Jeff Fisher’s Case For Coach Of The Year

Now that the NFL season is over it’s time to talk end of season awards. Although defensive end Robert Quinn may be the only one that actually gets an award, with defensive player of the year, but others such as running back Zac Stacy and line backer Alec Ogletree will certainly deserve honorable mentions for offensive and defensive rookies of the year.

One member of the Rams, who’s work may go unnoticed is that of Jeff Fisher and his case for coach of the year. More than likely the award will go to Bruce Arians, Chip Kelly, Bill Belichick, or Ron Rivera, but there is no denying that Rams head coach Jeff Fisher should be in the conversation.

What Fisher has done with this team is quite incredible, especially when given the cards he has been dealt this season. Coming into the season, the Rams had the fourth toughest schedule and ended with the tenth toughest schedule yet still managed to match their win total from last season with seven.

Not to mention the Rams were without their franchise, starting quarterback for more than half the season, and are the youngest team in the NFL. In fact the Rams had more wins with Clemens in at quarterback(4)  than they did with Bradford(3), and three of Clemens’ wins came against teams with 8-8 records or better in the Colts, Bears, and Saints.

It isn’t very likely that a young, inexperienced team is able to overcome the loss of their starting quarterback, but they did. Fisher made it known to this team that without Bradford they would still make opposing teams beat them, and play tough football, and that they did.

When you are able to match your win total from the previous season with your backup quarterback when 11 of your 16 opponents are in playoff contention, that’s pretty good. This team very well could have given up and played for a high draft pick, but they didn’t, they played to make a statement that this team will be something special in 2014.

Bruce Arians, Chip Kelly, Bill Beilichick, and Ron Rivera all deserve the award, they have all done amazing things with their respective teams this season, but Jeff Fisher has as well and his work shouldn’t go unnoticed.