History of the Los Angeles Rams
Teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Tom Fears, Hirsch helped create the style of Rams football as one of the first big play receivers.
The 1960s were defined by the Rams great defensive line of Rosey Grier, Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones, and Lamar Lundy, dubbed the "Fearsome Foursome."
It was this group of players who restored the on-field luster of the franchise in 1967 when the Rams reached (but lost) the conference championship under legendary coach George Allen.
George Allen led the Rams from 1966 to 1970 and introduced many innovations, including the hiring of a young Dick Vermeil as one of the first special teams coaches.
In 1972, Chicago industrialist Robert Irsay purchased the Rams for $19 million and then traded the franchise to Carroll Rosenbloom for his Baltimore Colts and cash.
In spite of a 2–1 start to the regular season, Namath's bad knees rendered him nearly immobile and after a Monday night defeat in Chicago, he never played again.
In the end, however, the Steelers finally asserted themselves, scoring two touchdowns in the 4th quarter and completely shutting down the Rams offense to win their fourth Super Bowl, 31–19.
Prior to the 1979 NFL season, owner Carroll Rosenbloom died in a drowning accident, and his widow, Georgia Frontiere, inherited 70 percent ownership of the team.
First, the NFL's blackout rule forbade games from being televised in the team's local market if 85% of the tickets are not sold out 72 hours prior to opening kickoff.
The late 1980s Rams featured a gifted young QB in Jim Everett, a solid rushing attack and a fleet of talented WRs led by Henry Ellard.
With Orange County mired in a deep recession resulting largely from defense sector layoffs, the Rams were unable to secure a new or improved stadium in the Los Angeles area, which ultimately cast their future in Southern California into doubt.
Team management traded quarterback Jim Everett, and released All-Pro linebacker Kevin Greene, which set the once-proud franchise further back.
[22][23] The other owners (led by Buffalo's Ralph Wilson, the Jets’ Leon Hess, the Giants' Wellington Mara, Washington's Jack Kent Cooke, Arizona's Bill Bidwill and Minnesota's John Skoglund) believed that the Rams’ financial problems were due to the Frontieres’ mismanagement.
That sentiment was best expressed by Fred Dryer, who at the time said "I hate these people (the organization and its owner) for what they did, taking the Rams logo with them when they moved to St. Louis.
An excellent example of this was when Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay's airplane appeared at Van Nuys Airport,[30] presumably for meetings with local officials on moving his team to Los Angeles.
On January 31, 2014, both the Los Angeles Times and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Rams owner Stan Kroenke had purchased approximately 60 acres of land adjacent to the Forum in Inglewood, California.
The city of St. Louis, in subsequent years, made changes to the scoreboard and increased the natural lighting by replacing panels with windows, although the overall feel remains dark.
The minor renovations which totaled about $70 million did not bring the stadium within the specifications required under the lease agreement; thus, keeping the Dome in a state of uncertainty.
On February 1, 2013, a 3-person panel selected to preside over the arbitration process found that the Edward Jones Dome was not in the top 25 percent of all NFL venues as required under the terms of the lease agreement between the Rams and the CVC.
Publicly, city, county and state officials expressed no interest in providing further funding to the Edward Jones Dome in light of those entities, as well as taxpayers, continuing to owe approximately $300 million more on that facility.
[41] Kevin Demoff, the team's Executive Vice President of Football Operations/Chief Operating Officer, told The Guardian that he sees L.A. as a gateway to Asia and says being in L.A. will help sell the brand, more so, than in St.
[43] On March 30, California Lutheran University and the Rams reached an agreement that allowed the team to have regular-season training operations at CLU's campus for the next two years.
In July 2016, the Rams signed a three-year agreement with UC Irvine to use the university's facilities for training camp, with an option to extend it to two more years.
[48] On September 12, 2016, the Rams played their first regular season game since returning to Los Angeles, where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers 28–0 at Levi's Stadium.
Los Angeles stumbled with back-to-back losses to the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles, but finished strong with victories over the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers to clinch a first round bye.
On March 18, 2021, Los Angeles traded Jared Goff and several draft picks to the Detroit Lions in exchange for their longtime quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Los Angeles won five straight games but lost at home to the San Francisco 49ers to finish the regular season at 12-5, which clinched the team's third NFC West Division title since head coach Sean McVay's arrival.
A week later in Tampa Bay, Los Angeles built a 27-3 lead, then withstood a rally led by Tom Brady to defeat the Buccaneers 30-27.
Most notably, core contributors to the 2021 Super Bowl-winning team, including Matthew Stafford, Cooper Kupp, and Aaron Donald, missed significant parts of the season with injuries.
However, the Rams returned to the playoffs as a wild card team (despite struggling to a 3-6 record before the bye week) thanks to the resurgence of Stafford and strong play from rookies such as wide receiver Puka Nacua, defensive tackle Kobie Turner, and linebacker Byron Young.
