1995 St. Louis Rams: The 1st Year In A New Town

The city of St. Louis had been without professional football since the Cardinals left for Arizona in 1988. In 1995, the Rams filled the void and began a 31-season journey as a Midwest franchise. The first edition of the St. Louis Rams started strong and gave the fan base hope. But a hard fall foreshadowed some dark years ahead.

St. Louis inherited a franchise that had been on the downswing for several years. Since reaching the NFC Championship Game in 1989, the Rams had not only missed the playoffs four straight times, but had gone 18-46 in that period. A new head coach in Rich Brooks, who was fresh off rebuilding the University of Oregon and turning them into a Rose Bowl team, was part of the organization’s new beginning.

The ’95 Rams weren’t exactly bursting at the seams with talent. No one made the Pro Bowl and they ended the year 22^nd in points scored and 29^th  in points allowed. But they had some difference-makers. The most notable one was 23-year-old Isaac Bruce. The future Hall of Fame receiver was in his second year and caught 119 passes at a healthy 15 yards per catch.

On the defensive side, tackle D’Marco Farr recorded 11 ½ sacks and strong safety Toby Wright intercepted six passes. Kevin Carter broke in as a rookie up front and had a nice year with six sacks.

A big name was in the backfield, with Jerome Bettis, but “The Bus” only had 637 yards and averaged a meager 3.5 yards a carry behind a mediocre offensive line. And quarterback Chris Miller, with a 57 percent completion rate, 6.5 yards-per-attempt, and a 3.7 percent interception rate, ranked in the bottom third of NFL starting quarterbacks.

The Rams opened the season on the road in Green Bay. The Packers were a rising force with Brett Favre at quarterback and would ultimately reach the NFC Championship Game. But on this early afternoon in Lambeau, St. Louis picked off Favre three times, got a pair of sacks from tackle Sean Gilbert and delivered a 17-14 upset.

Week 2 was the grand debut at home and the opponent was the New Orleans Saints. Trailing 3-0, Miller threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Bruce. Defensive back Todd Lyght came up with a Pick-6. The Rams played mistake-free football, got 83 yards from Bettis and sent the fans home happy with a 17-13 win.

The winning continued against the Carolina Panthers, in their first year of existence. After a scoreless first quarter on the road, the defense again kicked into playmaking gear. They produced two touchdowns. The Rams collected seven turnovers in all, and five different players intercepted a pass. With a 31-10 win. St. Louis was a surprising 3-0.

A competitive Chicago Bears team came into what was then called the TWA Dome in St. Louis. And a defense coordinated by Willie Shaw kept making big plays. Wright scooped up a fumble and brought it 73 yards to the house to start the scoring. St. Louis played mistake-free football themselves. They needed more points in this game and Miller delivered, going 21/31 for 231 yards. Tight end Troy Dayton caught eight balls for 106 yards. And with a 34-28 win, the Rams were on fire.

St. Louis went up to Indianapolis. The Colts would squeak into the playoffs and then get on a magical ride to the AFC Championship Game. The Rams were pounded on the ground, to the tune of a 235-38 disparity in rush yardage. Miller threw for 326 yards and Bruce caught eight balls for 81 yards, but Miller also threw two interceptions. The run of big plays on defense ended, and so did the winning streak, 21-18.

The Rams may have taken their first loss in St. Louis, but as they went into the bye week at 4-1, no one was complaining. They were in a three-way tie for first in the NFC West. The defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers were also 4-1. As were the Atlanta Falcons, who—along with Carolina and New Orleans—were an NFC West team until the realignment of 2002.

Those standings gave heightened interest to a Rams-Falcons game on Thursday Night. Miller got the offense rolling with a 59-yard touchdown strike to Bruce, who went on to rack up ten catches for 191 yards. Bettis pounded out 88 yards on the ground. And the defense locked up the Atlanta running game. St. Louis got a hard-fought 21-19 win.

That set up a visit from San Francisco. This one didn’t go quite as well. Miller threw four interceptions, and the Rams were on the wrong side of a 44-10 rout. The turnover problems continued a week later at playoff-bound Philadelphia. The Rams gave it away four times, Miller was sacked six times, and the end result was a 20-9 loss.

The two defeats were humbling, but they were to good teams who would each make the Divisional Round of the playoffs. And St. Louis was still 5-3. A big four-game stretch against their NFC West foes loomed.

A road trip to New Orleans didn’t go well. After a 55-yard Miller-to-Bruce TD strike early on, the offense went into hibernation and the Rams lost 19-10. Having to play with some real urgency, the Rams planted their feet against home against the Panthers. Bruce caught nine passes for 110 yards. Bettis ran for 91 more. Wright intercepted two passes. And the defense got back to its playmaking ways, producing a touchdown. A 28-17 win stopped the bleeding.

But the wound opened up back up in Atlanta. The Ram secondary was carved up by Jeff George, they fell behind early and never got back in the game. A 31-6 loss dropped them to 6-5. Thus, no one was surprised by what happened in San Francisco on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. While Miller tossed an early TD pass for a 7-0 lead, the Rams were in a 28-7 hole by halftime. Miller threw two interceptions. Brooks gave veteran backup Mark Rypien a shot, and he was intercepted twice. The final was 41-13.

Now 6-6, the Rams were two games behind the 49ers in the NFC West and with the head-to-head tiebreaker gone, were virtually out of the division race. But there were still three wild-card spots to fight for. While the Eagles, at 8-4, and a head-to-head win over St. Louis, were probably out of reach, St. Louis was only a game back of the Bears and Falcons, who were each 7-5, and holding those two spots. The Rams joined the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings as 6-6 teams giving chase with the regular season entering its final quarter.

A road trip to face a bad New York Jets team was the ideal way to start the stretch drive and Miller found Dayton with a 28-yard touchdown pass to get an early 7-0 lead. But Miller soon hit the deck and was knocked out—not just for the game, but for the season. The fading hopes of St. Louis now rested on Rypien, who once had a dominating year for the 1991 Washington Redskins in winning a Super Bowl, but had been fading ever since.

The defense needed to step up and they did. The Rams got six sacks, 3 ½ from Farr. They pulled out a 23-20 win and got good news elsewhere. The Bears and Falcons both lost. St. Louis, along with Detroit and Minnesota, were now in a five-way tie for two playoff spots.

Buffalo was on their way to an AFC East title, and they came to St. Louis. Rypien showed some of his old form—he went 31/55 for 372 yards and made no mistakes. Bruce had another big day, with 136 yards receiving. But the defense collapsed, giving up over 200 yards on the ground. St. Louis lost decisively, 45-26. Atlanta, Detroit, and Minnesota all won.

The Rams were behind the eight-ball, but with games against bad teams in the Washington Redskins and Carolina to close the season, the opportunity was still there. Facing his old team, Rypien again played well, going 34/50 for 347 yards and helped stake St. Louis to a 10-0 lead. But the sheer volume of passes being thrown underscored St. Louis’ problems in controlling the line of scrimmage. The Rams turned the ball over three times, were in a 28-10 hole by the end of the third quarter and lost 35-23.

Christmas Eve Sunday was the last day of the regular season and in spite of the hard fade, St. Louis still had the chance for a Christmas miracle. They were fourth in line for the last playoff spot. If the Falcons, Bears, and Vikings all lost, the Rams were next in line. Atlanta did have to play San Francisco, while Chicago was paired up with Philadelphia, and the 49ers and Eagles were both fighting for playoff position. Getting everything to fall right wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.

But by the time St. Louis took the field against the Miami Dolphins in the late afternoon, we knew that Atlanta had upset San Francisco, and the playoff push was over. The Dolphins were fighting for their lives and the result was predictable. While Bruce had a huge day, going over 200 yards receiving, the Rams dug themselves a 24-6 hole, lost three fumbles and played no defense. A 41-22 loss ended the season.

After the excitement of a new beginning and the promise of a 4-0 start, the 1995 St. Louis Rams left the field for the final time hearing boos. And the decline that marked this season didn’t stop. St. Louis slipped to six wins in 1996, five wins in 1997 and bottomed out at 4-12 in 1998. There was a magical turnaround looming in 1999, but there were no signs of that as the Rams’ first year in St. Louis came to a close.