THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. -- The head coach is gone, the season is winding down and the record is poor, so John Fassel is searching for motivation.
For Saturday's game, he resorted to history.
Fassel, the special-teams coordinator who was named interim coach in the wake of Jeff Fisher's firing, brought up the storied rivalry between the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers with his players during a recent team meeting, days before the 49ers visit his Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time since 1979. Fassel enlisted the help of some special-teams players and dug up an assortment of factoids.