Word has emerged, via ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner, that the Los Angeles Rams are “engaged in talks” with head coach Jeff Fisher and his staff about extensions. To which I say, why?
With a new home and a new franchise quarterback, the Rams have a chance to experience a fresh start in California. And yet instead they’re renewing their vows with a coach who has put together four consecutive losing seasons with a relatively talented team.
Jeff Fisher has been paid $28 million through his first 4 seasons in St. Louis, and has won 27 games.
— Chris Hrabe (@ChrisHrabe_) January 4, 2016
I did say “relatively talented,” because the Rams haven’t exactly been flush with high-caliber players. But they haven’t been bad, and Fisher’s track record indicates a lot of their lack of success the last four years is on him.
Fisher had a winning record in only two of his final seven seasons in Tennessee, and he hasn’t won a playoff game since the Titans beat the Ravens in 2003. Yes, that’s well over a decade.
I know it’s far from ideal to have a lame duck head coach, which is why it was surprising that the Rams brought Fisher back in the first place. But to double down by investing more deeply in a guy who hasn’t gotten it done for much of the last decade? That just seems ridiculous.