For many St. Louisians, this was to be glorious sports weekend. The rival Chicago Cubs were coming to town to play the Cardinals, the Rams were taking on the San Francisco 49ers at home, the St. Louis Blues (FYI: they're a hockey team - look it up) started their exhibition schedule on home ice, and tens of people were excited about something called the Tour of Missouri, which is exactly like the Tour De France - without the mountains.

No matter what, this had to be better than last weekend, didn't it? Apparently not. If last Friday thru Sunday was a punch in the gut, this weekend was a direct kick in the nuts - with steel toed boots.

The Cardinals were playing the Cubs on a four-game homestand, representing their final shot at making a playoff run. They had lost seven straight going into the series, and realistically needed a sweep to get back into contention. They proceeded to lose three out of four.

Making it especially painful, ex-Cardinal hurler Jason Marquis beat them on Sunday. Although Marquis knows everything there is to know about pitching (just ask him), it seems he is actually listening to Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, much to the shock of Cardinal Nation.

The Blues (again - hockey team) opened their exhibition on Sunday night, and they proceeded to lose 3-1 to the Atlanta Thrashers. First exhibition games in any sport don't generally mean much, but coach Andy Murray wasn't buying it. His post-game comments to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch included him saying most of the team was average and that they were careless. His highest praise went to the former number one overall draft pick, defenseman Erik Johnson: "(He) was one of our more positive defensemen ... he would have graded out at average and the other guys were below average."

Finally, the biggest debacle of the weekend belonged to the St. Louis Rams. They didn't play terribly, but they were coached terribly by Scott Linehan and company in a 17-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. The team is now 0-2 and dead last in the NFC West.

Overall, the team played decently but for a few key mistakes - Torry Holt fumbled the ball and it went out of bounds at the goal line - giving the 49ers the ball at the 20 - and Dante Hall muffed a punt deep in Rams territory to set up the game winning field goal by San Francisco.

The coaching errors were beyond comprehension. They failed to get Steven Jackson the ball enough, particularly in the fourth quarter, and after one particular series he stormed off the field, screaming at the coaching staff.

In the fourth quarter, on what would have been the winning drive, Linehan had Bulger spike the ball at midfield, though the Rams had over a minute left to work with. One sack later, it was third and seventeen. A fourteen yard pass set up a Jeff Wilkins 56 yard field goal attempt, and he came up about six inches short.

Furthermore, Bulger nearly got decapitated, as he was sacked six times, and took at least ten more crushing hits. He winced in pain through the entire second half, but still performed admirably, throwing for 368 yards. Apparently, they weren't prepared for what the 49ers did, as guard Mark Setterstrom offered this opinion: ""We had a little bit of trouble identifying things. I'm sure part of their package was confusion. ... Going into the game, we had a couple of people we were supposed to be looking at, and they kind of changed their scheme up a little bit." Way to make adjustments, coaches.

Needless to say, Rams fans are pissed.

The scribes also had a field day with Linehan, rightfully skewering his decisions. Post-Dispatch columnist Bryan Burwell offered these thoughts:

"How do you expect to win games with an offense that seems hellbent on getting its quarterback dismembered and its featured running back stark raving mad over his inexplicable lack of use in the crunch? ... Welcome to the Nightmare on Broadway, a recurring horror story filled with rotten pass-blocking, incomprehensible play-calling decisions and Sunday afternoon bouts of amnesia in the coach's booth ... Lots of odd play calls. Lots of needless hits on Bulger. Lots of misuse of Jackson, who touched the ball only three times the entire fourth quarter."

His colleague at the P-D, Bernie Miklasz, had a similar reaction:

" Linehan seemed lost (again) on the sideline. I don't even want to get into it; to list all of the things that went wrong, I'd need the Library of Congress to catalogue it. But in terms of game management and handling the clock, Linehan made Mike Martz look like Vince Lombardi ... The offense is down to one touchdown a game, and confusion still reigns, but at least Linehan is a nice guy who plays well with others ... Playoffs? At this point, I'd be grateful if the Rams just made it to the end zone ... Two games into the season, the storyline is set: Shaw and Zygmunt's young coach is under fire, and with six of the next eight games on the road, he must avoid becoming the next Rich Brooks. The Internet domain name, firescottlinehan.com, is available for $100."

So it was that kind of weekend for sports fans in St. Louis, and unless things get better, quickly, it could be an awfully long winter on the banks of the Mississippi.