This week, the Rams drew criticism from all over the football world when they gave extensions to coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead, despite poor on-field results in recent years. Then, in discussing the new deals, Fisher raised eyebrows when he took an apparent shot at Snead. 

“I’m so busy here, I was honestly unaware [Snead] was extended. I’m being honest with you, we’re just working here,” Fisher said. “I look at this as being my responsibility, the win-loss record. We need to do a better job from a personnel standpoint. We’ve had some unfortunate things take place with some high picks in Stedman Bailey and Tre Mason and those kinds of things you don’t anticipate. But we’re moving forward.”

Even though Fisher is believed to have more input in personnel decisions than most coaches, he seems to be blaming Snead for the team’s poor draft record. This was Fisher’s most direct and brutal public criticism of Snead to date, but the problems between the two “have been an open secret in league circles for some time,” Albert Breer of The MMQB writes.

“It pissed me off because I knew it was meant as a shot,” said one Rams source. “You see it under that umbrella—‘We need to do a better job in personnel.’ OK, but you want everyone to think that you have full control. You can’t have it both ways, and it can’t always be the talent. Look at the roster, 2012 to now. In ’12, Jeff did a masterful job with what he was given. But we’ve gotten more talent, and we’ve gotten worse.”

Breer hears from many that the relationship between Fisher and Snead has turned “toxic.” Disagreements between coaches and executives are not uncommon, but it sounds like things have gotten especially bad between these two.

The Rams have signed head coach Jeff Fisher to a contract extension, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com. Alden Gonzalez of ESPN.com writes that the new deal will be for one year, with an option for 2018. Per Rapoport, Fisher agreed to the extension in the preseason and signed it in the regular season (Twitter link). Alex Marvez of SiriusXM NFL Radio tweets that Fisher put pen to paper several weeks ago, but the news is just leaking now. ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirms the report and adds that the club has also extended GM Les Snead (Twitter link).

The news may be unwelcome for Rams fans, but it is relatively unsurprising, as Los Angeles was expected to extend its GM and head coach for some time now, despite their largely disappointing tenures with the club. Team COO Kevin Demoff praised Fisher earlier this week, emphasizing his steady hand through the specter of relocation and the relocation itself, along with his ability as a “leader of men.”

Fisher and Snead joined the Rams together in 2012, and the club has gone 31-43-1 since then. The team did land Jared Goff with the No. 1 overall pick in this year’s draft, and now that the former Cal star has taken over as the Rams’ starting quarterback, there is reason to hope that they will begin to show some improvement.

But even though the Rams have had largely disappointing quarterback play during the Fisher/Snead regime, the roster has not been entirely devoid of talent. And yet, the club has not posted a non-losing record under their watch, and Fisher has not enjoyed a winning season as an NFL head coach since 2008, his penultimate year in Tennessee.

However, team owner Stan Kroenke wanted to give Fisher a chance to coach the Rams through the opening of the team’s new stadium in Inglewood, and this extension will give him a chance to do just that (Twitter links via Jason Cole of Bleacher Report). But the fact that Fisher’s new deal is really for just one year, with an option for 2018, suggests that his job is still not especially safe. Schefter tweets that the extension does not give Fisher any more job security and that the Rams must play well down the stretch for Fisher to return next season (which won’t be easy, given the Rams’ strength of schedule). Tom Pelissero of USA Today (Twitter links) feels the same way, observing that it is not uncommon for a team to fire a head coach with two years left on his deal. Pelissero further opines that if the team agreed to the extension in the preseason but was “too embarrassed” to announce it publicly until months later, that cannot be a good thing for Fisher, despite Gonzalez’s note that Kroenke has largely been able to look past Fisher’s win-loss record because of how he represents the organization.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports tweets that the Rams are not commenting on the extensions, but that team officials may address the situation after the Rams’ matchup against New England today.