Los Angeles Rams Hall of Shame: Worst breakup and more

After celebrating the Rams by highlighting their players who someday could be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, we flip the script to give you Los Angeles' Hall of Shame.

Worst breakup: Jerome Bettis

In 1993 and 1994, his first two seasons in the NFL, Bettis put up 1,429 and 1,025 yards rushing, respectively, and looked like a budding star for the Los Angeles Rams. In 1995, however, new Rams head coach Rich Brooks wanted to install a more pass-oriented offense in the team's first season in St. Louis. The coach asked Bettis, the team's lead back, to play fullback. Bettis told him no and demanded a trade. He even contemplated retirement.

"I went back to Notre Dame and re-enrolled into school, because my thought was if they don’t trade me, I’m retiring, I’m done," Bettis told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I’m going back to school, I’m not going back to St. Louis. I was not joking.”

The Rams traded Bettis to the Steelers, a move that proved disastrous to them and a boon for Pittsburgh. As a Steeler, Bettis became a face of the franchise for more than a decade, won a Super Bowl and finished as one of the top rushers in league history. In 2015, he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. 

Worst draft pick: RB Lawrence Phillips

Phillips was one of the more highly touted prospects in the 1996 NFL Draft class, but character concerns made him a risky selection. The Rams selected him with the No. 6 overall pick anyway. As it turned out, the character concerns proved to be valid. 

Phillips ended up playing just four years in the NFL — and only two with the Rams — and never rushed for more than 633 yards in a season or averaged more than four yards per carry. 

After his NFL career ended in 1999, he played in NFL Europe and the Canadian Football League. Legal and personal problems followed him after his playing days. In 2016, he died by suicide while in prison. 

Worst free-agent signing: CB Cortland Finnegan

During the first six years of his career, Finnegan was one of the NFL's best cornerbacks with the Tennessee Titans. He created turnovers, locked down No. 1 wide receivers and played a brutally tough brand of football. The Rams were confident he could continue that into his 30s and signed him to a five-year, $50 million contract in 2012. 

His Rams career did not go as anyone planned.

Finnegan's play rapidly declined, and he played just two seasons with the Rams, who released him in 2014. 

Worst loss: Super Bowl XXXVI

From 1999 to 2001, QB Kurt Warner, RB Marshall Faulk, and WRs Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt helped make the Rams — then based in St. Louis — one of the NFL's more unstoppable offenses. After winning Super Bowl XXXIV, the team returned to the title game two years season later.

After going 14-2 in the regular season, the Rams were heavy favorites against the Patriots after cruising through the NFC playoffs, but they struggled against New England's tight defense led by cornerback Ty Law, whose pick-six proved instrumental in the final result.

The Rams rallied in the final 10 minutes with two TDs to tie the score at 17, but Tom Brady engineered a drive to put New England in field-goal range late in the fourth quarter. Adam Vinatieri's 48-yard field goal on the final played gave the Patriots a 20-17 win.