Rams Lose a Game of Shirts and Skins : Washington: Redskins look the part of winners; Rams wear the look of a team that has lost its way.

Clothes made the men who clinched first place and last place at Anaheim Stadium Sunday afternoon.

In the Washington Redskins’ locker room, you could tell the winners by the T-shirts stretched across their chests. Printed beneath a burgundy and gold helmet were three lines of type:

REDSKINS

CHAMPIONS

NFC East Division

Finally. One by one, the Redskins tried them on and, sure enough, the shirts fit. Delivery came a week later than expected, the shirts having been kept in cardboard by decree of the Dallas Cowboys and last Sunday’s perfection rejection defeat.

In the Rams’ locker room, there were no new shirts. No old ones, either. For three months now, the Rams have given the shirts off their backs to the rest of the NFL and Sunday, they gave again, gave till it hurt, gave till they had guaranteed their first last-place finish in the NFC West since 1982.

The final score was 27-6, not bad, all things considered.

To be considered:

--A 12-1 Redskin team that ran through its first 11 opponents but couldn’t run a lick against the Cowboys, culminating in a 24-21 defeat that left the Redskins less than immortal, more than annoyed and certain to vent their irritation against the unlucky saps who happened to draw them next on the schedule.

--Those unlucky saps, the 3-10 Rams, who have absolutely nothing left to play for, not even the continued employment of their head coach, John Robinson. After seven consecutive defeats, with Atlanta, Minnesota and Seattle still to come, the only way Robinson figures to return in 1992 is if he buys the team.

That wouldn’t solve all the Rams’ problems, but it would definitely take care of one.

In the Redskins’ fitting room, the winners were asked to assess the losers, on the assumption that with the best record in professional football comes knowledge, insight and wisdom.

“I don’t know,” said Matt Millen, the veteran linebacker. “It’s hard to understand. It seems the front office doesn’t allow them to get the players they need--or is that just the convenient thing to say?

“To me, it seems that people are never content over there. Exactly what that means, I don’t know, but it does say something.”

Two years ago, after receiving his release from the Raiders, it said enough to Millen that he talked with the Rams, worked out with the Rams, received an offer from the Rams--and signed with the 49ers.

Millen got another Super Bowl ring out of the deal, his third, with potentially a fourth on the way with Washington. And the Rams? After losing to Millen’s 49ers in the 1989 conference championship game, the Rams have lost 21 of 29 regular-season games--and, in the weeks ahead, probably a head coach as well.

“My heart goes out to John Robinson,” Millen said. “I’ve always liked him as a person. I’ve always liked him as a coach. But it looks like he’s got a tough road ahead of him now.”

For Robinson, this week’s performance wasn’t the kind that severs working relationships, but it wasn’t the kind that salvages them, either. Just another second helping of the standard Sunday special, exasperation.

The Rams outrushed the Redskins, 97 yards to 84.

The Rams had more first downs, 16 to 15.

Jim Everett passed for 201 yards and didn’t have an interception.

Subtotals: Two field goals by Tony Zendejas and a three-touchdown margin of defeat.

“Today’s game was kind of a synopsis of their whole year,” Millen said. “They had their chances, didn’t convert them and just got beat.

“You can’t understand why it happens. You just have to try to find a way to play through it.”

Someone asked Millen if he thought the Rams were still playing hard.

Millen grinned and pointed a thumb at the questioner. “Boy, he’s trying hard, isn’t he?” he said. “Of course they’re playing hard.”

To broach the quit question is to breach the unspoken code of ethics of the locker room. Redskin offensive tackle Jim Lachey agreed wholeheartedly--the Rams are still playing hard, the Rams are still playing hard--but acknowledged that the sensation is different, at 12-4, than it is at 4-12.

Lachey knows about 4-12. He finished there with the San Diego Chargers one season--”and we led the NFL in offense that year. We were in a lot of games. Most of them came down to us getting beat by a touchdown.”

The challenge in San Diego then, as it is in Anaheim now, was the motivation to plug through December, but Lachey claimed it didn’t take much imagination to find some.

“It’s a tough situation,” he said, “but as a professional football player, you have a lot of pride. You have pride in your job--and you want to keep your job. If you’re eliminated from the playoffs early, you’ve still got to show management, ‘Hey, I’ve got a future here.’ ”

Lachey held up his right hand, his thumb and index finger scarcely an inch apart.

“In the NFL, this much separates the great teams from average teams,” Lachey said. “All around the league, the talent level is so close. It comes down to who’s clicking on all cylinders and who’s not.”

The Rams have seen the destination and it was the enemy Sunday afternoon. Where Washington’s at is where the Rams want to be.

Now, about the vehicle. Can’t get there from here by hitchhiking.