1988 Los Angeles Rams season


The 1988 Los Angeles Rams season was the franchise's 51st season in the National Football League, their 41st overall, and their 43rd in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The team improved on a disappointing 6–9 record the previous year, going 10–6 and qualifying as a Wild Card before losing to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Wild Card game.

Roster

Regular season

1988 Team Starters
Offense
11 Jim Everett QB
42 Greg Bell RB
24 Buford McGee FB
80 Henry Ellard WR
84 Aaron Cox WR
86 Damone Johnson TE
75 Irv Pankey LT
66 Tom Newberry LG
56 Doug Smith C
67 Duval Love RG
78 Jackie Slater RT
Defense
93 Doug Reed LDE
99 Alvin Wright NT
98 Shawn Miller RDE
91 Kevin Greene LB
55 Carl Ekern LB
59 Mark Jerue LB
54 Mike Wilcher LB
25 Jerry Gray CB
47 LeRoy Irvin CB
23 Michael Stewart SS
20 Johnnie Johnson FS
Kicking Team
1 Mike Lansford K
3 Rich Camarillo P
28 Cliff Hicks PR
89 Ron Brown KR

Schedule

WeekDateOpponentResultSummaryAttendance
1September 4, 1988at Green Bay PackersW 34–7Jim Everett passed for two touchdowns and Rams defense had seven sacks and 3 interceptions.
53,769
2September 11, 1988Detroit LionsW 17–10In a tight defensive struggle, Greg Bell ran for 139 yards and a TD.
46,262
3September 18, 1988at Los Angeles RaidersW 22–17Rams overcame a career-high 375 yards passing from Steve Beuerlein by sacking him nine times. A Kevin Greene sack for a safety in the third quarter broke a 10–10 tie and the Rams took it from there. Bell had 109 yards and another TD.
84,870
4September 25, 1988at New York GiantsW 45–31In perhaps his finest performance as Rams QB to date, Everett passed for 236 yards and 5 TD's
75,617
5October 2, 1988Phoenix CardinalsL 41–27Everett had another strong game and Bell ran for 3 TD's, but the Rams couldn't overcome 519 total yards of offense from the Cardinals. Neil Lomax passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns.
49,830
6October 9, 1988at Atlanta FalconsW 33–0Everett continued to play a hot hand, passing for 3 TD's. Rams defense totally dominated the Falcons, holding them to 150 total net yards and accumulating nine sacks.
30,852
7October 16, 1988San Francisco 49ersL 24–21In an early battle for NFC West supremacy, the Rams were done in by 190 yards rushing and 3 TD's by Roger Craig. Everett kept it close with 3 TD passes, but Rams only rushed for 42.
65,450
8October 23, 1988Seattle SeahawksW 31–10Everett passed for 3 more TD's and Rams picked off 4 passes and kept Seattle offense out of the end zone.
57,033
9October 30, 1988at New Orleans SaintsW 12–10Kicker Mike Lansford provided all the points for the Rams is a tough defensive struggle. Saints were driving toward a possible winning TD in the 4th when LB Brett Faryniarz broke through with a sack to force the Saints to kick a FG. Rams held on from there.
68,238
10November 6, 1988at Philadelphia EaglesL 30–24Randall Cunningham's passing and running helped the Eagles upend the Rams. Everett passed for 377 yards and 2 TD's, but also threw 4 interceptions.
65,624
11November 13, 1988New Orleans SaintsL 14–10Saints held Everett in check at Anaheim and won a tight defensive contest.
63,305
12November 20, 1988San Diego ChargersL 38–24Lowly Chargers shocked the Rams at home with a kickoff return TD by Anthony Miller, an interception return TD by Sam Seale, and two rushing TD's by former Ram Barry Redden.
45,462
13November 27, 1988at Denver BroncosL 35–24John Elway passed for 3 TD's and ran for another as the suddenly-slumping Rams lost their fourth straight.
74,141
14December 5, 1988Chicago BearsW 23–3Rams broke their losing streak on Monday night with a solid defensive effort. This was QB Jim Harbaugh's first career NFL start.
65,579
15December 11, 1988Atlanta FalconsW 22–7Lansford kicked 3 FG's and Everett passed for a TD. Defense kept Falcons' offense out of the end zone.
42,828
16December 18, 1988at San Francisco 49ersW 38–16Rams qualified for the wildcard and avenged their earlier loss to the 49ers with 4 passing TD's from Everett and nine sacks from the defense.
62,444

Season summary

Week 4

Standings

Playoffs

Awards and records