I was very glad when they hired him too. And plenty of friends/fans of other teams said to me at the time, "He gives the Rams instant credibility." And you know what? He did.
Taking a team that was 15-65 (.188) the previous five years-
the worst five-year stretch in NFL history- and going 14-17-1 his first two years (.453) was a
good (not great) coaching job. It was. They were an illegal formation call on Brandon Gibson away from 8-8 that first year. The Rams were competitive and a dangerous team to play. And then after losing Bradford again before 2014 started they still scratched and clawed to a 6-7 record. At that point Fisher was 20-24-1 (.456) with the Rams. But to me things dropped off
fast from there. They lost their last three games of 2014 in ugly fashion- losing at home vs. the Drew Stanton Cardinals and coming unhinged vs the Giants at home. Both totally inexcusable.
In 2015 they start 2-2 and Foles starts off well- a 96.5 QB rating his first four starts- then he and the team fall off a cliff. At 4-8 they rattle off three window-dressing wins. Finish 7-9. It's at that point you realize Fisher has taken them as far as he ever will. He took them out of the abyss. But he could not take them to (or near) the mountain top.
And yeah, maybe he was kept in 2016 simply to manage the team move. Understandable. But also at that point he was being a "players' coach" and leading what was a very young team as if it were a group of 10-year veterans. A decent 3-1 start. But while he says he's not a QB coach he was responsible for setting up QBs for success and in 2016 especially he failed miserably. As the team leader that was on him. Goff being so 'deer in the headlights' was on him. The utterly embarrassing and pathetic loss to Atlanta in his final game with the Rams was on him.
So yeah, hiring Fisher was not terrible. He did do some good things for the team. I thought the 2012 and 2013 teams were pretty fun and I was able to be a proud Rams fan again. But his dismissal with 3 games left in 2016 was also his own doing.
