FTW: 10 reasons the Rams had to fire Jeff Fisher
The Rams finally did it. Jeff Fisher has been fired. Five losing seasons and one head-scratching contract extension later, the Rams finally realized we all of us knew all along: They weren't going anywhere with him leading the team. Here are ten reasons the Rams were forced to make this move…
1. The Rams have never finished with more than seven wins under Fisher
The franchise, and Fisher himself, has really been on a stunning run of mediocrity. His teams have finished between 6-10 and 8-8 every single season since 2009. And seemingly every season, Fisher's teams pulled off one or two big wins over great teams, which really is an indictment of him as a coach. His teams were always talented enough to compete with the best teams, but could never do so consistently.
2. The offense was the worst in the league throughout his tenure
The stats are stunning. During the five seasons Fisher served as Rams coach, the team is dead last in scoring, yards and first downs, per FiveThirtyEight. Going back to 2006, Fisher's teams have finished higher than 23rd in total offense only once. That's a decade of terrible offenses and one common denominator.
3. The Rams had become so boring, fans in Los Angeles had already stopped coming to the games
This point goes along with the last one: Not only are the Rams bad, but the lack of scoring makes them bad AND boring. Nobody wants to watch that. Especially when you live in Los Angeles, where there are far better things to do than watch a football team struggle to get to 12 points.
4. Fisher handled the Jared Goff situation horribly
The ultimate test for a coaching staff is developing a young, talented quarterback, and Fisher's staff failed miserably during their brief time with the 2016 first-overall pick.
Either the offense was too (needlessly) complicated for Goff to pick up, or Goff wasn't capable of picking up a basic NFL offense and should have never been drafted that high in the first place. Unfortunately for Rams fans, it's looking like it might be the latter. Los Angeles' offense has been so basic since Goff took over, Todd Gurley referred to it as a "middle school" offense after Sunday's loss.
5. Fisher mortgaged the future for a middling QB prospect
Not only did the Rams use the first-overall pick on Goff, who was never seen as a great prospect before the draft, but they gave up a ton of draft capital in order to move up to the top spot. This doesn't fall squarely on Fisher. GM Les Snead is culpable, as well. But, based on Fisher's comments, he was very much behind the move and made the choice to pick Goff over Carson Wentz.
6. Fisher officially became the laughing stock of the league this season
It's been a bizarre season in Los Angeles, particularly for Fisher. He had the "Danny" gaffe before the Patriots game, the odd Eric Dickerson beef and his Greg Schiano moment against the Lions. Fisher lost any credibility he had left before the season started.
7-9. Bulls-t
Well, at least he was right about something: He's not going 7-9 this year.
10. Rams fans wanted this
Let's just put it this way: Rams fans weren't sad to see him go. They were, however, very depressed when he signed that two-year contract extension weeks ago. So much for that.