Heartbreak Kids Again Just Go Through Motions
U nconventional wisdom for a Monday morning . . .
Vikings 20, Rams 14: December in Minnesota, a date with the Vikings. Once, these games meant absolute heartbreak for the Rams; now, they can’t even break the tedium. Just another loss, just another X scrawled across another Sunday, just another week until we all get to go home and look for new jobs. Joe Kapp, Chuck Foreman, Fran Tarkenton, Bobby Bryant--Ram fans who remember them only thought they had a Ph.D. in Applied Torture and Masochism. All the way around, this season has been a re-education.
John Robinson: He will leave with a record of 1-4 against the Vikings. Chuck Knox, who was fired, in part, for his inability to beat the Vikings, was 2-4-1.
Jim Everett: In a six-point game, he throws a career-high four interceptions and fumbles away a center snap in the final minute. “And on your way out, John, please don’t forget to tip the doorman.”
The center snap: Basic, yes. Simple, not with these Rams. Because Tom Newberry and Everett could not complete a six-inch handoff, the Rams lost games to Phoenix and Minnesota and jump-started Atlanta’s ignition in last week’s 31-14 humiliation. If you can’t snap the ball, you can’t move the ball--and if you can’t snap the ball in Week 16 of a 17-week season, you have problems that run deeper than a presumed lack of talent. As the Rams prepare their search for a new coach, a question: Does Jim Otto make the short list?
3-12: Already the Rams have matched the franchise record for most losses in a single season; the ’62 Rams (1-12-1) were the only other group to go down for a dozen. The nine-game losing streak ties another single-season record, shared by the 1937 and 1941 Rams. But over a span of two seasons, the 1937-38 Rams lost 12 games in succession. The 1991-92 Rams? Mission not improbable.
Oct. 13, 1991: On that day, the Rams beat the San Diego Chargers to even their record at 3-3. And within two months, the Soviet Union also crumbled.
Buddy Ryan: Can you picture him accepting sideline hugs and kisses from Georgia Frontiere? Can you picture him coddling Everett after a four-interception afternoon? Can you picture him flipping through the Plan B catalogue, pointing here and pointing there, and getting told no every time by John Shaw? Can you picture him winning a playoff game? Philadelphia couldn’t, which is why Buddy’s available today. Once, Ryan was the solution in Anaheim, but then, the first name was Nolan.
Chuck Knox: He’ll get you to the playoffs--but not the Super Bowl. He’ll win games--but not many admirers of the process. He’ll throw everything he has into his defense--and throw darts when it comes to offense. It was true in 1977 and it’s true in 1991, but then it cost Knox a job with the Rams and now it might gain him one. So what’s changed in the past 14 years? It isn’t Knox.
Rams at Seahawks: When’s the last time a team showcased its head coach for an opponent?
New England Patriots: A year ago, the Patriots were as rancid an organization as there was in professional sports. Now, they stand as the model for NFL franchises aspiring to climb out of the gutter and make something of themselves. Note to the Rams: They did it by rebuilding from the top down--first at club president (Sam Jankovich), then at head coach (Dick MacPherson), then at offensive and defensive coordinator (Dick Coury and Joe Collier). The players, and the will to play, came much later.
Hugh Millen: A Ram reject, he’s now the quarterback of the hour, and the future, in Foxboro. At 6-9, he’s won twice as many games as the quarterback the Rams kept.
“Sell The Team”: The homemade signs became a staple at Anaheim Stadium this football season. Following the Wally Joyner debacle and the Angels’ aimless march through Miami, the unfurling could become a year-round event.
Kirk McCaskill: Joyner was only the lead domino. His departure fired a flare before the rest of the Angels and now McCaskill, who called Joyner’s jump to Kansas City “a tragic day for the Angels,” appears to be the next to leave, bound for Baltimore. A week ago, McCaskill and Kyle Abbott figured as the Angels’ fourth and fifth starters in 1992. Now? Rick Sutcliffe and Bert Blyleven?
Dick Schofield: He’s also good as gone, as if the Angels mind. He’s as good as gone, just as soon as he finds a market for $2 million-a-year .220-hitting shortstops.
Kyle Abbott: Apparently, he was Untouchable With an Asterisk. When the Angels were dying in July for a fifth starter and were offered Ron Darling, among others? “Abbott’s untouchable.” When homerless Von Hayes and his 21 RBIs are dangled in December? “Can we gift-wrap that for you?”
AL West: Minnesota is the defending World Series champion. Chicago is ready to take the next step forward. Oakland is still Oakland. Seattle/St. Pete has Kevin Mitchell, Ken Griffey Jr. and Jay Buhner. Kansas City has Joyner, George Brett and Kevin McReynolds. Texas has the best lineup in baseball. The only sure thing for ’92 is who finishes seventh.
Mater Dei 35, Eisenhower 14: Amateur hour was Anaheim Stadium’s finest hour all year. It took 49 weeks, but something exciting finally happened.