Jeff Fisher Was Fired From the Los Angeles Rams in the Middle of the Season — What Happened?

2016 marked a year full of seismic changes for the Rams, who, under owner Stan Kroenke's instructions, relocated to Los Angeles. HBO's Hard Knocks, a sports-documentary, takes viewers behind the scenes, offering a glimpse into the challenges inherent to the rare move. Once in Los Angeles, the team continued to train under Jeff Fisher, who first signed in 2012. In December 2016, Jeff successfully negotiated a contract renewal — but shortly after, he was fired. What happened?

A goal-oriented coach, Jeff had no trouble establishing himself as a crucial part of the team. Jared Goff, the quarterback who played for the Los Angeles Rams for five seasons, praised the head coach in an interview with ESPN.

"I think I speak for the whole team when I say he was very well-liked and very giving," Jared told ESPN. "I mean, he treated us the right way. He treated us the way we're supposed to be treated, and in return, we didn't do enough for him. And that's really what it comes down to."

The owner of the team, Stan, applauded Jeff for his tireless efforts, stating that a change had to be made because the team continued to underperform.

"This is the right time to make a change, as our performance has not lived up to my or our fans' expectations," Stan said. "We all are focused on improving as an organization and building a team that makes Los Angeles proud."

Despite some successes, the Los Angeles Rams failed to achieve the kind of scores Stan and those at the steering wheel, including COO Kevin Demoff, would have liked to see.

Jeff coached the team for around four years. As Stan and Kevin told ESPN, however, Jeff got fired because of performance-related issues, and more specifically, because a different training direction was needed.

"I think the obvious thing people are going to say is, 'Well, you're going to hire an offensive coach because you had a defensive coach,' or, 'The offense is bad,'" Kevin told ESPN. "I think we need to find the best head coach for the Los Angeles Rams. Whether that's an offensive coach, a defensive coach, a special-teams coach, the interim coach, a college coach, I think we have to be willing to look under every possible avenue to find the right fit to go lead this football team."

John Fassel replaced Jeff as the interim coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2016, going out on a losing streak. John joined the Dallas Cowboys in January 2020. Sean McVay joined the team in 2017. Jeff, on the other hand, entered into brief negotiations with Tennessee State University in 2021. He made headlines in January 2022 by joining the Michigan Panthers.