This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The Rams play their season home finale on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If the past is any indication, what could be the franchise's swan song in St. Louis will be lightly attended.
If this is the end of the 21-year run, fans can always remember the "Greatest Show on Turf," a Super Bowl championship, the handful of years that Mike Martz referred to as a "special place in time." When Dick Vermeil came to town a few months ago, he got the rock star treatment on the Lambert International Airport concourse, which prompted a tinge of regret for his long-ago decision to abruptly retire not long after Mike Jones' title-saving tackle against the Titans in the title game.
"I didn't spend any time here after the game, which was my mistake," Vermeil said. "From the minute I get off the airplane, it's amazing how loyal these people are."
It's often said that St. Louis is a baseball town thanks to the steady success of the Cardinals, though the Edward Jones Dome rocked on game day when the Rams were a factor.
That hasn't been the case for some time.
Those who still show up booed Jeff Fisher during player introductions before Sunday's victory over the Lions, showing frustration with a coach who has yet to deliver a playoff contender. They also enthusiastically chanted "Gurley! Gurley!" as the Rams ended a five-game skid that gave them another irrelevant December.
"I'm good with whoever they're yelling, as long as they care," quarterback Case Keenum said.
The Rams have had just four winning seasons in the city, going 56-24 during a glorious stretch from 1999-2003. They're just 67-121-1 since then, so it's tough to blame a once-fervent fan base that has lost heart and gone sour on owner Stan Kroenke, who wants to leave town and has been conspicuously absent from the public eye since a potential move back to Southern California started looking more and more like a real possibility.
When a team goes 15-65, as the Rams did from 2007-11 in the worst five-year stretch in NFL history, and can do no better than tease contending status under Fisher, it's easier to buy into the conspiracy theory that Kroenke wants to field a failure to drive people away and strengthen his case for relocation. The Chargers and Raiders are also in the mix for a move, perhaps as early as next season, though NFL owners won't take up the issue again until next month.
Georgia Frontiere moved the team to St. Louis in 1995 after 49 years in South California after a 23-6-1 vote by NFL owners, a month after they blocked the move. With another move potentially on the way, St. Louis is trying hard, again and at great cost, to hang onto the NFL. City officials are weighing a financing plan for a new $1 billion riverfront stadium to replace the aging dome and either keep the Rams or attract a new team if they go.
Fisher appears to have zero empathy for emotions that'll surely be roiling come Thursday night, staying in coach mode and then changing the subject to all-yellow uniforms the Rams will be wearing for the NFL Network's "Color Rush."
"It has not crossed my mind at all," the coach said of the potential finale. "As I've said to you oftentimes throughout this process, my focus is on this team and the next game. I'm sure all of those things will be addressed once the season is over."