Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Hate Wendesday: The St. Louis Rams

We all LOVE the Packers: “Hate Wednesday” is a continuing series wherein I expound upon my deep-seated hatred of other NFL football teams. I’m a Packer fan and Packer fans have long memories. Sometime it’s very simple and sometimes it’s complex. You may have other reasons to hate these teams. These are mine…

The Rams are one of the oldest franchises in the NFL. Be they residing in Cleveland, L.A. or St. Louis, the Rams and Packers have played each other 90 times, the first being in 1937. Indeed, from ’37 until 1971 the two teams squared off yearly with the exception of 1943. So that is an awful lot of water under the bridge and many, many opportunities for the two teams to develop a mutual loathing. Mine comes in a more recent contest: In 2001, the Packers and Rams would meet in the post-season for only the second time in their storied history. The 1967 contest would result in a Packer victory and propel them to that fateful championship game against the Cowboys: the famous “Ice Bowl.” But the 2001 contest would not end so gloriously. The Packers, powered by the passing of Brett Favre, had posted one of their best seasons ever but had ended up a Wild Card team behind the 13-3 Bears. Facing the so-called “Greatest Show on Turf” the Packers knew they would have to match the Kurt Warner-led Rams score-for-score and play flawless football. But the performance would not exactly be called “flawless”. The Packers committed eight turnovers and Favre would match a post-season record by throwing six interceptions, three of which would be returned for touchdowns. One bright spot for the Packers, a 95-yard kick return for a touchdown, would be nullified by a penalty. Despite these gifts, the Packers would actually play decent defense, holding the Rams to their fewest first down total in three years. But this self-inflicted beat down, the worst packer post-season loss ever, is more than enough for me to HATE the Rams!

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