We found out who chiefsfan1963 is

[ChiefsCountry]

Its Jeff Gordon from STL Post-Dispatch

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/spo...7?OpenDocument

[ChiefsCountry]

Time to Bring Back Vermeil
Jeff Gordon

Chip Rosenbloom will make changes if the Rams don’t start winning football games. He made that promise to the Post-Dispatch on Monday during a phone interview from Los Angeles.

So that’s a start. The team’s owner-for-now realizes the franchise can’t operate this way.

The Rams have lost 15 of their last 18 games and 22 of their last 29.

Al Saunders is positioned to replace Scott Linehan on an interim basis this season, if need be. But as my P-D colleagues have observed, the franchise’s issues extend well past the head coach’s office.

Sweeping changes are in order.

The Rams need a strong football man to assume control of this operation. If Rosenbloom decides to sell the team, the next owner must hire a commanding leader -– as Blues owner David Checketts did by wooing John Davidson.

If the family wants to keep the team for a few more years, then it needs to bring in a friend capable of righting the ship. The first guy to call: Dick Vermeil.

STLtoday.com users wish Vermeil would come back and coach the team. But why not bring him back as team president and put him in charge of the football operation?

Why not ask him to play Marv Levy for the next few years, long enough to turn things around?

With Vermeil in charge, the football operation could regroup with minimal bloodshed. Here is how it could play out:

John Shaw could finally step aside as team president and remain an advisor to Chip Rosenbloom in LA. His close relationship with Vermeil would make this an easy step.

Jay Zygmunt could continue managing the salary cap and negotiate contracts, but he would no longer have input on football decisions. He, too, has worked well with Vermeil.

Marshall Faulk could come aboard as Vermeil’s right-hand personnel man. If Faulk wants to run a football operation some day, this would a great way to learn that job.

Billy Devaney, a fine personnel man in his own right, could continue running the draft. Aside from injuries, his ’08 group is shaping up pretty good.

Saunders, a close Vermeil ally, would be the natural head coaching choice in this scenario. He is an “up” guy, like Vermeil, and he understands that there are no short cuts.

The Rams must change their organizational culture, just as the franchise needed back in the 1990s when Vermeil replaced Rich Brooks.

Back then, the Rams were laughingstocks of the NFL. And they are laughingstocks now.

If Chip wants to honor his mother -- and he is quite sincere about that -– then he could summon Vermeil, ASAP, and give him whatever he needs to make all this happen.

He could change the atmosphere at Rams Park. He would raise the energy level. He would get in everybody’s face. He would weed out the weak and incompetent.

Vermeil also could win back the fans. He could engage the business community.

He could protect the value of the franchise for the owners. He is a one-man marketing dynamo.

Vermeil visited the Rams in training camp. He has a handle on the team. He knows all the key figures in the organization.

He is the only guy capable of rallying the group without making more change than Rosenbloom may be comfortable with. Vermeil is the best solution for a franchise facing major, major problems.

[BigMeatballDave]

How do you know?

[MTG#10]

My scrotum itches.