Time to Bring an End to the Jeff Fisher Era in St. Louis

The St. Louis Rams are done. They've lost four straight games after a 4-3 start, all but ensuring they'll finish out of the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. 

They've been coached in the last four of those seasons by Jeff Fisher, who should not be given a fifth chance to right a ship that may be en route to a revival in Los Angeles. 

Fisher's Rams hit rock bottom Sunday with an noncompetitive, embarrassing 31-7 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. It was their second 24-point loss in three weeks, and it marked the fourth time this year in which they were defeated by at least two touchdowns.

	Record	Scoring offense	Scoring defense
First 7 games	4-3	19.3	17.9
Last 4 games	0-4	12.8	26.3

For a team with as much talent as St. Louis has on both sides of the ball—and particularly in the defensive front seven—that can't happen. 

Chris Long, Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, Janoris Jenkins, William Hayes. Todd Gurley, Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Nick Foles. At various points in the last four years: Jake Long, Scott Wells, Rodger Saffold, Michael Brockers, Alec Ogletree, James Laurinaitis, Sam Bradford, Jarek Cook, Joe Barksdale, Cortland Finnegan, Steven Jackson, Danny Amendola. 

The Rams have never lacked high-quality football players, and yet they're now 24-34-1 during Fisher's three-and-a-half seasons as head coach. 

	Winning %	Finish
2012	7-8-1 (.469)	3rd
2013	7-9 (.438)	4th
2014	6-10 (.375)	4th
2015	4-7 (.364)*	3rd*
Total	24-34-1 (.407)	N/A

We've reached that classic juncture when people begin to question a long-struggling team's work ethic. That's never good, and it's worse when the long-struggling team's longtime head coach loses his cool and begins to crack. 

"Anyone implies that it's an effort issue, they can kiss my ass," a testy Fisher said Sunday, per ESPN.com's Nick Wagoner. "There's no effort problems on this team. That's what happens when teams lose four in a row is people say it's effort. Come to practice, watch this team play, and ask any other opponent or opposing coach. It's not an effort issue right now."

Instead, Fisher pinned his team's struggles on "execution" (or a lack thereof), which sounds a lot like a wise man falling on his sword. 

This is a lose-lose situation for Fisher. Either your guys aren't playing hard for you, or you're not doing a good enough job preparing them. 

Further, "it's Fisher who picked the players who don't execute on a weekly basis," as Wagoner points out:

"

It's Fisher who hired the staff that coaches the players who don't execute. It's Fisher who puts together the game plans that have yielded a 24-34-1 record since he took over. It's Fisher who has overseen a team that has posted a record that has gotten progressively worse each season of his tenure and might bottom out this year unless there are wins left on the schedule that aren't apparent to the naked eye.

"

The thing about Fisher is he's been overrated most of his career, riding a hot five-year stretch with the Tennessee Titans for the majority of his 21 years as a head coach. During that hot streak, he and the very talented Titans—built almost entirely by general manager Floyd Reese—won at least 11 games four times in five years. 

Those were the days of Steve McNair, Eddie George, Jevon Kearse, Frank Wycheck, Samari Rolle, Derrick Mason, Keith Bulluck and Albert Haynesworth. Similar to this batch of Rams teams except with a quarterback. 

Outside of that five-year window, Fisher has finished with a winning record just twice in 15 years. He's been to the playoffs just twice in the last decade, he hasn't won a postseason game since 2003, and his only Super Bowl appearance (a loss) came in the previous millennium. 

	Seasons	Record	Playoffs	Winning seasons
1999-2003 with Titans	5	56-24	5-4	4
Everything else	16	110-130	0-2	2

So why should anyone expect Fisher to suddenly turn it around right now? 

It's true, Fisher hasn't been blessed with even a semblance of consistency at the quarterback position. He's not responsible for Bradford, who was chosen as a potential savior by the previous regime. But he has blood on his hands from the offseason trade for Foles, who is the second-lowest rated qualified passer in the NFL and has already been benched. 

Time to cut bait. 

"I've lost four in a row, so no," Fisher said Sunday. "That's not acceptable, but we're going to keep working at it."

Barring a miraculous turnaround between now and Jan. 3, somebody else should be working at it come 2016. 

Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.

Follow @Brad_Gagnon