Rams offensive lineman Richie Incognito isn’t troubled by the possibility that the Edward Jones Dome will be filled with plenty of Bears fans when the two teams square off on Sunday.

“At least someone in the dome is yelling,” Incognito said Thursday.

“We know how our fans feel about us, and that’s fine.  It’s nice to have the other fans here. At least they cheer.”

Well, Richie, the problem is that you and your teammates really haven’t given the hometown fans anything to cheer about.  So in this era of a bad economy, Blu-Ray DVD, and societal ADD, it’s not all that surprising for folks who might have cared about the local NFL team when it was 0-0 are having a hard time keeping their interest level up when the franchise is closer to 0-10 than 10-0.

After following an 0-4 start with a two-game winning streak over the Redskins and the Cowboys, the Rams have lost another four in a row.  At 2-8 and five games out of first place in the division with six to play, it’s over.  So, naturally, the locals have detached emotionally.

It’s not supposed to happen that way in the modern NFL.  Teams are supposed to cluster around .500, and as many of them as possible are supposed to be alive for a postseason berth for as long as possible.

This year, there are a bunch of teams who are, for all practical purposes, done . . . and it isn’t even December.

In the NFC, the 3-7 49ers, the 2-8 Rams, the 2-8 Seahawks, and the 0-10 Lions are already out of it, practically if not mathematically.  In the AFC, the 3-7 Texans, the 2-8 Raiders, the 1-9-1 Bengals, and the 1-9 Chiefs are finished.

That’s eight out of 32 teams — a fourth of the league — dead in the water with more than a third of the season left to be played.  So it’s good that the Rams are hosting this week one of the 24 teams still in contention. 

Otherwise, no one would be there at all.