How the Greatest Show on Turf fell apart as quickly as it was assembled | Collapse

In 1999, the St. Louis Rams had a Cinderella run beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. An undrafted quarterback named Kurt Warner, a few years removed from working the graveyard shift in a grocery store, all of a sudden becoming an NFL starting quarterback for a 4-12 team, immediately putting together one of the best seasons of all time, and winning league MVP en route to a Super Bowl title? You would’ve been laughed out of Hollywood if you pitched that as a movie script.

But it somehow became reality, and for that year and the two that followed, the Rams had constructed a juggernaut that ran laps around the rest of the league. But then everything went sideways — they couldn’t stay healthy at the most important position in sports, dirty laundry was aired in a very public manner on the radio, their coach and front office grew to resent one another, and so much more caused an unstoppable force to all of a sudden become the NFL’s piñata.

Written and produced by Alex Rubinstein
Shot and Edited by Ryan Simmons
Motion graphics by Michael Das

[CLSmith]

"Topping out at 7 wins is just not acceptable football for the Rams... so they went out and hired Jeff Fisher." LMAO.

[harrisonlee]

Brenda Warner definitely showed up at the Rams front office and asked to speak to their manager.

[HeadCannon]

“Kurt Warner joined the Cardinals after being cut by St Louis”
Baseball fans: *visible confusion*

[Tfish]

I'm loving this new Collapse season

[Darthtanos]

you know... i love how everyone forgets that in 2001 warner had five not pleasant injuries to his throwing hand, including to his thumb on that hand that meant he couldn't grip the ball well towards the end of the season (wouldn't even shake john madden's hand before super bowl 36 it hurt so much). why he was so bad the following year (on top of the two additional breaks, which meant SEVEN not full healed injuries to his hand) was that it just wasn't given time to heal properly, and that explains why when he finally was benched by the giants/cards for as long as he was that his hand was FINALLY able to get right, and you saw the cards make a super bowl. but everyone always forgets this.

[kindleyfernand]

I think you guys should do a collapse on the dolphins qb trouble since Dan Marino

[ElysianDivine]

How can you not add Prohl saying “Tonight, a dynasty is born” before the Super Bowl against the Pats?!?

[chef]

i think collapse is sbnations best series













except for literally anything jon bois has ever made :^)

[benjaminpeters]

I feel we are missing the 2004 season when they came back to beat Seattle in the wild card before losing to Atlanta in the divisional round.

[rogerszmodis]

Isn't the coach always sidelined? That's where they have to stand.

[leeleeleelee]

as a grocery store overnight stocker for the last decade, i would just like it to be known that Kurt Warner is our patron saint, our Moses. He will rise again and lead all us grocery clerks to the Promised Land.

[jliller]

"How the Greatest Show on Turf fell apart as quickly as it was assembled"

Mike Martz. There were other reasons, but the biggest was Mike Martz. He basically pulled a Barry Switzer where he inherited a great team, coasted on that a couple seasons including another Super Bowl appearance, and then everything fell apart because he simply wasn't a good NFL coach.

[declanssportsdesk]

2021:
Matthew Stafford traded to LA, puts up MVP numbers.
Finally beat Brady and ALMOST sent him to the retirement home.
Put our demons to bed against San Francisco.
Took home our second Lombardi Trophy.

The pain from 36 and 53 was worth it in the end.

[dumerkoff]

The wheels didn't come off in 2007. They were already gone. What happened is that the chassis came off, which was incredible because it was one of those uni body designs where that is not supposed to be possible but they did it anyway.

[MikeDindu]

As a born and raised St. Louisian and diehard Rams fan before the move to LA, the reason why was the front office. Virtually everything else about the team was incompetent, yes, but that front office couldn't find a coach, trade for a player, sign a free agent, make a draft pick to save their lives. It was simultaneously excruciating and bizarre to see every draft and every offseason get squandered because the people running the organization didn't have a damn clue what they were doing. It was like the front offices of the Redskins and the Browns(maybe the Jets got a little bit of a reach around too, idk) had a baby and then, disgusted by their creation, shipped it off to St. Louis.

[devinreany]

"7-9 football is just not acceptable for the Rams...so they hired Jeff Fisher."

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[dmunkybrown]

1. Of course Rodney Harrison hit Trent Green's knee.
2. Of course the Browns passed on Kurt Warner.

[gydeme]

This is the saddest story in my sporting life. Being a rams fan since 1999 to 2016 was some serious self hate

[josephmatthews]

Everyone loves Warner especially here in Missouri. I remember watching a meaningless chiefs and cardinals pre season game one season at Arrowhead and no one, not even our very own Chiefs, got a bigger ovation from the crowd than lovable everyman Kurt.

[johne]

The 1999 Rams is the reason why I watched football. The team had so much heart.