"New Rams coach Jeff Fisher is working through his extensive and ambitious "to do" list.

Building a better roster piece by piece is a big part of his job. So is assembling a better coaching staff.

But his overriding goal is necessarily broad. He is trying to build a strong program — a way of doing things that everybody working at Rams Park can believe in.

The challenge is enormous. This is a downtrodden operation, arguably the NFL's worst before the latest round of firings commenced.

The Rams haven't posted a winning season since 2003. The decline started on "Mad Mike" Martz's watch and continued through two overmatched first-time head coaches (Scott Linehan and Steve Spagnuolo) and two handcuffed interim coaches (Joe Vitt and Jim Haslett).

Fisher must start over almost from scratch, building around the handful of cornerstone players already in place."