A FAST FADE

It was an ordinary lunchtime Thursday at Rams Park, except for one thing.

All the televisions were tuned to the same show.

From the training room to the players lounge and even the media workroom, every screen showed the St. Louis Rams dominating the Minnesota Vikings in last season’s playoff game--a wild 49-37 victory in which the Rams scored five consecutive touchdowns and led by as many as 32 points.

Coach Mike Martz said it wasn’t his doing, but clearly someone slipped that tape in as a not-so-subliminal reminder of the way this team once played.

“I just happened to walk in the training room and it was on,” quarterback Kurt Warner said. “The subtleness of that, how we played last year, how we dominated, can be a confidence boost.”

Fast-forward to today.

This time, the Vikings have the best record in the NFL at 11-2 and the Super Bowl champion Rams are reeling at 8-5, fighting just to make the playoffs after losing five of their last seven games.

“You feel a little bit of pressure,” Warner said. “But really you kind of thrive on it.

“When your back’s against the wall and you know there’s a lot riding on the game, that’s what you get excited about.”

Incredible as it sounds, any combination of three Ram losses or New Orleans Saint victories will give the NFC West title to the Saints and leave the Rams scrambling for a wild-card spot. At the moment, they wouldn’t qualify.

“I guess I don’t even think about missing the playoffs,” Warner said. “I expect to be there.

“We just need to get that spark back, that confidence, that swagger we had last year that it doesn’t matter what happens. We’re going to win the football game, no matter what.”

The Rams’ famous offense sputtered to only a field goal in a 16-3 loss to Carolina last week, even with Warner returning from a broken pinkie finger that cost him five games.

It’s not the defense’s fault anymore, and the injury trouble has largely subsided with Warner and Marshall Faulk back in the lineup.

The Rams’ biggest problem, pure and simple, is turnovers.

They have 14 in the last three games, all losses, and their minus-nine turnover margin is the sixth worst in the NFL.

Warner, who never had thrown more than two interceptions in a game, threw four against Carolina.

Az Zahir-Hakim, a dangerous punt returner and one of a collection of speedy receivers, lost two fumbles. Receiver Torry Holt lost one too. So did Warner.

How decisive has the fumbling problem been?

The Rams are 7-0 when they haven’t lost a fumble.

They are 8-1 when they lose one or don’t fumble at all.

And they are 0-4 when they lose two or more.

“Ball security, we all started in Pop Warner, you know?”said Hakim, who played at Fairfax High and San Diego State. “Cover up the ball.”

Martz cuts Hakim a little slack.

“The thing with Az, he probably has a bit of an excuse because he had not practiced for a couple of weeks because his knee had been drained,” Martz said. “But he has practiced this week, catching the ball, putting it away. You have to catch it in practice. You can’t just do it in a game.”

Hakim understands.

“This is definitely a big one for us. I know it, the team knows it,” he said.

The irony of the Rams’ fumbling trouble is they have two of the great non-fumblers in the NFL: Receiver Isaac Bruce has fumbled only five times in his seven-year career, and Faulk, as much as he touches the ball, has only two fumbles in two seasons as a Ram.

“The thing about that is just protect the football, plain and simple. No matter what,” Bruce said. “When I see guys get too close, I put it away even tighter, because you’re not going to beat anybody turning the ball over.”

There are other nagging issues.

Is Warner really the same?

Despite missing five games, he has thrown 14 interceptions this season--one more than he did all last season. Only two quarterbacks who play regularly have a worse interception percentage than he does--Ryan Leaf and Troy Aikman.

“I feel a little bit of pressure to come out and play better than I did last week,” Warner said. “I made some throws that weren’t where I wanted to put them.”

He says the injury isn’t the problem, though he feels his hand has regained more strength in the past week, giving him better control of the ball.

“It wasn’t bad a week ago, but I could just tell it was getting better,” he said.

“I feel as good as I felt before I got injured, and I expect to play that way.”

Another issue is the productivity of Faulk, who returned quickly from arthroscopic knee surgery, coming back against Washington last month only two weeks after the procedure.

He has made a solid contribution running the ball and catching passes, but he hasn’t been the focal point of the offense he usually is.

The Rams haven’t asked a lot of Faulk in the running game, giving him only nine, eight and 15 carries since he returned.

“Marshall’s getting his legs back to the strength he needs to carry the ball,” Martz said.

The Rams’ caution is showing. Since Faulk’s return, the Rams have averaged only 59 yards rushing--less than half the 125 yards they averaged before his injury.

They’ve averaged only 13 rushing attempts the last few games, which raises another statistic: The Rams are 7-0 this season when they have more than 20 rushing attempts--and 1-5 when they rush 20 or fewer times.

Martz chooses to focus not on Faulk’s carries, but his touches--carries and receptions. After having as many as 32 touches in games before the procedure on his knee, he has had only 18, 10 and 20 since his return.

“I think we need to mix him in there a little more. He needs to touch the ball, either running it or catching it, 20, 27 times,” Martz said.

Frustrated by problems with kickoff returns since Tony Horne’s injury, Martz even is considering using Faulk in that role in a pinch, despite the risk.

Faulk is willing. Asked if his knee can handle more demands, his answer was ready.

“There’s only one way to find out,” he said.

The same can be said of the Rams’ playoff prospects. Three games left--against Minnesota, Tampa Bay and New Orleans.

The Rams, miss the playoffs?

“Nah,” Hakim said. “I totally believe we’re still the team to beat. As long as we get back to playing Rams football, get this win on Sunday, take it one game at a time, things look good for us.”

Bruce is confident too.

“I’m very confident,” he said. “The only games we’ve lost are the ones we’ve turned it over. Nobody’s lined up and beat us yet.”

The record shows five losses.

“I think we’re all anxious to redeem ourselves,” Martz said.