The 2011 St. Louis Rams weren’t playing for a division title this season; they were playing for a chance at Andrew Luck. With a 2-14 record, they were close, but the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts will get that pick instead. The Rams may have been one of the worst teams in terms of producing fantasy points this season, but did see a couple players succeed. Who are the biggest surprise and disappointments, and which star can say they were the Rams 2011 fantasy MVP?

MVP – Steven Jackson

Jackson didn’t have the best season of his career, but he surpassed 1,000 yards for the seventh straight season. He finished the campaign with 1,145 yards and five touchdowns, while also adding 42 catches for 333 yards and an additional score. Jackson will continue to be a late first or early second round selection next season, but would benefit greatly from a more stabilized offensive system.

Biggest Surprise – Brandon Lloyd

When the Denver Broncos traded one of the best wide receivers from 2010, fantasy GMs had to wonder what was wrong. He averaged nearly five catches a game during the four games he was a Bronco this season, but failed to reach the end zone. In 11 games as a Ram, Lloyd made 51 catches for 683 yards with five touchdowns, becoming one of the top-two fantasy threats for the Rams.

Biggest Disappointment – Sam Bradford

The second year quarterback was expected to make the Rams contenders in the normally weak NFC West, but after playing in just 10 games this season, there had to be serious discussion about drafting Luck if they got the first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft. After putting up more than 3,500 yards with 18 touchdowns, Bradford regressed in 2011, throwing for 2,164 yards and six touchdowns. There are going to be a couple of top quarterbacks in the draft that could pose a problem to Bradford ever becoming a star in the NFL. If the Rams can’t get Luck, maybe Robert Griffin III could be a solid fit for St. Louis.

For a closer look at All-Injury teams for all major fantasy positions and biggest stars and busts from each NFL team, click here.

More from this contributor:

LeSean McCoy is Top Fantasy Running Back in 2011

Backup Running Backs to make Splash in 2011

Don’t Give up on These Players too Early

Drafting Individual Defensive Players?

Top 2011 Fantasy Football Rookies

Hobson Lopes has been playing fantasy football for more than 10 years and can be followed on Twitter @HobsonLopes.

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According to a post-game report today by cbssports.com, St. Louis Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo says the Rams have:

“character and fight…to build anything, the base has to have a rock-solid foundation and that’s there,” he said.  “We’ve got to wait eight months to play a game, but I’m glad that’s there.”

The question in St. Louis right now is who will be the head coach for that game in eight months?  

That decision is expected to be announced on Monday, according to a report by Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, who cites league sources.  

In three seasons under Steve Spagnuolo, the Rams went 10-38.  

Hopes were high in St. Louis entering 2011.  

Many picked the Rams to win the NFC West.  Michael Lombardi of the NFL Network asserted that St. Louis would be the league’s breakout team.  

However, the Rams faltered during an 0-6 start before winning two of three, including the season’s biggest win, an upset victory at the Edward Jones Dome over record-setting Drew Brees and the playoff-bound New Orleans Saints. 

But then they lost their final seven contests, including the finale today at home versus NFC West champion San Francisco.  

In Spagnuolo’s defense, however, the Rams players never seemed to quit and the roster was ravaged by injuries throughout the year.

Some notable players lost for the season include Sam Bradford’s top receiving target, Danny Amendola (as well as rookie Greg Salas), the teams’ top three cornerbacks (Ron Bartell, Bradley Fletcher and Jerome Murphy) and both starting offensive tackles (Rodger Saffold, Jason Smith)—among others.

The team also lost three-time Pro Bowl running back Steven Jackson for several games before suffering long-term injuries to quarterbacks Sam Bradford and A.J. Feeley.

With that said, 2-14 is still 2-14. And 10-38 is still 10-38.  

In the NFL, it’s the bottom line that counts. And the bottom line doesn’t look good for Spagnuolo’s Rams. Expect him to be relieved of his head coaching duties as early as Monday.

According to a report by Albert Breer of the NFL Network, Jeff Fisher is ready to return to coaching. The St. Louis Rams and San Diego Chargers are listed as possible options for Fisher.  

Shane Gray covers the St. Louis Rams year round. To check out the rest of his work, go here.  You are also encouraged to follow him here on Twitter.   

ST. LOUIS (AP) — If Chris Long gets a sack in the St. Louis Rams’ finale Sunday, he will top the best season ever put together by his Hall of Fame father.

In his mind, he’ll still be playing catch-up.

Chris Long has 13 sacks, tied with Howie Long’s personal-best total from 1983. The younger Long points out dad played most of his career as a tackle in a 3-4 defense. That made it a lot tougher to rush the passer, so to measure up Chris Long guessed he would need 22 sacks to earn some family bragging rights.

Long said he is happy to be enjoying his best year, despite the Rams’ struggles. St. Louis (2-13) hosts San Francisco (12-3) this weekend to wrap up a disappointing season.

He’s not interested in a competition anyway.

“Let’s be real,” Long said. “I don’t really look to compete with my pops. I don’t know what he did that year but he had to fight a lot of double teams, so it’s pretty remarkable.”

Howie Long totaled 84 sacks in a 13-year career with the Raiders and had three straight years in double digits from 1983-85. The 51-year-old Long, now an analyst with Fox Sports, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2000.

Chris Long’s total this season is sixth in the NFL and he’s come on strong with 10 sacks in the last nine games, even while nursing a high left ankle sprain that kept him out of most practices for several weeks but never held him back on game day. He also has 13 quarterback hits.

Long has been on the field more this week and said the ankle has “gotten a ton better.”

“It takes time to heal and they’ve given me that time by cutting down my reps a lot,” Long said. “I feel like it’s paid off a lot.”

So yes, he’s happy with the progress he’s made. He’s built on the sack total each year, getting four in ’08, five in ’09 and 8.5 last season.

“Individually, I’d say I’m proud of my effort and what I’ve put into it,” he said. “I’m not disappointed in myself, I feel like I’ve worked hard and I’ll continue to work hard.”

Long’s realistic about where he stands among pass rushers. There’s no disappointment he was passed over in Pro Bowl balloting, although he, running back Steven Jackson and middle linebacker James Laurinaitis were picks as alternates. Expectations for the announcement were so low for Long he was at the movies enjoying “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” when he began to get texts offering condolences.

He has no quibble with those picked ahead of him. Minnesota’s Jared Allen and Philadelphia’s Jason Babin are starters and the Giants’ Jason Pierre-Paul is a reserve.

“If you’d asked me to pick the Pro Bowl, I would have picked it that way,” Long said. “I don’t think I’m one of the top three defensive ends or that I had one of the top three defensive end years in the NFC, so I think it’s fair. What happened is what’s supposed to happen. I think there are three awesome players there.”

A better season for the Rams no doubt would have raised his standing. If they finish with a loss against the NFC West champion 49ers and the Colts win at Jacksonville, the Rams would get the No. 1 draft pick for the second time in three years, plus they won only two games in Long’s rookie year.

So he’d take more wins over recognition.

“I mean, it’s been really frustrating. To have two wins at this point in the season, it’s unacceptable,” Long said. “There’s no way around that. We haven’t played to our potential and I guess we have only one more game to show what our potential is.”

Some fans want the St. Louis Rams’ ownership to blow up the franchise and begin again with new front office personnel, coaches and players.

The way the 2-12 Rams have been playing, it’s a tempting thought. And perhaps dynamite the Edward Jones Dome while you are at it.

Just kidding — I think.

When you talk about the Rams, nothing seems safe. They’ve gone from disappointing to pointedly disturbing in a perplexing season marred by numerous injuries and various frustration factors.

The bottom line is they aren’t getting it done and that’s the most unacceptable point in what had the makings of a promising season. Remember, the Rams went 7-9 last year, but it was a six-game improvement over their 2009 season, when they won once.

And St. Louis was within a victory of making the 2010 playoffs. It came down to the final week when Seattle beat the Rams and entered the postseason as the NFC West champs at 7-9.

The West Division could be the worst one in the NFL and that’s another sticking point to the Rams’ Lost Season. San Francisco has improved tremendously since last season. Seattle and Arizona seemed mired with the Rams in mediocrity early in 2011, but both the Seahawks and Cardinals have found their mojo.

While the division-champion 49ers were 11-3 heading into weekend play, the Seahawks and Cardinals were 7-7. That’s a further indictment of the Rams, five games behind Seattle and Arizona. St. Louis is the only team in the West that has gotten progressively worse. The Rams could be battling Indianapolis and Minnesota for the No. 1 draft pick.

That’s serious stuff. The Rams are a mess now for a multitude of reasons and I don’t know if having the first, second or third draft choice will help them that much.

Maybe it’s time for owner Stan Kroenke to turn the dogs loose in ferreting out the underachievers and erasing the trouble spots and going in a different direction. But which trail should the Rams take?

They have a young quarterback to build around, but a receiving corps that’s slim to none. So unless they stockpile a load of quality receivers quickly, you’d think they could prop up their running game first.

Steven Jackson’s still around, though he’s not getting any younger or more durable with a shaky and oft-injured offensive line in front of him. Thus unless the Rams devise a way to boost their woebegone offense, they are back where they started.

It’s a team that can’t pass or run effectively, and those teams rarely win in the NFL. Or they win two of their first 14 games.

I could be wrong about this, but I don’t think a quick fix or cosmetic makeover is going to turn the Rams into a beauty of a franchise. It’s going to take some deep soul-searching and deciding upon a plan that makes the most sense in getting this team up to speed with at least their West Division competitors.

It’s called an identity and right now the Rams have none. Their defense is credible, but they can’t rely on any one phase of their team to supply them with a win.

Saddled with an identity crisis, the Rams prove to be just good enough to lose.

Thus, rolling hand grenades through the front office, coaches’ quarters and locker room may be necessary. But if the Rams go thermonuclear, they should just be careful what they wish for — there’s always unwanted fallout.

On the other hand, it surely can’t get worse than it has been this season. The 1-15 campaign two years ago wasn’t this aggravating.

The St. Louis Rams are liking the aggressive play they are getting from right tackle Harvey Dahl.

Even it sometimes comes at a price.

Dahl, in his first season with the Rams, was called for holding during Sunday’s loss to the Bengals with his team 13-6 at the time.

He got an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, too, perhaps because he used a profanity that was picked up on the microphone of referee Jerome Boger. It was just a matter of time before the play — with the audio — wound up on YouTube.

Dahl said the incident was atypical for him although he is known for his physical style of play. And the Rams (2-12) need every spark they can get this season with a visit to Pittsburgh (10-4) on Saturday up next.

“I learned a lesson. You can’t say anything to the refs. That’s my fault,” Dahl said Thursday. “That was frustration there. I made a bad situation worse. Obviously, you’ve got to stay composed there. I hurt my team. I didn’t know the microphone was on.”

Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo did not delve into the correctness of the call on Dahl.

“I’m going to have to give it the old, ‘No comment,’” Spagnuolo said.

Dahl has had a solid season. He started the first 11 games at right guard before sliding over to right tackle the last four weeks. He started 43 games at right guard for Atlanta before coming to St. Louis.

The Rams have gotten what they wanted this year from Dahl, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said.

“When we got Harvey, we thought we were going to get a guy that was going to add some toughness,” McDaniels said. “He’s a great worker. He’s a great example for what we want our young guys to see. He’s been so unselfish with his role and what we’ve asked of him this year that I couldn’t say enough good things about him. (I’m) real glad to have him on our football team.”

Running back Steven Jackson agreed.

“He brings that attitude, that edge that you want upfront out of your guys,” Jackson said. “He’s pretty athletic and versatile that he can play two positions. You can see why he was really sought after in free agency.”

Dahl moved to tackle when Jason Smith suffered a concussion against Dallas.

“It’s a challenge,” Dahl said of the move. “It’s different technique. I feel like it’s going all right. I think it’s working out well. To help out and doing what the team needs is important. They ran it by me and I was open to it.”

That versatility has caught Spagnuolo’s eye.

“It’s not easy to go from guard to tackle,” Spagnuolo said. “With some of the people you see out on the edge there, he’s going to be challenged again this week and yet I think he functions really well. That’s a credit to him. I’m sure glad we’ve got him and I like the kind of guy he is. He’s good for our football team and he’s been really key with all the injuries we’ve had to be able to put him out there at right tackle.”

While Dahl has played well at tackle, Spagnuolo said he hasn’t pondered making it permanent.

“I’m not sure I’ve even thought that way yet,” Spagnuolo said. “But I know one thing, it’s nice to have a guy that can do both. It really is, that’s good to have.”

Notes: QB Sam Bradford (ankle), A.J. Feeley (thumb), CB Justin King (shoulder) did not practice. Bradford remains doubtful for Saturday’s game at Pittsburgh. … CB Josh Gordy (abdomen) returned to practice.