Rams May Be Set Up for a Letdown

A sellout at Anaheim Stadium, the first of this football season and the first since Dec. 1, 1991, suggests two possibilities at play today, one of them more frightening than anything Bram Stoker ever conjured.

1. The San Francisco 49ers travel well.

2. The Orange County populous has become excited again about its football team.

If the second notion is true--and judging from this week’s talk-radio static, Rams 27, Dallas 23 has softened the wills of a good many never-againers--then be afraid, be very afraid, because you may remember what happened the last time the Rams won a huge game in an NFC East stadium before traveling west to play San Francisco the next Sunday.

49ers 30, Rams 3 happened.

It was the beginning of the end of the John Robinson era in Anaheim, and it was put into play by a scintillating 19-13 overtime victory over the New York Giants, in the Meadowlands, in the 1989 National Football Conference semifinals. Everett to Anderson, Anderson to the end zone, Anderson into the tunnel with 46 Rams closing in on his heels, lemming-like, high-fiving into the darkness and then over the cliff.

One step from the Super Bowl, the Rams were swatted back by the 49ers, shattering a once-this-century opportunity at the Vince Lombardi Trophy (Denver won the AFC that year) and the illusion that Ram-49er championship duels would become a 1990s tradition.

If that game was a crossroads for the Rams, subsequent meetings with the 49ers have been mere gas station stops--to pull out the road map, ask directions and, on occasion, change navigators.

Detour . The next time the Rams and 49ers played, in November, 1990, the Rams ended San Francisco’s bid for a perfect season at 10-0 with a 28-17 victory. Other than that, though, the significance stopped there. At 4-7, the Rams were already headed in the wrong direction and since that mind-blowing upset, they have not beaten another NFC West rival. Their record within the division since: 0-11.

Going south. The rematch in December, 1990, and both games in 1991 were San Francisco blowouts (average score: 49ers, 29-10), epitomizing the malaise that set in during back-to-back finishes of 5-11 and 3-13. By the second meeting of 1991, a 33-10 49er rout in late November, the Rams were six games into a season-ending 10-game losing streak and, for Robinson, the handwriting was on the bedsheet banners hanging from the upper decks of Anaheim Stadium.

The embarrassment was nationwide--ABC had included this dog on its Monday night schedule and couldn’t get out of it--with Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford speaking about Robinson in the past tense, in hushed tones, and wishing him well in his future endeavors.

Wishing itself well in its own future endeavors, too, ABC opted not to televise 49ers-at-Rams in 1992, breaking a three-year streak.

U-turn . Thirty-two months after taking his most infamous fall, on Candlestick Park soil, Jim Everett rose again in San Francisco. He didn’t win, but he should have--completing 20 of 24 passes, including two that were fatefully mishandled by tight end Jim Price, playing right into the hands of the 49ers.

What to make of an unexpectedly competitive three-point loss in San Francisco?

For weeks, the Rams themselves weren’t sure.

They followed it up with another three-point loss, inside the southern hostility of the Superdome, but more than progression, the game represented a throwback--to 1937. Keep the ball between the tackles, run on third and long, play four-corners offense and any team you want to name--New England, Seattle, UCLA--could also lose to New Orleans, 13-10.

Then came a 21-point victory over the Giants, which briefly transformed Anaheim into a place called Hope. College-educated Rams were seriously talking playoffs after this one when, in retrospect, it should have been taken with a Gibraltar of salt.

The Rams always beat the Giants, even in 1991, when the only other teams they beat were the Packers and the Chargers.

After that, the Rams lost by two points in Atlanta, blowing a fourth-quarter lead, and by six points at home to Phoenix, giving away two touchdowns on fumbles by Cleveland Gary. Ye Olde Rams, welcome back. Chuck Knox’s overhaul was stuck at 3-6, same as Robinson’s ’91 record after nine games, and was staring at a potential 3-9 with successive games against Dallas, San Francisco and Minnesota, otherwise known as Ram Rivals From Hell.

One game into the gantlet, however, the Rams are 1-0. The news from Dallas shocked a nation.

The Rams shut down Emmitt Smith.

Gary ran wild, and remembered to bring the football with him.

Everett threw all the bad old impressions out of his act--Dieter Brock, Steve Dils, Jeff Kemp--and tried out a new one:

Jim Everett, 1989.

Pre-San Francisco showdown.

That last modifier is the scary one, because the Rams have been here before, as have the 49ers, once again on line for a run at the Super Bowl. Some of the names have changed--Montana, Craig, Lott and Robinson are out; Young, Watters, Hall and Knox are in--but the situation going in seems very much the same.

The surprised-to-be-here Rams take stock against the let’s-get-on-with-it 49ers.

Once again, the road maps are out. And where are the Rams?

Last year’s model, merely jerry-rigged with duct tape and solder, fueled by a new set of coach’s cliches?

A 1994 playoff contender, convulsing now with monthly growth spurts?

All over the board--a too young, too emotional team dangerous to one and all and, especially, itself?

More than 67,000 have purchased tickets to gain a clue.

At least the Rams look interesting again, after two years of pass-the-TV-Guide. But if you go to the game, remember, for your own safety, today’s affair is strictly BYOB.

Bring your own blindfold.