Jeff Fisher

Almost two weeks after they put away the helmets and shoulder pads, the St. Louis Rams picked up their third win of a dismal season. The Rams prevailed in a high stakes head-to-head competition with the Miami Dolphins and landed Jeff Fisher for their vacant head coaching job. The team said Friday it was finalizing a deal to hire the veteran coach who sat out the 2011 season after 17 years in Tennessee. The 53-year-old Fisher interviewed twice with the Rams, once in Denver with owner Stan Kroenke and again in St. Louis when he toured facilities and met with quarterback Sam Bradford . The Titans won three division titles and made six playoff appearances under Fisher, who stepped down a year ago as the league's longest-tenured coach, saying he needed a break.

Almost two weeks after they put away the helmets and shoulder pads, the St. Louis Rams picked up their third win of a dismal season. The Rams prevailed in a high stakes head-to-head competition with the Miami Dolphins and landed Jeff Fisher for their vacant head coaching job. The team said Friday it was finalizing a deal to hire the veteran coach who sat out the 2011 season after 17 years in Tennessee. The 53-year-old Fisher interviewed twice with the Rams, once in Denver with owner Stan Kroenke and again in St. Louis when he toured facilities and met with quarterback Sam Bradford . The Titans won three division titles and made six playoff appearances under Fisher, who stepped down a year ago as the league's longest-tenured coach, saying he needed a break.

Jeff Fisher says quarterback Vince Young has apologized to him by text message, though that's probably not the best move since the Tennessee Titans coach says talking face to face is a "man thing. " Fisher said Wednesday after practice that reporters could draw their own conclusions on whether he would have preferred an apology from Young in person. The coach wouldn't discuss what the text said except that Young apologized via a text sent Tuesday. But the coach also didn't text his quarterback in response.

Violence never solved anything, unless you're the NFL, that most conservative and (lowercase) republican of things. I have it on good authority that the new season begins Thursday night — beefy, bloated and beautiful. Autumn springs eternal. Just let me ask you: Is there any business in America with the corporate mojo of the NFL? Listen, I'm not endorsing a monopoly like this. What's good for the NFL is good for America, and all that. I'm just saying that I don't know of any organization — Coke?

The Tennessee Titans' Jeff Fisher was dressed for success at a recent charity event, removing his button-down shirt to reveal a Peyton Manning jersey underneath. The coach joked he wanted to "feel like a winner." Fisher is a no-nonsense guy who takes his job very seriously -- part of the reason he's the NFL's longest-tenured coach -- so a little humor was refreshing in these dismal times for his winless franchise. Tennessee's collapse tops our list of the biggest surprises through six weeks of the 2009 season: Dismember the Titans Since starting last season 10-0, Fisher's team has lost 10 of 13 and eight in a row. Mercifully, the Titans get an open date today after the humiliation of last Sunday's 59-0 rout at New England.

It was possibly the only time in Jeff Fisher's career as a punt-return specialist for the Chicago Bears that he left a football field untouched. "We had a press conference today," said Fisher from his New Orleans hotel Friday. "There were about 3,000 reporters. They had us all out on the field, lined up at tables by position. The quarterbacks were on the 50-yard line, the running backs were on the 40-yard line. . . . The media came over and started interviewing players.

Jeff Fisher, whose career as a football player took him from Taft High to USC and then to the world champion Chicago Bears, was named defensive backs coach by the Philadelphia Eagles, it was announced Monday. A five-year National Football League veteran, Fisher, 27, injured his ankle in a preseason practice before the Bears carved their path through the National Football League and eventually through the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX.

Jeff Fisher, fired earlier this month as defensive coordinator by new Ram Coach Chuck Knox, Monday night accepted a job as secondary coach with the San Francisco 49ers. Over the weekend, Fisher also was contacted by the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers about their vacant defensive coordinator jobs, but Fisher was offered the 49er job Monday afternoon and had to give Coach George Seifert an answer that night.

New Ram Coach Chuck Knox late Thursday night fired defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher and installed former Seattle Seahawk defensive line coach George Dyer as his new defensive coordinator. Fisher, brought in last year by former coach John Robinson, said he was told Wednesday that he would be retained by the Rams if Seattle defensive coordinator Tom Catlin chose to stay with the Seahawks.

Now that the USC coaching situation is settled, Jeff Fisher's true feelings about being mentioned as a candidate can be revealed. "Any college athlete that goes into the coaching profession, I think it would be a dream of his to go back to his alma mater and have the opportunity to coach," Fisher said. "But like most things in life, timing is everything." And for the time being, the former Taft High and Trojan standout is plenty busy with another job.

Tennessee Titans Coach Mike Munchak fired offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger and two other assistants Tuesday as he starts to remake his coaching staff a day after taking over the top job. Heimerdinger, who is continuing cancer treatment after diagnosed in November, confirmed to the Associated Press that he had been fired. The Titans released a statement a couple hours later that Munchak also had told defensive assistant Rayna Stewart and offensive assistant Richie Wessman that they would not be retained.

Declaring it a "perfect competitive opportunity," Jim Harbaugh accepted the job as coach of the 49ers and said his goal is to win a Lombardi Trophy for "one of the legendary franchises in all of football. " The Stanford coach gets to remain in the Bay Area, moving to the NFL after four years with the Cardinal. A longtime NFL quarterback, he replaces fired coach Mike Singletary . ESPN reported Harbaugh's deal is for $25 million over five years. Harbaugh decided to make the jump to the pros even though San Francisco has missed the playoffs for eight straight seasons and Orange Bowl MVP quarterback Andrew Luck decided to remain at Stanford for another season.

Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams says it's time to let quarterback Vince Young go. The Titans released a statement Wednesday night in which Adams said Young won't be on the team's roster next season, but he's still evaluating the coaching staff. "We have two critical decisions to make, the direction of the coaching staff and the future at the quarterback position. They are separate issues to me and will be dealt with separately," Adams said. Adams is the owner who wanted Young drafted No. 3 overall out of Texas in 2006 and said on draft day that "VY is my guy. " Young is 30-17 in his five NFL seasons, but only 13-14 against teams finishing a season at .500 or better.

Jeff Fisher says quarterback Vince Young has apologized to him by text message, though that's probably not the best move since the Tennessee Titans coach says talking face to face is a "man thing. " Fisher said Wednesday after practice that reporters could draw their own conclusions on whether he would have preferred an apology from Young in person. The coach wouldn't discuss what the text said except that Young apologized via a text sent Tuesday. But the coach also didn't text his quarterback in response.

Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher said that Vince Young needs season-ending surgery on his throwing hand and that the Titans are putting the quarterback on injured reserve within the next couple of days. Young saw a hand specialist Monday, and Fisher said team doctors recommended the surgery to repair Young's torn flexor tendon in his right thumb. Young suffered the injury late in the third quarter of Sunday's 19-16 overtime loss to Washington. Fisher also said he didn't know ?

Stafon Johnson has a game ball from his NFL debut. He also had his dislocated right ankle repaired, and Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher isn't ready to say that the running back's season is over. On Sunday, Johnson posted on his Twitter account that he was fresh out of surgery. The former USC running back, whose senior season was ended last September when a barbell crushed his neck and larynx, leaving him to learn how to talk again and trying to play his way into the NFL as an undrafted free agent, had promised before surgery that he would be back better than before.

He is leaning forward now at Fritz Shurmur's old desk, in Fritz Shurmur's old office, his right hand curled around a cup of coffee from the same brown coffee pot Shurmur used so often not so long ago. So what has changed here? Except for the man at the desk, nothing, apparently. But somehow, as Jeff Fisher talks, everything is different. He is talking in the quick, quiet voice he has been using for the last 45 minutes, but now the words have heat to them.

Jeff Fisher, who came to the Rams one season ago with the immediate responsibility of rebuilding a ruined defense and with the unspoken understanding that he would be a featured part of the team's long-range plan, crated up his belongings Friday and left Rams Park. Fisher's role as the team's heir apparent, devised by the Ram front office, almost certainly vanished with him as new Coach Chuck Knox plotted his own course at breakneck pace.

Less than a week after Pat Haden is named athletic director of USC and claims, "We're going to have a culture of compliance" and "I don't think we're going to have a problem with compliance with Lane," the school and its football coach are sued by the Tennessee Titans. It reminds one of the old Talking Heads song, "Once in a Lifetime," whose chorus went, "Same as it ever was, same as it ever was." Glenn M. Langdon Garden Grove Even with all of Pat Haden's degrees and scholastic honors, he'll still need a course in ballistics to contain a loose cannon like Lane Kiffin.

A common postgame response to questions after NFL games is, "I have to wait to see the film." Times NFL writer Sam Farmer sorts through the best of Monday's film review: :: Reggie Wayne , Indianapolis receiver: "Doesn't everybody want to be a part of history? Not a season goes by that you don't hear about the '72 Dolphins. I guess there's a bigger picture." :: Raheem Brock , Colts defensive end, via Twitter: "At the airport in ind headn to philly and everyones lookn at me like I'm the one that put peyton on the bench!