Rams Not Done, They Just Look Like It : Pro football: Next up is Tampa Bay, and questions abound--about the starting quarterback, the coach and the franchise’s future home.

If the New York Giants finish at 7-9, including a victory over Philadelphia, which would also have to go 7-9, they get the tie-breaking nod over Atlanta, Green Bay and Arizona--assuming each closes at 7-9--and then all the Rams have to do is win three games in a row for the first time since 1989 to gain the tie-breaking edge on New York and advance to the playoffs as the NFC’s final wild-card entry.

Of course, the Rams’ grueling schedule works against them. This week they must play Tampa Bay.

The Buccaneers--repeat, the Buccaneers--are favored to defeat the Rams in Sunday’s Relocation Bowl in Tampa.

“They won two in a row, so they’re playing good,” said Ram quarterback Chris Chandler. “You can’t say, ‘Oh, we’re playing Tampa . . . ‘ “

No, the Rams really can’t say that about any team these days. The Rams have lost 47 of their last 65 games, and the Monday morning excuses have become as lame as their performance in Sunday’s 31-15 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

“We got behind the eight-ball,” said Ram quarterback Chris Miller. “And we were too far behind to come back.”

And just how frustrated is this team?

“That’s kind of a weekly question, I guess,” Miller said. “You can just say we’re more frustrated this week than we were last week.”

Another weekly question: Who starts at quarterback for the Rams?

“We’re going to wait and see what the health situation is on both of the quarterbacks,” Coach Chuck Knox said.

Miller, who is 2-7 as a starter, landed on his head after rookie Wayne Gandy missed a block on Saint defensive end Wayne Martin. Miller left the game and it was announced he had suffered a concussion, his second of the season.

Miller said Monday, however, that he was “dinged,” and that doesn’t qualify as a concussion.

“I was dinged, rattled for a minute,” said Miller, who sat out three games after suffering his first concussion against New Orleans the first time the Rams played the Saints. “My neck’s a little stiff, but my head’s clear and I’m feeling fine.”

So does Miller expect to start this week?

“I would anticipate it, yeah,” he said.

Does Chandler, who is 2-2 as a starter, think he deserves the opportunity to start?

“I’m not going to answer that,” he said.

And why not?

“I don’t want to,” Chandler said.

Chandler, who took a painkilling shot for bruised ribs before Sunday’s game, has been sidelined with a sore ankle. If ready to play, there is no doubt he remains the coaching staff’s preferred candidate.

“I have no idea what they’re thinking at all,” said Chandler, who becomes a free agent at season’s end. “Being certain about things always makes you feel better, that’s for sure.”

Uncertainty, though, will shadow the Rams for the rest of the season. Who is the team’s long-term choice at quarterback? Will Knox be back next season to make such a decision? Will the team be back in Anaheim next year? Just what has happened to this team?

“I would say I’m disappointed, because my expectations were high going into the season, based on the fact that we had turned around three other programs,” Knox said. “But I don’t have a particular answer for why . . . “

Therein may lie the answer.

“I would like to win all three (remaining games) and finish as strongly as we can,” Knox said. “I think we can win the last three games. I think we’re capable of that.”

Then it’s just up to the Giants, Eagles, Falcons, Packers and Cardinals to cooperate.