How Far Are The St. Louis Rams From The Playoffs?

With a St. Louis Blues win over the Chicago Blackhawks and a Nashville Predators loss Thursday night, “The Note” clinched the Central Division in the Western Conference for the second time in four years and will be in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

The St. Louis Cardinals have had just as much success, if not more success winning the Central Division in the National League the last two years and have been to three World Series in the last decade, winning two of them.

And then there are the St. Louis Rams. A team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2004 and haven’t won their division since 2003. Not even to mention they had a three year span in which they won six games, thats six wins in three years.

To say the least, they haven’t achieved half of what the Blues and Cardinals have.

Thats not to say they haven’t gotten close. They were one win away from a playoff spot in 2010 and were in the wild card race down the stretch in 2012. But just how far are they from a playoff spot now?

The division has lost some steam, but its still one of the best divisions in football. Seattle is still Seattle and they have only gotten better on offense this offseason, Arizona will always be tough with Arians coaching, and while San Francisco has lost some good players, they are a bit of an unknown with a new coach.

The Rams proved they can compete in their division beating the Seahawks and 49ers last season, however, the one area in which they struggled against those teams they have failed to get any better in this offseason.

That one area is up front on offense. The Rams simply have gotten beat up on the offensive side of the ball the last two years against their division opponents and have done nothing thus far that would change that going into next season.

This is a team that is starting fresh with a new offensive coordinator and they are starting fresh with a new quarterback. They have also cut ties with some big underperforming pieces on the offensive line.

To believe they are going to be able to fix the offensive line in one offseason might be a little crazy. This season unfortunately has the feel of more a rebuilding year in order to make a push next season.

Foles at least gives the Rams some stability at quarterback. They have won ten games over the last two years with backup caliber quarterbacks. However, Foles has limited, unproven weapons, and as mentioned before, not much of an offensive line to protect him.

They still have one of the best defensive fronts in the NFL in terms of applying pressure to the quarterback, and they should dominate that front week in and week out. However, last year that group got off to a slow start and unfortunately the defense can’t score all the touchdowns.

This is a team that has all the potential in the world, but consistently underperform putting them at around mediocrity, and to make the playoffs, you can’t be mediocre. Aside from Nick Fairley, the Rams didnt sign one player to really get excited about in free agency and with seven selections in the upcoming draft, Les Snead is going to have to have success early in the draft if this team is going to take the next step.

How far are the St. Louis Rams from the playoffs? They could make it this season, but then again, playing in the NFC West and having a difficult schedule it doesn’t seem all that likely. Until they can solidify an offense they’ve been trying to repair for the last ten years, they aren’t going to be a serious threat, and when they finally do that, it might be time fill the holes on the other side of the ball.

It’s just a constant circle that the Rams must get out of to end the 11 year playoff drought.

Next: The Risk Of Taking A Wide Receiver For St. Louis

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