Football Outsiders Dynasties of Heartbreak: The 1983-89 Rams

Fun series Football Outsiders does about the good but came-up-short teams in league history. Coming in at #37 on their list, the 1983-1989 LA Rams....

No. 37: 1983-1989 Los Angeles Rams
Record: 67-44 (.604)
Playoff Record: 4-6 (two NFCCG losses, one division loss, three wild-card losses)
Average DVOA: 10.7%
Head Coach: John Robinson
Key Players: RB Eric Dickerson, WR Henry Ellard, T Jackie Slater, G Dennis Harrah, G Kent Hill, G Tom Newberry, C Doug Smith, LB Carl Ekern, CB LeRoy Irvin, CB Jerry Gray

We'll talk about the 1970s Rams a little later, but that era of success had come to a halt in the early 1980s as the stars of those teams aged out of usefulness. John Robinson came over from USC, cut the dead weight, and started rebuilding around a young rookie running back named Eric Dickerson.

In four years with the Rams, Dickerson won rookie of the year in 1983, set the single-season rushing record in 1984, was named offensive player of the year in 1986, led the league in rushing three times, and was a three-time first-team All-Pro. He's still the fastest player ever to hit the 10,000-yard mark. He had three seasons with the Rams with at least 200-plus rushing DYAR. He was pretty good, is what we're saying, and the Rams nearly didn't have him. Dickerson seriously considered joining the Los Angeles Express, with the USFL's team matching his Rams salary. Dickerson was unsure about the USFL as a concept and their offensive line as a unit and opted to go with the Rams instead. Considering the Rams paved the way for him with five different Pro Bowlers on the offensive line while the Express had the worst line in the USFL, it's safe to say Dickerson made the right choice.

Then again, if Dickerson had joined the USFL, he wouldn't have had to play second fiddle to the 49ers throughout the 1980s. The Rams were NFC West runners-up in five of these seven seasons, only capturing the division crown in 1985. The Rams had the sixth-best winning percentage in the league over this seven-year stretch, yet Robinson's teams generally found themselves on the road early and often in the postseason because of their divisional rivals. The 1980s were a tough time to play in the NFC, and the Rams were fourth-fiddle behind San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington. Stick them in the AFC, and the Rams likely make multiple Super Bowls in this time period.

While this seven-year stretch is all John Robinson, we are kind of suturing together two distinct offensive identities here. Dickerson was traded halfway through the 1987 season after a contract dispute, so the last couple of seasons in this stretch are Jim Everett- and Henry Ellard-led Air Coryell-type offenses under the tutelage of Ernie Zampese. Those teams actually had significantly higher offensive DVOAs than Dickerson's; the gap between Dickerson and Greg Bell was large, but not as large as the gap between Everett and the Vince Ferragamo/Jeff Kemp/Dieter Brock shuffle. I think you would be hard-pressed to find 1980s Rams fans who agree, but that's a running back value discussion of a different color.

The Rams twice found their way to the NFC Championship Game in this era, only to crash into two of the best teams of all time. In 1985, the Chicago Bears shut them out 24-0. Dickerson was held to just 46 yards; Brock was limited to just 66 yards passing. The Rams punted 11 times and committed three turnovers as Chicago shuffled themselves into the Super Bowl. The Rams claimed that they should have gotten a timeout at the end of the first half, which would have allowed them to attempt a field goal. I'm not sure a 24-3 blowout would affect fans memories of this one all that much.

In 1989, it was a 30-3 blowout at the hand of the San Francisco 49ers—especially frustrating as the Rams had nearly swept the regular season series with their rivals. But Joe Montana and company rolled to 442 yards and Jim Everett was hit so often it led to his "phantom sack," when he crumbled in the pocket before any defender could even come close to him—a play that would come to unfairly define his career, and led to the infamous incident where he attacked Jim Rome on the set of his ESPN2 talk show.

1989 was the Rams' last winning season before they moved to St. Louis, as boring, terrible running games became an Anaheim staple in the early 1990s.