The Los Angeles Rams fell to 4-8 on the season Sunday in a bad loss to the New England Patriots, and players are beginning to feel the burden of continually losing.
With the 26-10 loss, the 2016 Rams were ensured they will not have a winning season, something that has been consistent for the franchise since 2004. Since Jeff Fisher took over in 2012, the Rams have won well under half their games (31-44-1), a trend that appears destined to continue this year.
One player who has been with the franchise since before Fisher took over, tight end Lance Kendricks, vented a bit after Sunday’s loss.
“It feels like a broken record, year after year,” said Kendricks, per Rich Hammond of the Orange County Register. “We’ve just got to play with pride, I guess. We’ve got to have some sense of pride and heart.”
It sure sounds like Kendricks doesn’t feel that the team is necessarily playing with the sense of pride and heart he desires, based on the way he said what he said.
Another player, second-year running back Todd Gurley, echoed Kendrick’s sentiment, bringing to mind one definition of insanity: “It’s hard. It’s repetitive, over and over every week. It’s crazy.”
Gurley added, “At the end of the day,” Gurley said, “you just have to look at yourself and say, `We’re not doing a good enough job.’”
Speaking of insanity, word came out before Sunday’s game that Fisher and general manager Les Snead did, in fact, sign their contract extensions before the season (more on that here).
The Rams have almost reached Cleveland Browns levels of sadness in recent years. It’s not surprising players are starting to despair a bit under the weight of such a burden.