2007-2011 - The Dark Ages

Week 17: St. Louis Rams prove their worth in loss to Seattle

COMMENTARY | On Sunday, December 30, the St. Louis Rams lost 20-13 at the Seattle Seahawks in their final game of the season. The Rams finish the year in third place in the NFC West with a 7-8-1 record.

Wins are usually what define a team’s success. After all, you can’t take home the Lombardi trophy without winning the Super Bowl. However, once in a while a loss counts for something too.

The Rams may have been beaten in Seattle, but they just gave the NFL’s hottest team a run for its money in one of the toughest places to play in the league. The Seahawks entered this game averaging 50 points a contest in their last three outings, including a 42-13 victory over the division champion San Francisco 49ers. It appeared that no one could stop them, but that’s what the Rams did for much of the day.

That’s why this game is a defining moment for the team. The old Rams would have fell apart and given little effort with such a daunting task in front of them, but this team went to Seattle and fought hard. They gave the Seahawks all they could handle, and they very nearly pulled off a victory.

Don’t get me wrong. A loss is still a loss, and the Rams missed out on their chance to earn their first winning season since 2003. They still struggled with mental errors that cost them throughout the game, including 14 penalties. The Rams also failed to establish the running game, which would have kept the defense well-rested in the second half.

Yet this loss signifies a change in what Rams fans should expect to see from this team from now on. The Rams will never stop. They will never give in; they will always play hard. It’s clear that the days of the Rams losing 12 or more games every year are over.

Let’s be honest here. The St. Louis roster has talent, but it doesn’t have much depth. There are also holes on both the offense and defense that need to be filled. This team had no business winning seven games this season, but it did. The Rams are only going to get better under head coach Jeff Fisher and general manager Les Snead.

The team may have lost yesterday, but it should serve as a reminder that they are no longer the laughingstock of the division. The Seahawks and 49ers can no longer dismiss them. I look forward to seeing the Rams improve even further next season. A new era has dawned in Rams’ history.

Derek Ciapala has been following the Rams since childhood. He has been published on Yahoo! Sports, GatewayMMA.com and multiple other websites. You can check him out on Facebook or Twitter @dciapala.

Sources: Pro-Football-Reference.com

(Originally published on Yahoo! Sports)

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