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Significant Investments: 12 Questionable Checks that Stan Kroenke has Written Since Purchasing the St. Louis Rams

By Patrick Karraker

Nov 9, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke on the sidelines prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Rams 31-14. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 9, 2014; Glendale, AZ, USA; St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke on the sidelines prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Rams 31-14. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jeff Fisher St. Louis Rams
Nov 8, 2015; Minneapolis, MN, USA; St. Louis Rams head coach Jeff Fisher speaks to the media after the game against the Minnesota Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium. The Vikings win 21-18. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports /

1. Jeff Fisher

Interestingly, Kroenke’s worst “significant investment” has been the one that we stupidly thought would solve all the problems within the Rams’ organization. The decision to give a five-year, $35 million-dollar contract to Fisher, a coach who had a rather mediocre .542 winning percentage over 16-plus seasons, was a bad one. The fact that Kroenke has refused to admit his mistake (or wants Fisher around for his experience moving the Houston Oilers to Tennessee in 1997 as he attempts to relocate the Rams to LA) makes the investment even worse.

To his credit, Fisher has done a lot to improve the Rams organization, and it’s in much better shape than it was when he was hired. He’s had some great wins as the team’s head coach, whether it was defeating the playoff-bound 49ers, Seahawks, and Redskins in 2012, upsetting the Colts on their home turf in 2013, upsetting the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks and beating up on the Broncos in 2014 or defeating Seattle on their home turf this year. He’s developed a stronger football culture within the building, and things seem to run much more smoothly under him than they did under the ultra-paranoid Steve Spagnuolo from 2009 to 2011. He’s been a solid citizen, gets involved in the community, and is generally pretty transparent with the direction of his team. Unfortunately, he just can’t do the one thing that is universally expected out of NFL head coaches: consistently win.

Fisher’s added four more losing seasons to his record during his time in St. Louis, giving him five straight losing seasons and two winning seasons in his past 11. While he clearly has the correct formula to help the Rams win big division games–they’ve knocked off the otherwise dominant Seahawks in three of his four seasons and defeated the Arizona Cardinals, who went on to finish 13-3, on their home turf early this season–the Rams have consistently failed to win games that they should win under his watch.

He now has a record of 27-36-1 as the Rams’ head coach, so assuming that he sticks around to coach the team in 2016 as everyone expects that he will, he’ll be the first NFL head coach to be afforded a fifth year of employment after having four straight losing seasons since the Cincinnati Bengals brought David Shula back for the 1996 season (during which they would fire him following a 1-6 start).

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Fisher has done a solid repair job at Rams Park, but no reasonable person can assess it at even close to $35 million with no postseason appearances (or even a .500 record, for that matter). He’s extremely fortunate to be keeping his job for 2016, but since he’s already gone four straight seasons without delivering St. Louis anything as much as an 8-8 season, it’s safe to label him a failure. The time in which Fisher’s work could logically be labeled a “rebuilding period” has long expired, and he’s now the most questionable “significant investment” that Stan Kroenke has made in his disastrous six-year tenure as the Rams’ owner.

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