams played with a great deal more fire than they did during last week’s loss in Atlanta.

“I think this showed we’re not quitters,” defensive end Doug Reed said. “A lot of people expected us to roll over and let the Saints walk over us, but I don’t think we did that. We’ve got to carry that feeling into next season.”

That new bullishness was most clearly represented by the Rams’ final drive, an 81-yard, four-minute-plus effort that made the score 17-17 with less than two minutes to play. Fittingly, even the Rams’ best moments were not enough for victory.

--After the game, Robinson hinted that there will be changes, frequently mentioning that the team needed to be far more physically aggressive next year and that he would look to be much more aggressive pursuing the necessary ingredients to assure that.

And with the vague statement by Frontiere that Robinson would have more of a say in Ram personnel matters, Robinson might be able to make some major changes via the draft and the Plan B free agency.

Robinson, while refusing to speak specifically about what changes might be made (and also about what changes won’t be made) did not shy away from suggesting that Dupree could be a fairly big part of those new plans.

“Marcus Dupree, I was just very happy with his performance,” Robinson said. “He got off to a good start, played against one of the best run defenses in the league, and as you can see, he can really bring it.

“He’s a big, powerful runner, and I think that’s one of the chief goals that we’re going to set for next year, being able to run the football with power at people, to go with our passing game.”

In this game, as opposed to many of their recent disappointments, the Rams did have a dangerous passing game, with quarterback Jim Everett completing several long passes on his way to a 22-for-36 performance for 290 yards and two touchdowns.

Everett completed six passes that gained more than 25 yards, and, in a repeat of last season’s Ram comeback from a 17-3 fourth-quarter deficit in the Superdome to win in overtime, he rallied the Rams from a 14-3 fourth-quarter deficit to the brink of overtime.

But after Everett’s one-yard pass to Robert Delpino made the score 17-17, the Ram special teams and defensive units highlighted the differences between this Ram team and last season’s.

The special teams started it by yielding a 27-yard kickoff return by Gene Atkins off a short kick to the Saint 44, part of 181 return yards the Rams gave up. Then the Saints, who went into an offensive shell for most of the fourth quarter and were not the better for it, opened things up and let quarterback Steve Walsh open fire.

Walsh passed them down to the Ram 11, letting the clock run to eight seconds. Then, Ram defensive tackle Alvin Wright burst through the line to swat Pro Bowl kicker Morten Andersen’s 29-yard field goal try.

But of course, this was 1990, not 1989, and Wright was called for being offsides, Andersen got another try, this time from 24 yards, and no one burst through the line as he kicked the ball through to win the game.

Happy New Year. Unhappy Old Year.

“I’m definitely disappointed, but I’m glad that it’s over,” Ram receiver Flipper Anderson said. “Nineteen-ninety’s over, and get ready for ’91.”

Ram Notes

The Rams will pick either fourth or fifth in the first round of this year’s NFL draft. It’s the highest pick the Rams have had since 1983, when they drafted Eric Dickerson with the No. 3 pick overall. The Rams tied three other teams with a 5-11 record, and tied with the Broncos in strength of schedule, so they will flip a coin to determine who drafts fourth.

Also, the Rams unofficially finished third in the NFC West by virtue of a better net-points record within the division than the Atlanta Falcons (5-11). As the third-place team, the Rams, according to the NFL scheduling formula, have this 1991 non-division schedule: playing host to Tampa Bay, Minnesota, either Green Bay or Detroit, the the Raiders and Seattle; playing at Dallas, Washington, Phoenix, Kansas City and San Diego.

Linebacker Kevin Greene, left guard Tom Newberry and tight end Damone Johnson did not suit up. . . . Cornerback Latin Berry and tackle Robert Cox saw most of the action, replacing Darryl Henley and Irv Pankey.