The Rams are on the clock – they have the No. 1 pick in the draft next month after a disastrous 1-15 campaign in 2009. It was, by almost any measure, the worst team in the history of Rams football, a history that began as the Cleveland Rams in 1937.
It’s also the third year in the worst stretch of football in franchise history. The Rams have are just 6-42 since 2007 and have looked worse each year along the way.
Hard to believe that the St. Louis Rams entered the last decade as a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut – a team poised to join the list of memorable dynasties, such as the 1960s Packers or 1970s Steelers.
Instead, the Rams go down in history as one of the few potential dynasties. These are the teams that had dynasty written all over them. Yet they were unable to last long enough to fulfill the so-called requirements of a dynasty: at three or more championships in a short span of time.
It’s a dramatic story in football lore: a series of bold moves by the organization, storybook ascensions in the press, and record-setting performances on the field, that made the Rams appear indestructible – only to be followed by sudden and unexpected disasters.
It’s ended with the pathetic organization we have today on the brink of the 2010 draft: a team as bad as any we’ve ever seen.
Here’s the short, concise history of the Dynasty that Almost Was.
The awful Rams of 1998
The 1998 Rams finished fourth in the NFC West, with a 4-12 record. The biggest problem for St. Louis was the quarterbacking situation. Tony Banks, a second round draft pick two years earlier, tossed just seven touchdowns against 14 interceptions.
The other signal callers on the 1999 Rams were Steve Bono, a 36-year-old journeyman on his sixth NFL team, who started two games (69.1 passer rating), and a 27-year-old nobody named Kurt Warner who completed 4 of 11 passes for just 39 yards.
As bad as the passing game was, the running game was even worse. The team leader was June Henley, who picked up 313 yards on 88 rushing attempts (3.6 YPA). Rookie Robert Holcombe, meanwhile, posted a team-high 98 carries despite his abysmal 2.3 YPA (230 yards total), one of the lowest single-season averages in NFL history.
Defensive end Kevin Carter recorded 12 sacks, the only bright spot on a defense that allowed 378 points, 25th in the 30-team NFL.
The 1998 Rams, in other words, couldn’t run the ball, couldn’t pass the ball, and couldn’t play defense.
Needless to say, fans were pessimistic entering the 1999 season.
1999: the storybook season
The Rams obviously needed help and they found it in many areas.
Head coach Dick Vermeil attempted to turn things around in the offseason when he signed free-agent quarterback Trent Green to a four-year deal in February. It provided a glimmer of hope: Green had tossed 23 touchdowns against just 11 interceptions for the Redskins in 1998 and was immediately slated in as the starter in 1999.
The team also traded for three-time Pro Bowl running back Marshall Faulk, who had accumulated a league-high 2,227 yards from scrimmage in 1998.
The draft provided another find: wide receiver Torry Holt was selected with the sixth overall pick.
Finally, Vermeil named Mike Martz the team's offensive coordinator. Martz had spent the previous two seasons with the Washington Redskins as Trent Green's personal coach and before that had worked with the Rams as a wide receivers coach, where he helped Isaac Bruce to blossom into one of the top receiving threats in the league.
Martz had studied the offenses of former Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman and former San Diego offensive mastermind Don Coryell. He created a new offense that would stretch the field with frequent five wide receiver sets.
