On Monday, Dec. 26, St. Louis Rams cornerback Justin King was ruled out of the team’s season finale at home against the San Francisco 49ers. King is the fourth Rams cornerback lost to a season-ending injury.

King didn’t fly back to St. Louis with the rest of the team after the Rams’ 27-0 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers. Instead, he is being examined in Pittsburgh. It’s possible King’s shoulder could require surgery.

King’s physical style of play has kept him on the trainer’s table throughout the season, but losing him for the season’s final game is just another reminder of how awful 2011 has been for the Rams. There are plenty of teams dealing with injuries in the NFL right now, but few of them have had the problems St. Louis has dealt with. It’s getting old watching the Rams struggle to stay healthy. They did a reasonable job of it in 2010, but 2009 was another living nightmare. Actually, besides the 2010 season, I can’t remember another year when the team managed to stay relatively injury-free. The Rams are definitely a snake-bitten franchise.

I think the worst part of King’s injury is that members of the front office won’t be able to get an accurate evaluation of him for next season. This is also true for other injured members of the club. How is the team supposed to get a solid assessment of Jason Smith’s progress (or lack thereof) on the football field when he keeps getting hurt? Right now, Smith is probably viewed as a draft bust.

Ron Bartell also has a contract option coming up, but he’s missed the entire season. Do the Rams keep him for the final year of his deal, or do they let him go? It’s a tough decision because Bartell was the team’s number one receiver entering 2011, but now we don’t know if he’ll still be the same player when the league kicks off in 2012.

King’s injury is just a reminder of how much work the Rams front office has to do in the offseason to evaluate the roster. With so many players on the team out of action, the Rams are at a disadvantage heading into 2012. Hopefully, the evaluations have already begun. The club needs to take advantage of every second it has available.

Derek Ciapala has been a Rams fan since he was a child and the team was in Los Angeles. His favorite Rams moments include Flipper Anderson’s 336-yard receiving night against the Saints in 1989, and their miracle 1999 run to their first Super Bowl victory. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.

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On Monday, Dec. 12, the St. Louis Rams lost their 11th game of the season in a 30-13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. With the defeat, Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo’s record with the team dropped to 10-35.

I’m not sure how to deal with watching my team fail to deliver once again. It feels like the Rams are stuck in a losing culture and simply don’t know how to get out of it. However, I believe that’s not true. The franchise made some choices this season that have contributed to the teams’ failures.

Here is a look at three decisions the Rams made that have altered their season:

No quarterbacks coach

The team was wrong to begin the year without a quarterbacks coach for Sam Bradford. It doesn’t make sense for the Rams to invest millions of dollars in a franchise quarterback if they aren’t willing to bring in someone to develop him. I understand the plan was for offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to work with Bradford, but he responsible for installing a completely new system. That should have been McDaniels’s focus. A young quarterback needs someone to mentor him, especially in a season like this one, and a quarterbacks coach could have done that.

Giving Josh McDaniels too much power to run the offense

Let’s be honest here. The Rams didn’t have many weapons to begin the season with. There wasn’t one breakaway receiver or established tight end on the opening day roster. In hindsight, it seems rather idiotic for Spagnuolo to bring in a coach who likes to throw downfield more when the team doesn’t have the personnel to fit that type of offense. What’s worse is that both McDaniels and Spagnuolo have yet to learn from this mistake. They keep keep making poor decisions with the offense.

A prime example of this is when the Rams were on the Seahawks’ goal line in the fourth quarter of Monday’s game. The team has one of the league’s best running backs, but instead of putting the ball in Steven Jackson’s hands in the first five plays, McDaniels rolled a gimpy Bradford out of the pocket twice and ran him on a quarterback sneak. Why on earth would the Rams trust Bradford to get in the end zone instead of Jackson? Eventually, McDaniels called a run for Jackson, and the team’s all-time leading rusher scored on the play.

I believe McDaniels is a solid offensive football mind who could do a great job with the team in future, but he needs to quit being so stubborn and call plays that fit with the personnel available. Spagnuolo should have reined in some of these poor decisions by now.

Passing on Torrey Smith in the draft

The Rams offense has been limited this year without a speed receiver to stretch the field. However, the team had the chance to draft a deep threat in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft, but the Rams’ front office passed on him. Maryland’s Torrey Smith was regarded as one of the fastest receivers available, and he was sitting there for the Baltimore Ravens when they selected him with the 26th pick of the second round. Though he’s been inconsistent with the Ravens, Smith has established himself as the team’s primary deep threat and has posted huge days against the Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals this season.

If general manager Billy Devaney had selected Smith in the draft, defenses would have been forced to play the Rams differently this season. The club’s current receivers (including Brandon Lloyd) don’t scare anyone, but if the team had begun the year with a solid deep threat on the roster, the entire offense would have been more dynamic than it is now.

Looking forward

The team has to reverse some of the decisions it has made in the past eight months. Hiring a quarterback coach to mentor Bradford is a must, as is drafting a speed receiver. I’m not sure what the right call is with McDaniels, because I don’t believe he was ever given enough talent to work with. However, the team’s next head coach needs to rein in McDaniels if he remains with the Rams.

I understand these three factors aren’t the only issues the team has to deal with. The rush defense needs work, and the offensive line is a mess. Of course, injuries were a problem too. However, some of the Rams issues could have been minimized if there was better decision-making in the front office. Hopefully, that changes for next season.

Derek Ciapala has been a Rams fan since he was a child and the team was in Los Angeles. His favorite Rams moments include Flipper Anderson’s 336-yard receiving night against the Saints in 1989, and their miracle 1999 run to their first Super Bowl victory. You can follow him on Twitter @dciapala.

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