The St. Louis Rams Officially Release Marc Bulger

Marc Bulger cleaned out his locker on Feb. 16, 2010. Ever since then, we have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. There have been protestations to the contrary, but everyone expected the Rams to release Marc, and save the $8.5 million starting-QB salary they were scheduled to pay him. The official word came around 3:30 p.m. St. Louis time.  This news just happened to fall on his 33 birthday.  Unless Marc really, really wanted to be released, there is something of a sick organizational joke here.  

Now it will cost something in the neighborhood of $45 million over three years to sign young Sam Bradford... if that is what we intend to do. The scuttlebutt holds that young Bradford won't sign a contract before draft day... and that's just for starters. Other less reputable reports, stemming from John Clayton on ESPN, maintain that it will be difficult for the Rams to sign Bradford, period.

Bulger finishes as the Rams' second all-time leading passer behind Jim Everett, a QB he had much in common with, save durability and a temper.  

Bulger's Passing Stats with the Rams

Year	G-S	Passing Att.-Comp.	Yards	Pct.	TD	Int.	Long	Sacks-Lost	Pass Rating
2001	0-0	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
2002	7-7	138-214	1,826	64.5	14	6	58	12-102	101.5
2003	15-15	336-532	3,845	63.2	22	22	45	37-288	81.4
2004	14-14	321-485	3,964	66.2	21	14	77t	41-302	93.7
2005	8-8	192-287	2,297	66.9	14	9	67t	26-188	94.4
2006	16-16	370-558	4,301	62.9	24	8	87t	49-366	92.9
2007	12-12	221-378	2,392	58.5	11	15	68	37-269	70.3
2008	15-15	251-440	2,720	57.0	11	13	80t	38-263	71.4
2009	9-8	140-247	1,469	56.7	5	6	50	14-85	70.7
Totals	96-95	1,969-3,171	22,814	62.1	122	93	87t	254-1,863	84.4

How will the Bulger era be remembered? It started off very well, and then it collapsed on a seemingly endless series of injuries. These were largely a consequence of poor protection. The Rams are the only team to allow 40+ sacks in each of the past nine seasons.  

During Bulger's eight years as a starter, the Rams' offensive line permitted 46, 43, 50,46,49,48,45, and 44 sacks respectively. Teams with quality lines permit 20 or fewer sacks per season. In the early years, our sack totals were somewhat understandable, as the Rams threw deep and went after the big play. In the later years, as the Rams transformed into a run-first, short-passing team, these sack totals were inexcusable. It is difficult to chastise a QB who suffers from such poor protection.

The Rams’ Poor protection through the years

Year	Sacks Allowed	Pass Attemps	PPS	Rank
1999	33	530	16.06	7
2000	44	587	13.34	21
2001	40	551	13.78	17
2002	46	635	13.80	27
2003	43	600	13.95	24
2004	50	580	11.60	27
2005	46	599	13.02	26
2006	49	592	12.08	27
2007	48	574	11.96	27
2008	45	520	11.56	27
2009	44	543	12.34	25

The real calamity that befell Marc Bulger-and the Rams-was the firing of Mike Martz and the hiring of Scott Linehan as head coach. The consequences of this act cannot be over-stated. The Rams are at the bottom of the heap now, largely because of this one move.  Linehan will forever be known as the man who destroyed the greatest show on turf.

It is commonly thought that Bulger will be signed by another team in search of a quality backup. The San Francisco 49ers are a team frequently mentioned with this connection.