Here you go:
Only three short weeks ago, this was a Rams season sliding down into an unsightly black hole.
Marred with injuries, pockmarked with the maddening sins of youth, tripped up by too many annoying pratfalls and frustrating mishaps to sufficiently catalog, coach Jeff Fisher’s second-year reconstruction project had turned from a quick flip into something a bit more complicated than expected.
Three weeks ago, this was another lost season drifting fast into next year.
Three weeks ago, there was shattered glass on the locker-room floor and a foreboding sense that a broken mirror was a harbinger of seven more weeks of bad luck.
But on Sunday afternoon inside the home locker room in the Edward Jones Dome, everything had changed.
There was loud music rattling off the walls, delirious teammates high-fiving, joking, hugging and dancing. There were players reveling in the glow of back-to-back dominant victories and imagining the possibilities of this green-but-growing team’s unexpected reversal of fortunes.
“I think we’re starting to believe,” said Rams quarterback Kellen Clemens after a stunning 42-21 victory over the Chicago Bears.
“I think we’re starting to understand what it takes to win football games,” said linebacker Jo-Lonn Dunbar.
Yes, it certainly does appear that something is finally clicking around here.
It’s still far too early to call it a breakthrough. Considering this season’s up-and-down personality shifts, it’s probably a bit premature to declare any lasting proclamations about where this season will ultimately end, too.
But maybe, just maybe, it’s OK to believe that these young Rams finally are moving in unison. Maybe, just maybe something has finally clicked. Maybe, just maybe, 11 weeks deep into the season, all the painful failures and inconsistent successes have matured this young team in time for a fascinating run through December.
Who are these 5-6 Rams, and what might they become over the course of the final five weeks of the season?
If you asked that question a few weeks ago in the face of that unsightly three-game losing streak, the answer seemed obvious. An underachieving lot that was on its way back to the top of the NFL draft’s first round next April.
But now?
Well now, you can at least consider the possibilities for a team that has just won its last two games by an average of 25 points.
Now you can look at the rather challenging schedule of opponents that are ahead — a 35-15 combined won-loss mark with only one team with a losing record — and considering the way the Rams are playing, December suddenly has gotten a lot more interesting, a lot more hopeful.
“I just think guys have that eye of the tiger,” said defensive end Robert Quinn, who keeps finding ways to look more unblockable with each week that goes by. “We have the talent and the coaches to make that run. Guys are continuing to believe. Now let’s see what happens.”
The Bears came to town tied for the NFC North lead, with a high-scoring offense.
And the Rams beat them by 21 points.
The Rams’ offense gained 258 yards rushing. The Rams’ defense at times looked like Bullies of the Broadway. They limited the Bears strong running game to 80 yards and kept Pro Bowler Matt Forte out of the end zone all day.
And just when the Bears threatened to make this game a bit too close for comfort in the fourth quarter, the Rams muscled up, manned up and played big boy football. All afternoon long, a sizable portion of the sold-out crowd of 66,024 were Chicago fans who were chanting “Let’s Go Bears” whenever it felt as if the visitors were starting to make this a competitive contest.
It was just like that with a little more than seven minutes to go, when Michael Bush scored a touchdown to cut the Rams’ lead to 27-21 and the Bears fans began to surge in their seats.
But the Rams’ offense took the field and even with starting tailback Zac Stacy on the sidelines for the entire second half because of a possible concussion, the Rams handed the ball to fellow rookie Benny Cunningham (13 carries, 109 yards) and he went to work behind a highly motivated offensive line and receiving corps that treats blocking as a passion.
“We wanted to impose our will on them,” said tight end Lance Kendricks.
“We wanted to eat up the clock,” said offensive tackle Jake Long.
Check and check.
Four minutes and 10 seconds later, the Rams had moved 80 yards and Cunningham was diving into the end zone, and with a 2-point conversion made it a 35-21 lead with 3:05 left.
It was classic, manly football.
There were so many things you saw on Sunday that made you think that a breakthrough finally has happened from top to bottom, offensive to defense, special teams to water boy.
Wondering whether the good times with Tavon Austin would continue?
That doubt was removed on the third play of the game with an imaginative play call from offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who designed a little wrinkle that caught the over-pursuing Bears defense by surprise when Austin came in motion from the right, took a hand off going left, then did a 180-degree spin move back to the right and dashed 65 yards down the sideline for a TD.
And oh yes, touched the ball five times on offense and special teams and was responsible for 139 yards and one touchdown.
And if you were wondering what players would step up on offense if the Bears tried to take Austin away with double teams, the answer was tight end Jared Cook (remember him?), who caught four passes for 80 yards and one touchdown.
“I think we’re starting to believe,” Clemens said. “As a whole, we’re starting to believe. We’re coming off a big win at Indianapolis ... there was no letdown. We didn’t come out flat coming off a bye week. A lot of times that happens. I think, again, that goes back to the veterans on this team, the offensive line, a lot of guys on defense leading this group and making sure we’re heading in the right direction.”
And what direction might that be?
All signs seem to be pointing up. This looks like a team that has finally figured out all the things that are required to win on a consistent basis in the NFL.
If you talk to enough people around this team, there was always this hope and expectation that things would have clicked a lot earlier.
“We put in a lot of work,” Clemens said. “We’ve gone through some stuff. Obviously you lose your starting quarterback, that’s tough. So I think the guys really appreciate the wins at this point and hopefully we can keep it going. It’s two games. They’re not handing us the Lombardi trophy any time soon. ... But I think we’ve found a little bit of a recipe here, not only in what we’re doing offensively and defensively, but also in how we’re working, how we’re preparing and hopefully we can keep that going.”
