PRO FOOTBALL: RAMS 14, ARIZONA CARDINALS 12 : Beuerlein Takes Responsibility for Cardinal Loss : Football: With plenty of chances to pass off the blame, quarterback calls his own number.

Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback Steve Beuerlein took that long, slow, walk normally reserved for Ram quarterbacks. You know it, that helmet-in-hand, dirge of a stroll to the losers’ locker room.

There were plenty of things to think about after the 14-12 loss to the Rams on Sunday. Mainly, how could a team so many predict will go to the playoffs lose to a team so many predict is going nowhere--except Baltimore, St. Louis or Hartford, Conn.?

By the time Beuerlein had showered, he was ready to point a finger--at himself.

“You can go down the list and ask what happened, what happened, what happened?” said Beuerlein, a Servite High graduate. “The bottom line is I didn’t play the way I needed to play.”

It was a painful statement of the obvious.

Beuerlein was an all-too-familiar figure at Anaheim Stadium, one Ram fans have seen before. He overthrew receivers. He underthrew receivers. He appeared to panic under pressure.

At times he looked more like Jim Everett than Everett himself. Only difference was Beuerlein was taking the blame.

Never mind there were others around to shoulder the burden.

Wide receiver Ricky Proehl dropped a sure touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. He was open on the 10-yard line, but the ball bounced off his hands.

So there was Proehl to blame.

“I don’t know what happened exactly,” Beuerlein said. “I heard he had a chance to make the play. Ricky makes that play nine times out of 10. I didn’t see the play, I was on my back.”

So there was the offensive line to blame.

“I had people in my face, but that would be putting it on someone else,” Beuerlein said. “The Rams played more man-to-man than we expected. They blitzed a few more times than we expected.”

So there were the Rams to blame.

“That was nothing major,” Beuerlein said. “I had chances to make plays and I didn’t.”

So we’re back to Square 1. There was Beuerlein to blame.

The numbers support that. Beuerlein was 18 of 40 for 158 yards with two passes intercepted. This against a secondary that quarterbacks feasted on during the exhibition season.

“There were guys open and I’ve got to make the throws,” Beuerlein said. “I didn’t.”

And he deteriorated as the game went on.

The Cardinals had possession three times in the fourth quarter, trailing, 14-12. All they needed was a field goal. But Beuerlein was one of seven in the final quarter.

He did get the Cardinals to the Ram 34 early in the quarter. On first down he underthrew Proehl, who had beaten Todd Lyght deep. On second down, Beuerlein’s pass in the flat was intercepted by Keith Lyle.

“He threw some good passes and he threw some that hit the ground,” Coach Buddy Ryan said. “He’s like everybody else, he’s hit and miss.”

Actually, Beuerlein had only one that was really a hit, a three-yard touchdown pass to Lance Centers in the third quarter. It pulled the Cardinals to within two, 14-12. But glee was fleeting.

The Cardinals went for two points. Beuerlein was chased from the pocket and his pass landed near the brass section of the Ram band.

“I don’t know how many hook patterns I bounced in the dirt,” he said. “There were two to Gary Clark and one to Randall Hill. He was 20 yards away from me and no one was between us and I bounced it in the dirt. You can’t explain that stuff.”

Nor could he explain the five times the Cardinals were in Ram territory in the first half, and the mere six points they had to show for it. Beuerlein misfired four times with third-down passes and the Cardinals had to settle for two Greg Davis field goals.

“You have to give the Rams credit for making big plays,” Beuerlein said. “But I also have to look in the mirror.”