ESPN NFL

The St. Louis Rams, winless and riddled with injuries, will wait until the end of the season to decide if coach Scott Linehan will return in 2008, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Tuesday.

Linehan

"I can say that it's not even a subject of conversation today," team president John Shaw said, according to the Post-Dispatch. "Nor will it be until the season's over. There's still 11 games left in the season. He's our coach. ... We'll look at where everything is after the season."

Linehan is 8-13 in two seasons as head coach in St. Louis. He went 8-8 last season, his first in the NFL.

The Rams, at 0-5 one of three remaining winless teams in the NFL, are facing four road games in a five-game stretch covering the next six weeks. Injuries, most notably to starting quarterback Marc Bulger and left tackle Orlando Pace, have decimated the roster.

The Post-Dispatch reported that Shaw has told associates that even a one- or two-victory season might not cost Linehan his job because of the number of injuries the team has sustained.

Shaw cited the Rams' Week 5 loss to Arizona as an example of the way injuries have hindered the Rams, the newspaper reported. With strong safety Corey Chavous already out, the team lost safeties Jerome Carter and Todd Johnson in the Cardinals game, leaving only Oshiomogho Atogwe among the regular safeties on the roster.

"We're already short on corners, and next thing you know, we're moving corners to safety," Shaw told the newspaper. "So there's no logical explanation for it. I'm not trying to make excuses for the situation. Injuries are part of the game, and we're in a streak right now where we've had a run of injuries that are pretty overwhelming."

The Rams are also playing to smaller crowds at home games, a fact that disappoints Shaw, according to the newspaper. Three of St. Louis' five losses have come at home.

"I anticipate we'll have a number of blackouts [this season]," Shaw said, according to the Post-Dispatch. "I think we have good fans here. I understand why fans don't want to watch a losing team. But I'm disappointed, I guess, to some degree that the marketplace doesn't support a team that might go through a down cycle."

"So I urge the fans to stay committed to the process even though the product this year is not really as good as we had hoped it would be."