The St. Louis Rams will be playing the Seattle Seahawks in this week's Monday Night Football matchup on ESPN. And it's 2011. National fans have already checked out—the ratings are going to be deeply unpleasant, at least if you have a rooting interest in ESPN's ratings, and there's not much the Rams and the Seahawks can do about it, short of poaching Tim Tebow, New World Order-style, before game time. That's all a lost cause. The real question, Monday Night Football's last nefarious test, is this: Will Rams fans still be interested?
Everything that could make this game less interesting has made this game less interesting. Sam Bradford, the last fraught reason to follow this lost season, might not even play; he practiced Saturday, but Tom Brandstater and Kellen Clemens—those are real people—remain at the ready, because Bradford's a game-time decision at best and A.J. Feeley—A.J. Feeley!—is already gone.
Even fantasy football players on the verge of their own playoff berths—the last reliable demographic in this entertainment desert—have probably stopped paying attention. Steven Jackson's recent struggles mean he was probably benched on a lot of contenders, while Brandon Lloyd owners are unlikely to stick around to see what he does when Brandstater attempts to learn Josh McDaniels's offense in a little less than a week. Unless you still own Danario Alexander in an incredibly deep keeper league, this game is unlikely to tell you much you don't already know.
You'll have to take my word for it—I'll have to take my word for it—but this season didn't always feel so futile. How close you can get to accessing those old feelings could mean the difference between watching the Rams and the Seahawks play an alternate-universe NFC West nailbiter and checking to see if House is new this week.
