Bottom Line: Rams Improved : Football: Despite being blown out Sunday by the Saints, Knox insists a single defeat doesn’t mean an entire season is a failure.

ANAHEIM â€”  With only five victories in hand and their slate of games dwindled to a less-than-precious few, the Rams on Monday warmed up their valedictories for 1992.

It has been a win one, lose two, sort of season--an up-down, stumble-around journey that Coach Chuck Knox says, bottom line, has already shown that the Rams are an improved team from last season’s 3-13 disaster.

Monday, in the wake of the 37-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints Sunday, Knox acknowledged that the Rams, at 5-9 with two games left to play, are far from where he wants them to be.

It was a familiar batch of woes, Sunday: too many turnovers, too many missed chances and too much defensive backpedaling against bigger, stronger, faster offenses.

But Knox also said the knee-jerk reaction to label the season a failure after Sunday’s six-turnover collapse--and two weeks after the Rams staged the greatest comeback victory in franchise history--ignores the big picture of his rebuilding program.

Asked if the Rams have to show something special in the last two games in order to judge his first season at the helm a success, Knox’s answer made it obvious that he disagrees with the premise.

“I think if you’re going to judge, I think most people would judge whatever success you have in relationship to the won-loss record last year,” he said.

“We have made some improvement, and we have played some good games. We did not play well yesterday, obviously.

“But I don’t think you can take one game, just like you can’t take the Dallas game (a 27-23 Rams’ upset last month) and say that was the season.

“You can’t say that this game yesterday--is that going to set the program back because we turned the ball over so many times? That’s just something (that happened). We’ve got to go on and continue to improve it now.”

Two weeks ago, Knox pointedly told his team that, with the playoffs out of reach, they should consider the month of December a “four-game season.” The unstated premise was that the Rams could redevelop a sense of pride and begin momentum toward 1993 with a solid late-season effort.

One week into it, the Rams were soaring after coming back from a 27-3 halftime hole to beat the Buccaneers in Tampa, Fla.

Monday, with a game in winter-wonderland Green Bay next, followed by the season finale against the visiting Atlanta Falcons, Knox conceded the loss to the Saints could mean the Rams will end up 5-11.

“I’m not satisfied with five wins,” Knox said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be satisfied with that. But that is reality. That’s where we are.”

The Rams were 2-2 in September, 1-2 in October, 1-4 in November, and now, 1-1 in December.

The Rams’ six turnovers Sunday--including two Cleveland Gary fumbles--were the most they have given away this season, and the most since their seven-turnover disaster in a loss to the Phoenix Cardinals, Sept. 1, 1991.

This season, the Rams are 3-2 in games they have turned the ball over one time or fewer. In each of their five victories, they have turned it over three times or fewer.

“I’m disappointed always with the turnovers,” Knox said. “We just have to do a better job of protecting that football. When we’ve won, we’ve been able to force some turnovers, get some takeaways, and we have not turned it over.”

Knox also suggested that losing embarrassingly to a team as hot as the Saints--who have won nine of their last 10 games--is not total humiliation. He said he considers the Saints an honest Super Bowl contender.

“I think they’re right there,” Knox said. “I think they’ve got all the ingredients.

“They’ve got the kicking game. They’ve got the defense, certainly. . . . They’ve got an excellent offense. They’ve got the ability to hurt you with some weapons.”

With those factors in mind, wide receiver Jeff Chadwick said Sunday’s loss wasn’t going to sap the team’s feeling that it is moving in the right direction--or ruin Knox’s desire to finish on a four-game upswing.

“I think we can stay focused,” Chadwick said. “I don’t think we’re going to dwell on this. We all know why we didn’t win this game, we just didn’t play well.

“I don’t think it’s going to detract.”

Although some of the players in recent weeks have said sweeping their December games to finish 8-8 was their goal, now that a losing record is inevitable, Knox said he never got that specific.

“I didn’t mention anything about 8-8,” he said. “I was talking about, ‘It’s a four-game season.’ We’re 1-1 right now. We’re going to go to Green Bay this week. We’ve got Atlanta coming in next week. So that’s where we are.

“We’re down to a two-week season.”

RAM NUMBERS

HIGHLIGHT: BOBBY HEBERT He’ll never attract the headlines of a Dan Marino or Steve Young, but make no mistake, Bobby Hebert is a winning quarterback. He has led his team, the New Orleans Saints, to an 11-3 record and to a game within the NFC West-leading 49ers. Noted for their defense and conservative offense, the Saints have come alive the last eight weeks during which they have scored better than 30 points three times and been over 20 in the other five. A steadily-improving and confident Hebert is the reason. Sunday, in New Orleans’ 37-14 rout of the Rams, Hebert completed 15 of 25 passes for 238 yards and a touchdown. That gives him 218 completions in 365 attempts for 2,913 yards and 18 touchdowns. SEASON TO DATE 14-Game Totals (Record: 5-9) First Downs RAMS: 245 OPP: 282 Rushing Yards RAMS: 1,370 OPP: 2,047 Passing Yards RAMS: 2,894 OPP: 2,772 Punts/Average RAMS: 65/41.6 OPP: 55/42.7 Rushing RAMS: ATT: 336 AVG: 4.1 TDs: 9 OPP: ATT: 418 AVG: 4.9 TDs: 21 Passing RAMS: ATT: 433 CP: 254 TDs: 22 OPP: ATT: 437 CP: 260 TDs: 13 Penalties/Yards RAMS: 73/502 OPP: 93/708 Fumbles/Lost RAMS: 26/17 OPP: 22/12 Interceptions/Yds RAMS: 15/258 OPP: 16/270 Scoring by Quarters

1 2 3 4 OT TOTAL RAMS 21 70 80 91 0 262 OPP 94 103 57 74 0 328

Possession Time RAMS: 28:03 OPP: 31:57