NFL News: St. Louis Rams Offensive Coordinator Fired

In NFL news, the St. Louis Rams have fired their offensive coordinator, Frank Cignetti, according to NFL.

St. Louis Rams fire offensive coordinator

Offensively, the St. Louis Rams are next to last in the NFL, leading a San Francisco 49ers team that has lost Colin Kaepernick, Michael Crabtree, Anthony Davis, Mike Iupati, Vernon Davis, and Frank Gore over the past season. Their passing attack ranks dead last, with the Rams being one of only three teams in the entire league that cannot average more than 200 yards a game. If not for the sensational rookie season of Todd Gurley, who is on track to gain more than 1,300 yards this season, St. Louis would have nothing on offense.

No offensive coordinator in the NFL, including Frank Cignetti, wants that on their resume. After a humiliating loss, their fifth in a row, to the Arizona Cardinals, where the St. Louis Rams only put up three measly points, head coach Jeff Fisher had to throw down the hammer. It landed on Cignetti. Frank had been with Jeff since 2012, serving as the quarterbacks coach initially before being promoted to the offensive coordinator post after Brian Schottenheimer left for the college ranks.

Very often in football, a division between players can emerge whenever one unit feels that the other is not carrying their weight. That is what is happening with the St. Louis Rams. Though their defense is ranked No. 18 in the NFL right now, a big part of that is because of the ineptness of the offense. Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is watching his guys spend way too much time on the field because Nick Foles and the passing game cannot eat up enough clock and gain enough yards.

It is hard to blame the St. Louis Rams defensive players for being upset. They have a unit that can contend for the Super Bowl. Chris Long, Aaron Donald, Michael Brockers, Robert Quinn and Nick Fairley form one of the most feared defensive line rotations in the NFL. They can go up against most offensive lines and win the battles in the trenches. James Laurinaitis is still one of the best linebackers around. Janoris Jenkins, Mark Barron and T.J. McDonald lead a capable secondary. They just need help from the offense.

Before the NFL regular season started, the St. Louis Rams decided to roll the dice by calling Chip Kelly to see if the Philadelphia Eagles would be willing to part ways with Nick Foles. The team had grown tired of waiting for Sam Bradford to remain healthy enough to contribute. The Rams were so excited about Foles that they signed him to a two-year contract extension worth a little over $24.5 million. Unfortunately for them, they have yet to see a return on that investment.

Nick Foles can be a good quarterback in the NFL. We saw what he was capable of when he was extremely comfortable running the high octane offensive scheme created by Chip Kelly. The Philadelphia Eagles have struggled since swapping quarterbacks with the St. Louis Rams, which is a sign that Foles was much better than they thought he was. The reason why he has struggled this season is because the offensive scheme is lacking. Jeff Fisher is going to need to find someone to come in and help Foles out.

Do you think that Jeff Fisher can survive another season if the St. Louis Rams offense continues to struggle?

[Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images]