Can the Rams climb the mountain to relevance in Los Angeles?

The Los Angeles Rams have a big mountain to climb to claim some needed relevance in the LA market. With USC, UCLA, and now the Chargers as city neighbors, wining is more critical than ever. And they can’t wait much longer to do that.

Los Angeles Rams fans have options. They actually have lots of them. In LA, the proximity to beaches, attractions, and entertainment can make the competition for how a dollar is spent a tough one. Add to that highly competitive, and historically tied football teams in USC and UCLA, and competition is even more stiff.

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Which is a long winded way of saying that the Rams have some work to do in the competition for those LA dollars.

So do the Chargers.

NFL football is no mortal lock in Los Angeles for one team, much less two. The league will quickly begin to find out if a city like LA can have such saturation over a weekend and still have a popular, in demand product on Sunday afternoons.

As things stand now, it’s hard to make an argument that either the Rams or Chargers top the list of “must see.” Southern Cal football and maybe even UCLA lead that list. USC might even have the number #1 overall pick at quarterback come fall, making Trojan football a potentially more compelling story in Los Angeles.

So how do the Rams compete?

Well, being interesting in a good way helps.

But the first priority is to not be the team they were last year. LA has made the right moves in putting forth a much fresher product that has generated some optimism, a sentiment sorely missing the last few years. The Rams also have a large group of young players who might be stars in coming seasons, and if Jared Goff can play the way a top overall draft pick SHOULD play, well, they just might stumble onto something good.

Ultimately, it’ll boil down to one thing.
Winning.

Winning is that soothing balm that can make a lot of what has happened in recent memory go away. Winning makes a stadium opening a year later not such a big deal. Winning fixes the mistakes, justifies paying $100.00 dollars to park a car, and makes the Coliseum something other than an old, gray dated venue.

Winning fixes everything.

Almost.

It’s a fair and reasonable question to wonder if the Los Angeles Rams can be the top dog in a city that has USC football. Don’t forget, the Trojans didn’t leave for 20 years and come back expecting a dedicated fan base. They’ll have to earn it, and that won’t be easy.

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But winning will help. Winning always helps everything.

Except maybe in LA, where at the very least you need to be interesting.

Interesting in a good way, that is.