losing to the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> in Australia. I picked them to win every game until the second week of February and they couldn\u2019t even survive the 10th day of September.<\/p>\nThis was bad. This was real bad. And I heard about it, in thundering waves of sarcasm and snark, from old fashioned emails to online comments, a tsunami of taunts.<\/p>\n
No, I didn\u2019t write the undefeated column for clicks. Sadly, I\u2019ve been making these sorts of predictions long before the invention of clicks.<\/p>\n
![\"Rams](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789336694_706_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Rams coach Sean McVay walks the sideline during the season-opening loss to the 49ers.<\/p>\n
(Asanka Brendon Ratnayake \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
As always, I followed my heart and the mindless passion that lives there. I thought with that much talent and that soft schedule, the Rams wouldn\u2019t lose, especially not with a coach who historically has them well prepared for each game.<\/p>\n
Except the first one, apparently.<\/p>\n
The game should have been a mismatch, but what I missed is that the Rams might not have placed much importance in it. It\u2019s almost as if they viewed it as a necessary evil to be endured, not conquered. They flew to Melbourne unthinkably late, kept their best stuff in their travel bags and rushed home to a schedule they know still will put them in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The 49ers treated this game like a statement. The Rams, whose sights are set on much bigger moments, seemingly treated it like a practice.<\/p>\n
And it was, of course, all my fault.<\/p>\n
Just listen to the readers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI admire your chutzpah \u2026 and really question your analysis. \u2026 You can see the trees, but not the forest and hope the humble pie tastes good. \u2026 Your next prediction awaits. \u2026 I shudder as your credibility is shot.\u201d<\/p>\n
YOU shudder?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re a lazy coward. But the NFC West thanks you. You\u2019re a curse on the Rams.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lazy? I had to travel all the way to my inbox to report this column!<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat an absolute disaster! 20-0!? What an absolute dog \u2026 prediction and opinion to have. Have a good time watching football the rest of the weekend \u2026 you deserve to eat crow!\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid the many animal metaphors that invariably occupy reactions to my predictions, a dominant theme are dogs and crows.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Know-It-All (20-0) fumbles the opener. Always a pleasure to see Plaschke eat crow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Told you.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to point out once more that you are an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Point taken.<\/p>\n
\u201cRams didn\u2019t lose because of Plaschke\u2019s prognostication of 20-0; they lost because the 49ers thoroughly beat them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, a nice one.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, the Rams didn\u2019t lose \u2018because\u2019 of Plaschke\u2019s typically moronic prediction, but it was a typically moronic Plaschke prediction. He is always wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spoke too soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWilly Plaschke actually acknowledged his prediction was wrong? That\u2019s it, I\u2019m going to Church, the end is near.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just don\u2019t ask me to predict when.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust resign already, Bill. Take the next buyout and free up some precious space in the paper for someone with insightful or interesting things to say.\u201d<\/p>\n
Boss, is this you?<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some point, the editors need to sit down with Plaschke and explain that the future hasn\u2019t happened yet, and it isn\u2019t inevitable, and he needs to stop insulting readers and wasting space by pretending that it is. Of course, that would require The Times to have editors. Are there even any of those left?\u201d<\/p>\n
Thats a grate queston.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was writing this nonsense before The Times even had a website. Don\u2019t give him credit for being savvy. He actually believes what he writes because he\u2019s a simpleton.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s better than being called an idiot.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are giving Plaschke too much credit by referring to him as a simpleton. As per his own words in his column, he is an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Sigh.)<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyone knowing Plaschke\u2019s penchant for delivering laughable predictions has an easy way to make money: Kalshi. The easiest money you\u2019ll ever make.\u201d<\/p>\n
The safest Kalshi bet is that I do not understand the first thing about Kalshi.<\/p>\n
\u201cWriting that the Rams wouldn\u2019t lose a single game this year was a patently absurd prediction even by the standards of Plaschke who seems desperate for continued relevancy or is simply stupid \u2026 the only constant will remain Bill Plaschke\u2019s predictions that are consistently and unerringly wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rams will go 19-1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I predict you\u2019re going to hate this column. Which means you\u2019ll love it. As an embarrassingly large number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[182287,182288,48641,106580,423,182286,48,52,51,47,50,49,4263,77116,8062,10947,49648,1892,9756,182285,8843],"class_list":["post-462843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-absolute-dog","tag-click","tag-column","tag-crow","tag-game","tag-idiot","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-money","tag-plaschke","tag-prediction","tag-rams","tag-reaction","tag-reader","tag-september","tag-star-studded-ram","tag-way"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}