In the aftermath of the St. Louis Rams 33-6 defeat in Seattle, the question now must be asked: when will Scott Linehan get the axe?

Fans in the city are furious with the head coach, and for good reason. The team is 0-7 for the first time in the history of the franchise, dating back to the days when they were the Cleveland Rams. They have played 72 seasons, and this is the worst start the team has ever gotten off to.

For his part, team president John Shaw shot down any rumors that he was considering firing Linehan during the team's week 9 bye. He told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Jim Thomas, ""There will be no coaching changes during the bye week. No one's happy about 0-7, including our head coach. But that's ridiculous."

In fairness, the franchise's fall into despair shouldn't lie completely on Linehan's shoulders. There are many people to blame, starting with the front office and Shaw, who resides year round in Los Angeles. It's hard to hold people accountable from half a nation away. There have also been bad drafts and poor free agent signings, but other teams have encountered those problems as well, and they aren't as inept as the Rams.

There isn't even a single bright area for fans to cling to. The defense has certainly played decently of late, but looking at the numbers will elicit shudders throughout Rams nation. Consider, in the 32 team NFL, this is how the Rams rank in important offensive and defensive categories:

Offense
Yards per game: 274.6 - 30th
Rushing yards per game: 82.6 - 28th
Passing yards per game: 192.0 - 25th
Third-down percentage: 34.4 - 27th
Interceptions thrown: 15 - 32nd
Sacks allowed: 24 - 28th
Rushing touchdowns: 0 - 32nd
Offensive touchdowns: 5 - 32nd
Points per game: 11.3 - 32nd

Defense
Rushing yards per game: 129.6 - 24th
Sacks: 10 - 22nd
Interceptions: 5 - 22nd
Points per game: 27.4 - 27th

As you can see by the numbers, the problems with this team are myriad. Will firing Scott Linehan in the middle of the season change anything in 2007? Probably not - the team is too far gone for that to happen. But unless the team pulls a miraculous turn around, Linehan surely won't be around in 2008. Nor would he deserve to be.

(Photo: Flickr)