Sunday’s game between the Rams and 49ers looked like an attempt the recreate their tie from earlier in the season, right up until the point the Rams won it in overtime.
The 16-13 victory leaves the Rams with a 5-6-1 record and a lot of confidence as they make their way into the final four weeks of the season. Coach Jeff Fisher thinks that Sunday’s win was an extension of that earlier tie and a sign that a young team is starting to have faith in itself.
“This is a carryover from three weeks ago,” Fisher said, via Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports. “We joked about taking three weeks off and getting right back after the 49ers -- we didn’t know it would take another five quarters. This young team believes we can go in and play with anybody.”
Belief hasn’t always carried over to the field, something best illustrated by the lopsided home loss to the Jets that’s sandwiched in an otherwise strong run of play since the bye in Week Nine. Young teams have losses like that and the Rams can only hope that following it up with two straight wins is a sign that the loss served as a learning experience.
There’s still a lot to do in St. Louis to make the team a consistent winner, but they’ve made big strides in Fisher’s first 12 weeks on the job. More of them in the final four weeks could conceivably push the Rams into the playoff picture and would at least leave the Rams as a trendy choice to do well heading into 2013.