1968 Los Angeles Rams season

1968 Los Angeles Rams season
Head coach	George Allen
Home field	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Results
Record	10–3–1
Division place	2nd Western Coastal
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1968 Los Angeles Rams season was the team's 31st year with the National Football League and the 23rd season in Los Angeles.

Season Recap

Just as they had in 1967, the Rams and Colts staged a season long battle for the Coastal Division title. The Rams won their first six games, but lost to the Colts in Baltimore in week seven, 27-10, to fall into a tie with the Colts. Both teams won their next two games, but then the Rams had to rally from a 10-point 4th quarter deficit to tie the 49ers in San Francisco, 20-20.

Going into the second to the last game of the season against the Bears, the Rams trailed the Colts by 1/2 game, with a regular season finale vs. the Colts in Los Angeles looming the following week to decide the title. The Colts won a Saturday game in Green Bay (eliminating the Packers from playoff contention) 16-3. On Sunday, the Bears, the breaks, and the officials all played a role in the Bears 17-16 win that eliminated the Rams. The Bears played inspired defense, even knocking quarterback Roman Gabriel out of the game for a time. The Rams blocked a Bears punt, but it rolled out of the end zone for a safety just before the Rams were about to recover the ball in the end zone for a touchdown. Finally, trailing by a point, Gabriel rallied the Rams and appeared to pass them into field goal range. But a late flag for clipping cost the Rams the gain and set them back 15 yards into their own territory. At the same time, the officials neglected to re-set the down marker back to 3rd down (the down is supposed to go over on a penalty), so when the next play was an incomplete pass, the officials awarded the Bears the ball. The Rams protested vehemently that it was still their ball down but to no avail. The NFL later acknowledged the officials' mistake but said the result of the game could not be changed.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Attendance
1	September 16, 1968	at St. Louis Cardinals	W 24–13	49,757
2	September 22, 1968	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 45–10	49,647
3	September 29, 1968	at Cleveland Browns	W 24–6	82,514
4	October 6, 1968	San Francisco 49ers	W 24–10	69,520
5	October 13, 1968	at Green Bay Packers	W 16–14	49,646
6	October 20, 1968	Atlanta Falcons	W 27–14	54,443
7	October 27, 1968	at Baltimore Colts	L 27–10	60,238
8	November 3, 1968	Detroit Lions	W 10–7	77,982
9	November 10, 1968	at Atlanta Falcons	W 17–10	53,979
10	November 17, 1968	at San Francisco 49ers	T 20–20	41,815
11	November 24, 1968	New York Giants	W 24–21	68,534
12	December 1, 1968	at Minnesota Vikings	W 31–3	47,644
13	December 8, 1968	Chicago Bears	L 17–16	66,368
14	December 15, 1968	Baltimore Colts	L 28–24	69,397

Standings

NFL Coastal
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Baltimore Colts	13	1	0	.929	6–0	10–0	402	144	W8
Los Angeles Rams	10	3	1	.769	3–2–1	6–3–1	312	200	L2
San Francisco 49ers	7	6	1	.538	2–3–1	4–5–1	303	310	W1
Atlanta Falcons	2	12	0	.143	0–6	1–9	170	389	L4

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

Preceded by < 1967	Los Angeles Rams seasons 1968	Succeeded by 1969 >

Los Angeles Rams

Founded in 1936 Played in Cleveland (1936–1945) and St. Louis (1995–2015) Based in Los Angeles, California Headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California

Franchise	History in Cleveland in St. Louis Coaches Players First-round draft picks Seasons Statistics Starting quarterbacks Awards Broadcasters

Stadiums	Cleveland Municipal Stadium League Park Shaw Stadium Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Anaheim Stadium Busch Stadium Edward Jones Dome City of Champions Stadium (planned)

Culture	Cheerleaders Rampage Heaven Can Wait (film) Melonheads

Lore	The Greatest Show on Turf Bull Elephant backfield Fearsome Foursome

Rivalries	San Francisco 49ers Kansas City Chiefs

Retired numbers	7 28 29 74 75 78 80 85

Division championships (13)	1967 1969 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1985 1999 2001 2003

Conference championships (8)	1945 1949 1950 1951 1955 1979 1999 2001

League championships (3)	1945 1951 1999 (XXXIV)

Current league affiliations	League: National Football League (1937–present) Conference: National Football Conference Division: West Division

Former league affiliation	League: American Football League (1936)

Seasons (79)	1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Championship seasons in bold

Cleveland / St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams seasons

Cleveland 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 Suspended operations 1943 1944 1945 Los Angeles 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 St. Louis 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Los Angeles 2016

Bold indicates NFL Championship (1920–1966) or Super Bowl (1967–) victory Italics indicates NFL Championship (1920–1966) or Super Bowl (1967–) appearance

1968 NFL season

Capitol	Century	Coastal	Central
Dallas	Cleveland	Atlanta	Chicago
NY Giants	New Orleans	Baltimore	Detroit
Philadelphia	Pittsburgh	Los Angeles	Green Bay
Washington	St. Louis	San Francisco	Minnesota

Related: 1968 AFL Season

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