Unwinding at a San Diego resort Sunday, former Los Angeles Rams great Eric Dickerson recalled his reaction 15 months ago upon learning that NFL owners had just given the San Diego Chargers the choice of joining the Rams in L.A.

“I thought that was a joke – the Chargers coming to L.A.,” Dickerson said.

Dean Spanos took his fellow NFL owners up on the offer, announcing this past January that he will move the team from San Diego, its home since 1961, to greater Los Angeles effective July.

The Spanoses, who include Dean’s sons and Chargers executives A.G. and John Spanos, have billed the challenge as the “Fight for L.A.”


Dickerson, who says “we” sometimes when referring to the Rams, said he’s wary of this new outfit called the Los Angeles Chargers.

“The Chargers have a great shot,” said the Pro Football Hall of Fame running back who led the Rams to the playoffs from 1983-86.

There are three prongs to Dickerson’s logic that Team Spanos may be on the verge of, if not conquering L.A., beating the Rams out for the affections of Angelenos.

Young Angelenos, he asserted, have no bond with the Rams because they have no recollection of or attachment to the Rams playing in Los Angeles and Anaheim between 1946-94.


What’s more, the Rams themselves have opened the door, both on and off the field, to a successful takeover attempt.

“The Rams crashed and burned last year — but not just with their season,” he said of a 4-12 win-loss record and, at a measly 14 points per game, the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense.

Dickerson said the team, which moved back to L.A. last year from St. Louis, should’ve done a better job of community outreach, especially in neighborhoods such as Inglewood, where Rams owner Stan Kroenke and his partners are building a stadium.

“I mean in the ‘hood’ and areas that really need it,” he said. “That’s where you have to do stuff at, if you’re going to be part of that community.”


He added: “The Rams still have that chance.”

The Rams should’ve created a larger visual presence at the L.A. airport and alongside inner-city roads and freeways in L.A., said Dickerson.

“When you’re coming into LAX, they’re should have been banners: ‘We’re back -- the Los Angeles Rams,’ ” he said. “On the roads, you saw these little (Rams) billboards, and I’m talking past Long Beach and Norwalk.

“We could have done a better job. I hope they’ve learned —because now someone else is fighting for that spot. And, that spot is wide open.”


Rivaling the 2016 Rams for ineptitude, the Chargers lost 11 of 16 games, although they at least rewarded their fans with touchdowns.

San Diego’s 25.6 points per game, ninth in the league, nearly doubled the Rams’ output.

Team Spanos has lost 23 of 32 games (.281) over the past two seasons — but Dickerson suggested that if the Rams continue to fumble around, the interlopers could relegate the Rams to, oddly enough, the status of the previous San Diego pro team to relocate to L.A.

“Chargers come in and win, and have a better season, say, this year and next year – the Rams are gonna be playing catch-up,” Dickerson said. “They’ll be like the Clippers of the 80s in L.A.”


At the sport’s most important position, Dickerson wasn’t ready to embrace the common opinion that the lightning-bolt team holds a huge edge.

“Philip Rivers is one of the top quarterbacks,” he said, “but, on the other hand, he’s an older quarterback, too.

“We have a young quarerback,” he said of Jared Goff, whom the Rams took first overall last year after dealing premium picks to climb to the No. 1 spot. “We don’t know anything about him. We didn’t see enough of him last year. It was unfair to even judge him last year because of the receivers, the offensive line.”

Dickerson served up one other takeaway on the so-called Fight for L.A.


It’s a three-team scrap.

And, the most popular team very well may be the one that’s not in L.A.

He foresees thousands of Raiders fans, some of whom may remember their team winning for Los Angeles its only Super Bowl title, trekking from greater L.A. to Las Vegas starting in 2020.

“The flight to Vegas is 40 minutes,” he said, “What do people care about jumping on a flight to Vegas?


“That’s another problem,” he said. “Raiders fans are everywhere.”

Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic