Approaching a bye week that would allow him to very temporarily step back and take stock of a Rams team that didn't produce many positives at all the first half of the season, head coach Steve Spagnuolo was asked by the local media to assess the season's first half.

"I don't know. There were some struggles, there were some good things, but we have built something," Spagnuolo said. "… There is some trust, there is mutual respect, there is unity in the team. I think more than anything we take that away.

"It was a rough road, let's face it, we had seven losses."

Yes they did. And while every player on the team must be held accountable for such a sorry performance, we hear there is unity in the belief among team insiders that the beleaguered Marc Bulger appears to be on his last legs as the Rams' starting quarterback.

"Spagnuolo continues to fully defend him, but Bulger's play has been disappointing," one team insider said. "It really showed in the Detroit game, when he couldn't make anything happen.

One play Bulger made in that game that left a sour taste that figures to linger in Rams Nation was when he opted to slide a yard short of what would have been a key first down in the third quarter on a 3rd-and-6 situation.

"When you compare that (play) to the way Steven Jackson was playing, knocking people down like a guy possessed, it's hard to imagine them sticking with Bulger," the insider said.

Which begs the next big question being bandied about St. Louis these days: Will the Rams use their first pick in next year's draft on Bulger's replacement?

"Well, there are so many needs," the insider said. "But if I were a betting man, I'd have to say yes. But don't forget, Spags is a defensive-oriented head coach, and if they really saw a marquee stud-type defensive tackle, or — dare I say it, even with the way Chris Long has been — a game-changing pass-rushing defensive end with Leonard Little possibly retiring and James Hall in his contract year, maybe they go that route and try to pick up a starting-caliber quarterback near the top of the second round."

Another need sources believe the Rams must focus on either early in the draft or in free agency is a legitimate playmaking wide receiver.

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