Stan Kroenke has Made the Rams Into the NFL's "Joke" Franchise
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
We always hear of batons being passed in the NFL for the best teams. The Packers passed it to the Steelers, who passed it to the 49ers, who passed it to the Cowboys, who passed it to the Patriots, who still have it and will do anything to keep it.
But there is a baton being passed from team to team of being "the joke" franchise in the NFL. The Buccaneers had it for a long period of time until the mid-90's, and then it was Arizona..............and then Detroit.........and then to Oakland............and then now currently to Cleveland. Don't get me wrong, the Browns still have it as the 0-13 record speaks for itself. But right now, the Browns have hit rock bottom. They CAN'T be any worse than what they have now (of course, I say this and next week they take down San Diego). So you have to figure Cleveland should be on the upswing in 2017 and at least win a couple. But the stage is set for the baton to be passed to another team:
The Los Angeles Rams.
Bradford might have been the poster boy of the Rams downfall in St. Louis
Ironically, the seeds have been in place for the last few years when the Rams still resided in St. Louis. When Kroenke (who held 30% ownership of the Rams from the original move from Los Angeles to St. Louis), gained full ownership of the team in 2010, the team was already in rebuild mode. They had just selected Sam Bradford at #1 in 2010, and things were looking up. But a 2-14 season in 2011 sent Steve Spagnuolo packing, but it brought in Jeff Fisher, a head coach with great experience over in Tennessee. However, the Rams never won more than 7 games, draft picks (even with a king's ransom received in the trade with Washington for Robert Griffin) didn't pan out, there were never any signings to really bolster either side of the ball, and Bradford was always injured and was shipped to Philadelphia before the 2015 season for Nick Foles, who underachieved. What you got was a true mediocre football team that might have stolen a win here & there, but nothing for a threat.
Say what you will, but the draft picks were a mess. Janoris Jenkins and Todd Gurley were probably the best picks the Rams have done in this time, but the others have not panned out like imagined. No key free agent signings (Shaun Hill? Nick Fairley?) either and the ones who did weren't panning out. So it does beg the question, did Kroenke pull a Rachel Phelps off of Major League (RIP Margaret Whitton) and build a team bad enough to send the Rams to LA? People pointed the finger at Fisher for the picks and others pointed at Les Snead, the GM. To me, it is Kroenke that did it because he allowed it to go on for so long. So obviously, some questions beg given Roger Goodell's wet dream of having Los Angeles with a football team again was maybe the Rams would tank to the point of sending them out, but I am not about conspiracy theories. So the issue of the Rams crashing in St. Louis was directly on Kroenke where he made no attempt to improve the team in any manner.
Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis was nicely filled, but it was crazy insane in the Rams first 10 years in St. Louis.
For anybody who never went to St. Louis from 1995-2015 probably doesn't think of the place being a great football town. But early on, even when the Rams were bad, fans packed Edward Jones Dome and it got very crazy when the Rams had "The Greatest Show on Turf" with Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, and Torry Holt and were one of the most popular NFL franchises from 1999-2005. So it was never about fans packing it in. However, Kroenke knew the team wasn't packing it in for the last few seasons in St. Louis and already made a strong power play for the Rams to move back to LA for..............money of course. Kroenke got his wish and sent the Rams to Los Angeles.
Now the Rams entered back to the LA with great fanfare and it riled up the city. I remembered seeing much hoopla about it, especially with the Rams lone star, running back Todd Gurley featured on everything. This was it: the Rams would be BACK.
The Rams are 1-9 in their last 10 games this season.
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
Oiy. As of this post, the Rams are 4-10, losing 9 of the last 10, the offense has crashed, the defense is falling apart, Fisher was canned after the Atlanta Falcons drubbed them 42-14. And nothing has worked at all. Worse, it probably isn't going to be much better on a few fronts: Snead is still there, making questionable draft picks (Michael Sam anybody?). Jared Goff, whom many scouts believed he would be a flop out of Cal (a possible "product of the system" college quarterback similar to the other QB, Case Keenum). Gurley hasn't rushed for over 100 yards in a game this year and is very likely to not break 1,000 yards this year. The team is ranked 29th in total offense and 31st in rushing. Defensively they are middle-of-the-pack, but it doesn't say a whole lot either, especially when the offense is tanking.
The Rams fired Jeff Fisher, only a week after they gave him a 2-year contract extension. People were yelling about the extension decision given Fisher has underperformed in his time with the Rams. It is feeling like a bit of the Matt Millen Lions Era where William Clay Ford kept Millen around for 8 seasons while the team was just putrid every year and it was only when his own son got involved and told his dad to fire Millen. Kroenke probably was under pressure from not just fans, but people within the organization to fire him. Which makes me, and probably others wonder, what exactly does Kroenke know about running a professional football team?
The Avalanche are slowly becoming NHL's joke. How about a 10-1 loss to Montreal?
Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
People will point that Kroenke runs the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. Yes, he was the owner when the Avs won the Cup in 2001 (though Kroenke bought the Avs in 2000 and all the pieces were in place for a run to a second Cup), but since 2002, the Avs have been a middle-tier NHL squad and this year have been the NHL's bottom feeders. Their "face" of the Avs throughout the entire tenure in Denver pretty much, Patrick Roy, stepped down as coach and GM/VP because he didn't have a lot of input anymore.........and that is an ownership thing. As for the Nuggets, they are also a middle-tier NBA team since Kroenke owned them. Yes, they had a nice run from 2004-09 with Carmelo Anthony there, but maybe Carmelo was onto something when he wanted out of Denver. The Nuggets didn't get anywhere with Anthony, save 09 when they made it to the Western Conference Finals. They haven't made the playoffs in the last 3 seasons and looks like a 4th season as well. And really I don't see a whole lot of hope stemming out of either team. The days of Sakic, Forsberg, and Foote are long gone. The days of Carmelo, Billups, Camby, etc. are long gone too. There isn't anything brimming with great hope out in the Mile High City under Kroenke.
I remember as the Fisher firing happened, a few of the personalities on the local radio station believed all Kroenke is about is money. He has no care in the world about the actual success of the teams. He is going to get a lavish new stadium for the Rams in 2019, thanks in part to the NFL. But until then he is in the Coliseum. Yes, the Rams have done well in attendance in the Coliseum since arriving and I am glad the LA fans have their team back, but what is going to happen if the Rams are 3-13 next season and/or the season after? You're talking about the 2nd most populated city in the country. I get the fact the place is really a college venue and doesn't have the same amenities as places like Dallas or New York right now, but still. If the Rams continue to go south in the record like they might end up, the place might look like this:
Los Angeles Rams, circa 1993-1994. They were awful and fans didn't want to see an awful product, especially when they were St. Louis bound.
The Rams in their last few seasons in LA in the 90's were horrible. An argument could have been that they were the joke of the league back then as well (and might have been THE joke). Fans didn't want to show up because they were not winning at all. Yes, I know fans are coming out now and there is a state-of-the-art stadium coming soon, but if the team continues to flop for the next few years, what will the new stadium look like after the newness wears off? This? If that is the case, then this whole Los Angeles experiment blows up in the NFL's face. Not just Kroenke's.
And the thing is, I don't think Kroenke cares. He will be counting his money from his other products and not have a care in the world what the Rams do as long as there is a profit to be made as wins don't really matter. Former Ram Janoris Jenkins has come out and said Kroenke refuses to fraternize with the players on the team he owned and has instructed the players NOT to look at him. Silly, but I could see that happening. What kind of owner would do that to the players? As much garbage as Jerry Jones gets in Dallas, he does actually care about his players. Robert Kraft is similar in New England. And you have other owners that will do as much for the players. But Kroenke? Something isn't right with the guy.
Sooner or later, whether it is the Coliseum or the new stadium, if the Rams continue on this track, they will be the biggest joke of the NFL and even the rejuvenated fans in Los Angeles will not come out for very long. And when the new stadium is empty after the 3rd or 4th year, what becomes of the Rams? Will they fold tent and head back elsewhere to St. Louis again?
So, congratulations Los Angeles fans, you might have gotten your Rams back, but prepare being the NFL's butt of jokes for the next few years.
-Fan in the Obstructed Seat
