Los Angeles Rams: The Greatest Show on Turf
As of now, the Los Angeles Rams are one of the better offenses in the NFL. However, that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, the franchise went through five-straight losing seasons from 1990 through 1994 — then headed to St. Louis in 1995. They still struggled there as the then-St. Louis Rams, with four more losing seasons from 1995 through 1998.
These weren’t just losing seasons either, they were ugly campaigns. Los Angeles/St. Louis lost at least 10 games in every one of those seasons except for one, which was in 1995 when they were 7-9. Then, something changed, as the 1999 Rams took the NFL by storm.
For the second time on this list, we reference Kurt Warner taking over as the starting quarterback and leading his team to success. While we talked about him doing so late in his career with the Arizona Cardinals, he actually broke out in 1999 with the Rams.
Originally the backup to Trent Green, Warner came in after a knee injury ended the season for Green. Warner was an unknown kid at the time, who played in the Arena Football League from 1995 through 1997 and the NFL Europe in 1998. At 28 years old, he became a first-time starter for the Rams and threw for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdowns.
Warner won NFL MVP that season, but was far from the only star on “The Greatest Show on Turf.” The offensively stacked Rams also had running back Marshall Faulk, as well as receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Ricky Proehl and Az-Zahir Hakim.
The speed that this offense had was incredible to watch and impossible to stop. The Rams ended up winning 13 games and then took out the Tennessee Titans for their first-ever Super Bowl win in franchise history.