Jeff Fisher Rumors: Veteran Coach Close to Accepting St. Louis Rams Job

Jeff Fisher's one-year hiatus from the NFL is coming to an end, and what better place for a re-entry than the Gateway City?

According to Mike Freeman of CBS Sports, the former head coach of the Tennessee Titans is "95 percent certain" to accept a standing offer to lead the St. Louis Rams.

Why not 100 percent, you ask? Check the pockets of Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. You'll probably find them to be pretty deep. Until Fisher signs on the dotted line in St. Louis, there remains a chance, however slim, that Ross will swoop in at the 11th hour with a Godfather offer.

You know, the sort of offer he couldn't quite muster up in time to bring Jim Harbaugh to South Beach when the coaching carousel went spinning off its axis last season.

Fisher also remains a bit trepidatious about the possibility of Rams owner Stan Kroenke moving the team to Los Angeles. Kroenke is known to be a close acquaintance of Philip Anschutz, the Denver-based entertainment magnate and the head of the very same Anschutz Entertainment Group that's spearheading the effort to coax an NFL team to play in downtown LA.

Why, exactly, Fisher would be averse to such a shift is unknown, though it would seem to be a perfect fit nonetheless. Fisher is a native Angeleno who played football at Taft High School before moving on to USC and later a four-year stint with the Chicago Bears. He also spent a season as the defensive coordinator for the Rams during their earlier days in Los Angeles.

And it's not like Fisher hasn't been through a franchise move before. He was the head coach of the Houston Oilers when they skipped town in 1997 to become the Tennessee Titans.

Wherever the Rams play, they'll be glad to have an experienced, defensive-minded coach with Fisher's pedigree at the helm. He sports a career record of 142-120 from 17 seasons at the helm of the Oilers/Titans franchise, during which his teams made six playoff appearances and finished with non-losing records 11 times.

Of course, St. Louis' last head coach, Steve Spagnuolo, came from a defensive background, though that did little to prevent the Rams from, well, not preventing their opponents from moving the ball and scoring at will this season.

If the Rams are going to bounce back from their disappointing 2-14 season and get back to playing with the promise they showed in 2010, they'll need to make sure things are secure on the personnel side with a capable replacement for former GM Billy Devaney. Whoever winds up in the front office will inherit a team in desperate need of reinforcements along the offensive line, out wide and in the defensive backfield.

No easy task, to be sure, but having a coach of Fisher's experience should make the transition a relatively smooth one.

As for Fisher, he certainly can't mind taking over a team that's already set at quarterback and running back with Sam Bradford and Steven Jackson, respectively. He would have neither if he were to end up in Miami, unless anyone actually thinks Matt Moore and Reggie Bush constitute long-term solutions for the 'Fins.

In any case, we'll have to wait for the proverbial fat lady to belt out her tune before we pencil in the NFL's Lorax lookalike to be the next man roaming the sidelines at the Edward Jones Dome.

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