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Rams’ Accountability Begins and Ends With Kroenke
Posted by: Bernie Miklasz
http://www.101sports.com/2015/11/15/rams-accountability-begins-and-ends-with-kroenke/
Under normal circumstances, the Rams’ 37-13 stink bomb of a loss to the visiting Chicago Bears would fire up a heated conversation about the future of head coach Jeff Fisher.
This horrendous flop destroyed any momentum generated by a modest two-game winning streak that briefly placed the Rams on the good side of .500 with a 4-3 record.
The favorable trend continued for a little while longer last weekend, with the Rams taking a five-point lead into halftime at Minnesota. But the Rams couldn’t close it out, and lost 21-18 in overtime. Then came Sunday’s embarrassment at The Edward Jones Dome, with the Bears going all Holly Holm in kicking around the home team in a 24-point blowout.
The beatdown made a mockery of the Rams’ alleged status as a postseason contender,
After being up on Minnesota, and with the 3-5 Bears coming up next on the schedule, the Rams had an opportunity to take that 4-3 record and move it up to 6-3. This is what happened instead: after leading the Vikings by five at the half, the Rams have been outscored 48-16, dropped two games in a row, and are back on the wrong side of .500 with a 4-5 record.
This downturn fits the familiar Fisher pattern as Rams’ coach.
Show some improvement … create a buzz … set off the usual chirping about a “breakthrough” … raise the hopes of a tormented fan base … crank up expectations … and it all comes tumbling down.
False starts, false hope. Another cruel tease job that makes us feel frustrated and foolish for taking the Rams seriously.
The pattern was formed at the outset, beginning with his hiring in 2012. After all, this is a coach that went a respectable 14-17-1 in his first two seasons after inheriting the sorriest collection of losers in the NFL –a team that had gone 15-65 in the previous five seasons.
Fisher’s first two seasons weren’t successful in the optimal sense; the Rams didn’t post a winning record or make the playoffs. But when the five-season winning percentage of .188 is followed by .435 winning percentage over Fisher’s first 32 games, that’s progress. And it spurred optimism.
We should know better.
Follow the pattern.
After an encouraging upturn in 2012-2013, the Rams’s record has gotten worse since the start of the 2014 season.
They have 10 wins and 15 losses for a .400 winning percentage.
So let’s go back to my first three words of this piece: under normal circumstances.
In a normal situation, the owner of the Rams would have high standards for on-field success. The priority would be winning games and division titles, making the playoffs, and stalking the NFL’s best teams to contend for the Super Bowl.
And when the owner’s team continues to drift back into its losing ways and gets walloped at home in a must-win game, the owner would undoubtedly lose patience with the coach. This is Fisher’s fourth season in St. Louis.
Coming into 2015, Fisher had two winning records in his previous 10 seasons as a head coach with Tennessee and St. Louis. He hasn’t led a team to the playoffs since 2008, or won a postseason game since 2003.
Maybe Stan Kroenke is annoyed as his fan base.
Who knows? Silent Stanley doesn’t reveal his inner Kroenke to the the public.
But Kroenke also has to look at his own leadership. Since he gained full ownership control of the Rams before the 2010 season, his team is 33-55-1 for a .376 winning percentage that ranks 26th among the 32 teams.
If winning on the gridiron is No. 1 on Kroenke’s list of priorities, it hasn’t translated into positive results in the standings.
With Kroenke’s abysmal record as the Rams’ owner — .376 winning percentage, supplying a poor product and alienating the fan base to drive attendance down — I don’t think it’s much of a leap to speculate on his true motivation.
Kroenke excels at making business deals, buying up land and other assets, and increasing his personal worth.
According to the 2015 Forbes rankings, Kroenke at $7.6 billion is No. 2 on the list of the NFL’s wealthiest owners. Kroenke is second to Seattle’s Paul Allen ($17.8 billion.)
Kroenke is consumed by his desire to uproot the Rams and move them to Los Angeles in a blatant money grab to dramatically enhance the franchise value and his own fortune. He is competing against the Chargers-Raiders partnership for the LA market, and the stakes are extremely high.
This epic bid is also a tremendous amount of work. Kroenke had to get the territorial jump on the Chargers-Raiders by plotting a preemptive launch of his plans for a stadium and entertainment complex in Inglewood. The Chargers and Raiders had to play catch-up with their own stadium initiative in LA-suburb Carson. Once the battle was on, Kroenke has aggressively lobbied his fellow NFL owners and league executives to gain support for the Inglewood project. He’s busy campaigning for owners’ votes to edge out the Chargers-Raiders and win the race for Los Angeles.
This is an enormous task, one that’s become even more intense now that the Chargers-Raiders have enlisted the powerful and respected Disney CEO Bob Iger to develop a spectacular Carson stadium complex that can defeat Kroenke’s vision for the Rams in Inglewood.
When angry Rams fans begin demanding that Kroenke hold Fisher accountable, and wonder when Kroenke will fire the coach, the emotions are understandable.
If the owner’s No. 1 goal is winning football games and championships, and Rams flunk again, this coach would be in big trouble. Fisher’s job would be on the line right now.
Winning the Super Bowl should be the source of every NFL owner’s hunger. But based on Kroenke’s actions, I’d have to say his top goal is beating the Chargers-Raiders in the Los Angeles Bowl — a victory that undeniably will bring him a massive financial payoff.
When an owner’s No. 1 goal is winning the big prize in LA, and perhaps overtaking Paul Allen in the Forbes rankings, I don’t think he’s losing much sleep over a wretched 37-13 loss to Chicago that all but reduced the Rams’ playoff chances to rubble.
With Sunday’s awful performance, the Rams have lost eight of their last 12 games. And Fisher is 14-22-1 in games played outside the division. This would be a hot-seat scenario for most coaches — but not Fisher.
If anything, we can speculate that Kroenke is content to keep Fisher around because the coach is potentially useful and valuable in another way. Fisher has the experience of guiding a franchise through a difficult relocation; he was the coach during the Houston Oilers’ transition into the Tennessee Titans.
If anything, these demoralizing losses by the 2015 Rams works in Kroenke’s favor.
The chronic losing isn’t healthy for attendance.
And the continued setbacks — when combined with Kroenke’s snub of the St. Louis stadium force and ostensibly the fans — is toxic for local support. Kroenke hasn’t done his part here — not even close — but the NFL may not care about that.
It’s hard to see why Kroenke would acknowledge his own responsibility in his team’s decline on the field, and in home attendance. If the NFL refuses to recognize Kroenke’s culpability in the Rams’ performance, then why would he own up to it?
Empty seats at home games — and those occupied by fans of the visiting team — give Kroenke and a Rams’ executive a good opportunity to perpetuate a bogus case for moving the team. You know, the usual tripe: St. Louis doesn’t care about the Rams, St. Louis is a baseball town, St. Louis is struggling, St. Louis is dangerous and doomed, St. Louis can’t support the NFL.
So if you really want to know why Coach Fisher is secure, the speculative answer is pretty simple.
Coach Fisher may be bad for local business … but he’s very good for Kroenke’s master business plan.
Kroenke can win by losing.
Kroenke is ultimately responsible for holding Fisher and GM Les Snead accountable for the team’s performance. Kroenke hired them. So in a linear respect, the accountability rests with the owner.
Under normal circumstances. But the current circumstances are anything but normal.
The owner has other priorities right now.
Considering all that’s at stake for Kroenke financially, the only triumph that truly matters would come during the NFL owners’ meetings, when the 32 members of an exclusive club take a vote that finally decides the winner of the Los Angeles Bowl.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
Posted by: Bernie Miklasz
http://www.101sports.com/2015/11/15/rams-accountability-begins-and-ends-with-kroenke/
Under normal circumstances, the Rams’ 37-13 stink bomb of a loss to the visiting Chicago Bears would fire up a heated conversation about the future of head coach Jeff Fisher.
This horrendous flop destroyed any momentum generated by a modest two-game winning streak that briefly placed the Rams on the good side of .500 with a 4-3 record.
The favorable trend continued for a little while longer last weekend, with the Rams taking a five-point lead into halftime at Minnesota. But the Rams couldn’t close it out, and lost 21-18 in overtime. Then came Sunday’s embarrassment at The Edward Jones Dome, with the Bears going all Holly Holm in kicking around the home team in a 24-point blowout.
The beatdown made a mockery of the Rams’ alleged status as a postseason contender,
After being up on Minnesota, and with the 3-5 Bears coming up next on the schedule, the Rams had an opportunity to take that 4-3 record and move it up to 6-3. This is what happened instead: after leading the Vikings by five at the half, the Rams have been outscored 48-16, dropped two games in a row, and are back on the wrong side of .500 with a 4-5 record.
This downturn fits the familiar Fisher pattern as Rams’ coach.
Show some improvement … create a buzz … set off the usual chirping about a “breakthrough” … raise the hopes of a tormented fan base … crank up expectations … and it all comes tumbling down.
False starts, false hope. Another cruel tease job that makes us feel frustrated and foolish for taking the Rams seriously.
The pattern was formed at the outset, beginning with his hiring in 2012. After all, this is a coach that went a respectable 14-17-1 in his first two seasons after inheriting the sorriest collection of losers in the NFL –a team that had gone 15-65 in the previous five seasons.
Fisher’s first two seasons weren’t successful in the optimal sense; the Rams didn’t post a winning record or make the playoffs. But when the five-season winning percentage of .188 is followed by .435 winning percentage over Fisher’s first 32 games, that’s progress. And it spurred optimism.
We should know better.
Follow the pattern.
After an encouraging upturn in 2012-2013, the Rams’s record has gotten worse since the start of the 2014 season.
They have 10 wins and 15 losses for a .400 winning percentage.
So let’s go back to my first three words of this piece: under normal circumstances.
In a normal situation, the owner of the Rams would have high standards for on-field success. The priority would be winning games and division titles, making the playoffs, and stalking the NFL’s best teams to contend for the Super Bowl.
And when the owner’s team continues to drift back into its losing ways and gets walloped at home in a must-win game, the owner would undoubtedly lose patience with the coach. This is Fisher’s fourth season in St. Louis.
Coming into 2015, Fisher had two winning records in his previous 10 seasons as a head coach with Tennessee and St. Louis. He hasn’t led a team to the playoffs since 2008, or won a postseason game since 2003.
Maybe Stan Kroenke is annoyed as his fan base.
Who knows? Silent Stanley doesn’t reveal his inner Kroenke to the the public.
But Kroenke also has to look at his own leadership. Since he gained full ownership control of the Rams before the 2010 season, his team is 33-55-1 for a .376 winning percentage that ranks 26th among the 32 teams.
If winning on the gridiron is No. 1 on Kroenke’s list of priorities, it hasn’t translated into positive results in the standings.
With Kroenke’s abysmal record as the Rams’ owner — .376 winning percentage, supplying a poor product and alienating the fan base to drive attendance down — I don’t think it’s much of a leap to speculate on his true motivation.
Kroenke excels at making business deals, buying up land and other assets, and increasing his personal worth.
According to the 2015 Forbes rankings, Kroenke at $7.6 billion is No. 2 on the list of the NFL’s wealthiest owners. Kroenke is second to Seattle’s Paul Allen ($17.8 billion.)
Kroenke is consumed by his desire to uproot the Rams and move them to Los Angeles in a blatant money grab to dramatically enhance the franchise value and his own fortune. He is competing against the Chargers-Raiders partnership for the LA market, and the stakes are extremely high.
This epic bid is also a tremendous amount of work. Kroenke had to get the territorial jump on the Chargers-Raiders by plotting a preemptive launch of his plans for a stadium and entertainment complex in Inglewood. The Chargers and Raiders had to play catch-up with their own stadium initiative in LA-suburb Carson. Once the battle was on, Kroenke has aggressively lobbied his fellow NFL owners and league executives to gain support for the Inglewood project. He’s busy campaigning for owners’ votes to edge out the Chargers-Raiders and win the race for Los Angeles.
This is an enormous task, one that’s become even more intense now that the Chargers-Raiders have enlisted the powerful and respected Disney CEO Bob Iger to develop a spectacular Carson stadium complex that can defeat Kroenke’s vision for the Rams in Inglewood.
When angry Rams fans begin demanding that Kroenke hold Fisher accountable, and wonder when Kroenke will fire the coach, the emotions are understandable.
If the owner’s No. 1 goal is winning football games and championships, and Rams flunk again, this coach would be in big trouble. Fisher’s job would be on the line right now.
Winning the Super Bowl should be the source of every NFL owner’s hunger. But based on Kroenke’s actions, I’d have to say his top goal is beating the Chargers-Raiders in the Los Angeles Bowl — a victory that undeniably will bring him a massive financial payoff.
When an owner’s No. 1 goal is winning the big prize in LA, and perhaps overtaking Paul Allen in the Forbes rankings, I don’t think he’s losing much sleep over a wretched 37-13 loss to Chicago that all but reduced the Rams’ playoff chances to rubble.
With Sunday’s awful performance, the Rams have lost eight of their last 12 games. And Fisher is 14-22-1 in games played outside the division. This would be a hot-seat scenario for most coaches — but not Fisher.
If anything, we can speculate that Kroenke is content to keep Fisher around because the coach is potentially useful and valuable in another way. Fisher has the experience of guiding a franchise through a difficult relocation; he was the coach during the Houston Oilers’ transition into the Tennessee Titans.
If anything, these demoralizing losses by the 2015 Rams works in Kroenke’s favor.
The chronic losing isn’t healthy for attendance.
And the continued setbacks — when combined with Kroenke’s snub of the St. Louis stadium force and ostensibly the fans — is toxic for local support. Kroenke hasn’t done his part here — not even close — but the NFL may not care about that.
It’s hard to see why Kroenke would acknowledge his own responsibility in his team’s decline on the field, and in home attendance. If the NFL refuses to recognize Kroenke’s culpability in the Rams’ performance, then why would he own up to it?
Empty seats at home games — and those occupied by fans of the visiting team — give Kroenke and a Rams’ executive a good opportunity to perpetuate a bogus case for moving the team. You know, the usual tripe: St. Louis doesn’t care about the Rams, St. Louis is a baseball town, St. Louis is struggling, St. Louis is dangerous and doomed, St. Louis can’t support the NFL.
So if you really want to know why Coach Fisher is secure, the speculative answer is pretty simple.
Coach Fisher may be bad for local business … but he’s very good for Kroenke’s master business plan.
Kroenke can win by losing.
Kroenke is ultimately responsible for holding Fisher and GM Les Snead accountable for the team’s performance. Kroenke hired them. So in a linear respect, the accountability rests with the owner.
Under normal circumstances. But the current circumstances are anything but normal.
The owner has other priorities right now.
Considering all that’s at stake for Kroenke financially, the only triumph that truly matters would come during the NFL owners’ meetings, when the 32 members of an exclusive club take a vote that finally decides the winner of the Los Angeles Bowl.
Thanks for reading …
–Bernie
