Farewells Abound in Kingdome

For one night, for this final night, Seattle’s Kingdome was a hall of confusion for all who walked off the field wearing blue and gold and dragging 3-13 with them.

The Rams’ present had become their past.

The Rams’ past could become their future.

And as for the future, no Ram could be sure of anything--not their jobs, not their addresses--except for the fact that John Robinson won’t be present.

The Robinson Era ended Sunday, sadly and somberly, with another error, a 23-9 walk-through against the Seattle Seahawks. That makes 10 consecutive Ram defeats, a single-season record for this franchise, although Robinson stopped counting a while back. He administered his own pain-killer Wednesday when he announced his resignation as head coach and his players, picking up on the theme, said goodby with four final quarters of numbness.

Farewell hung in the air this evening, and not exclusively above horned heads. Sunday, the clock was also ticking on Chuck Knox, the Seattle coach who hasn’t resigned but will be gone any day now, just as soon as Seahawk owners Ken Behring and Ken Hofmann agree on the site of the press conference.

GOOD BYE CHUCK read one banner hanging in the Kingdome’s second deck.

GOOD LUCK CHUCK! THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES! read another.

Knox is out-bound because the Seahawks failed to make the playoffs for the third consecutive year, although if Robinson had Knox’s record this season--7-9--he’d be planning for Plan B today.

Knox is too conservative is what they’re saying in Seattle.

Knox will win you seven or eight or nine of the little ones but never the big one--that’s the sentiment in the Seattle front office now.

Same as the sentiment that swept through the Rams’ front office in 1977, sweeping Knox and his five NFC West titles all the way to Buffalo.

Fourteen years later, could they be planning a comeback?

As hot NFL rumors go, Knox-to-the-Rams is No. 2 on the charts, right behind everybody’s favorite, Buddy Ryan-to-the-Rams. Rationale: Knox always got along with Georgia Frontiere--it was Georgia’s husband, the late Carroll Rosenbloom, who couldn’t stop yawning--and Knox has already turned around three NFL losers, the 1972 Rams included. Better rumors have been founded on a lot less and one of the jokes going around the press box Sunday had Knox boarding the Ram team plane after the game.

Knox refused to address that possibility, or much of anything else, in what will have to rank as one of the shortest farewell speeches on record.

Knox thanked his players for “battling hard,” his defense for “making the plays” and said he thought the Rams played hard. As for the future, Knox said “I’m just going to enjoy this one tonight. It’ll make Christmas with my 3-year-old granddaughter a little more pleasant.”

A Seahawk publicist then announced that the team had awarded Knox the game ball, prompting tears to well in the coach’s eyes. Knox raised his right hand and walked away from the podium. “Listen,” he told the room, “I appreciate you guys and everything you had to do with . . . “ but the thought was never finished.

In the visitor’s locker room, the Knox question was broached, if gingerly, with Robinson.

“He’s been a great coach for a lot of years and his teams have always had class,” Robinson said. “(The Seahawks) have had ups and downs, you know, like all of us in this business.. . .

“So much is made of things that I think people and the quality of people sometimes gets forgotten in this league (and) maybe in all our society right now. Chuck’s a great guy.”

And how did Robinson feel about the prospect of such a great guy replacing him in Anaheim?

“I won’t even bother to comment on that.”

It was an awkward moment after a very awkward season, a horrible conclusion to Robinson’s nine years with the Rams, six of which had ended during the postseason. The crash was complete--from NFC final to 3-13 in 23 months--and Robinson’s mood was predictably terse, but he was able to muster a few moments’ worth of perspective.

“The thing I’m focusing on (is) the Henry Ellards and the Jackie Slaters and the Kevin Greenes and all those people,” Robinson said. “Jim Everett. All these people who have been on this team, they tried their best, and we have shared a lot of great times together.

“And even the times that aren’t good, we’ve shared together. I think there’s a divisiveness that can be there when things are not so good, (when) people are always trying to talk about, ‘Well, I confess, it’s somebody else.’ I would like to believe we got through this year with a minimum of finger pointing.”

Slater, the veteran offensive tackle, the only Ram old enough to have played for Knox and Robinson, returned the sentiment.

“It was very difficult to see him lose, to see him go out this way,” Slater said, “because we as a football team have a lot of respect for him. It’s very difficult to part with teammates after you’ve been playing with them for years and years, and it’s also difficult when it’s a coach who’s been with you for nine years.”

Slater said Robinson, in his final postgame speech, was “just his same old self. He didn’t have any complaints. He said he was proud to have been associated with us and didn’t point any fingers. He’s the ultimate gentleman, in my opinion.”

Slater suspects Robinson will coach somewhere again, and Knox, too. In Anaheim? Slater said he wouldn’t mind. “I remember him as a fine coach and a hell of a guy,” Slater said. “But first of all, I have to decide whether or not I want to play again. I’m going to take a few weeks, make a decision and see if that coincides with the Rams’ (decision).”

And he won’t be alone, even if Slater’s teammates may not realize it yet. As Everett noted, “There might be a lot of guys out of jobs besides Coach Robinson.”

Change is coming and change, Slater says, “is never easy. It’s always uncomfortable. For everybody involved, it’s going to be a challenge.”

Knox or Ryan? The Rams can probably guess which path will be less uncomfortable.