When people talk about the greatest teams of the late eighties, the 1989 Los Angeles Rams usually get shoved into a corner. They didn't win the Super Bowl. They weren't the "Team of the Decade." Honestly, they spent most of the year playing second fiddle to a San Francisco 49ers squad that looked like it was designed in a lab by Bill Walsh and God. But if you actually lived through that season, you know that John Robinson’s Rams were the only ones who really made the Niners sweat.
They were gritty. They were high-flying. They had Jim Everett in his absolute prime, long before the Jim Rome incident turned him into a punchline.
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The Air Raid Before It Was Cool
The 1989 Los Angeles Rams finished 11-5, which sounds good but doesn't quite capture the chaos. This was a team built on a paradox. On one hand, you had John Robinson, a guy who basically wanted to run the "Student Body Right" play until the defense's ribs cracked. On the other, you had Ernie Zampese, an offensive coordinator who was essentially a mad scientist. Zampese was running an early version of what we’d now recognize as a modern vertical attack.
Jim Everett threw for 4,310 yards that year. In 1989, those were video game numbers. You have to remember, this was an era where most quarterbacks were lucky to sniff 3,000 yards without throwing 25 interceptions. Everett was surgical. He had Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson on the outside, and it’s basically criminal that Ellard isn't in the Hall of Fame yet. Ellard finished with 1,382 yards, while Anderson added 1,146.
Speaking of Flipper Anderson, we need to talk about November 26, 1989. The Rams went into New Orleans and Flipper went nuclear. 15 catches. 336 yards. One game. That record still stands today. It’s been over 35 years and nobody—not Jerry Rice, not Randy Moss, not Justin Jefferson—has touched it. The Rams won that game 20-17 in overtime, and it basically proved that when Everett and his receivers were in sync, they were fundamentally unguardable.
The Defensive Identity
It wasn't all just air yards and Flipper Anderson sprints. The defense had some serious teeth, even if they were overshadowed by the "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" in New York or the Niners' superstars. Kevin Greene was a terrifying human being. He had 16.5 sacks that year, playing with a motor that honestly seemed kind of dangerous for everyone else on the field. He was the emotional heartbeat.
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Then you had the secondary. Jerry Gray was a Pro Bowler, and LeRoy Irvin was still a factor. They were opportunistic. They had to be, because the offense scored so fast that the defense was back on the field before they could catch their breath. They forced 37 turnovers. Think about that. That's over two takeaways a game. If you gave Jim Everett that many extra possessions, you were asking for a 40-point blowout.
The Playoff Run and the SF Nightmare
The Rams entered the playoffs as a Wild Card. They had to go on the road, which is never fun. First stop: Philly. The "Buddy Ryan" era Eagles. They beat them 21-7. Then they went to New York to face the Giants in the Divisional round.
This is the game everyone remembers. Flipper Anderson caught a 30-yard touchdown pass in overtime and just... kept running. He ran right through the end zone, through the tunnel, and into the locker room. The Giants fans were stunned. The Rams were in the NFC Championship.
But then came the wall. The San Francisco 49ers.
If you want to understand the heartbreak of the 1989 Los Angeles Rams, you have to look at the NFC Championship game. They got smoked 30-3. It was ugly. It was the game where Everett "shrank" under the pressure of the Niners' pass rush, leading to the infamous "phantom sack" talk that dogged him for the rest of his career. It’s sort of unfair, honestly. The 1989 Niners were arguably the greatest team in NFL history. Nobody was beating them that day.
Why We Still Care
People look back at this team as a "what if." What if they had played the AFC champion Denver Broncos instead of the Niners? They probably would have won. The Broncos got annihilated 55-10 in the Super Bowl. The Rams were clearly the second-best team in football that year, but they just happened to exist in the same division as a buzzsaw.
They represented the end of an era for the L.A. Rams before the move to St. Louis. They were the last time the "Los Angeles" version of the team felt like a true heavyweight contender until the McVay era started decades later.
If you’re looking to truly appreciate this squad, don't just look at the 30-3 loss in the playoffs. Look at the regular season. Look at the way Everett stepped into throws with 300-pounders bearing down on him.
Next Steps for the Hardcore Fan:
- Watch the Flipper Anderson Highlights: Go find the footage of the 336-yard game against the Saints. The route running is a masterclass in Zampese’s system.
- Re-evaluate the "Phantom Sack": Watch the NFC Championship game again with a neutral eye. You’ll see a quarterback who had been hit about 20 times in 30 minutes. It wasn't cowardice; it was survival.
- Study the 1990 Draft: The Rams tried to build on this success but arguably missed on a few key picks that could have sustained the run, which is a great case study in how small windows are in the NFL.
- Compare to the "Greatest Show on Turf": Look at the passing concepts Zampese used in '89 and see how they paved the way for Mike Martz a decade later. The DNA is exactly the same.
The 1989 Rams weren't perfect, but they were the most exciting thing in Los Angeles for a very long time. They proved that you could be elite and still be a footnote, which is a tough pill to swallow, but a great story nonetheless.