NFL: St. Louis Rams will be in the playoffs in 2014 if…

But: The question marks surrounding Bradford are certainly warranted. As a rookie, the league’s first overall pick in the 2010 draft got off to a great start, throwing 17 touchdown passes compared to only nine interceptions in his first 11 career outings. But Bradford struggled down the stretch and into next season, when he only played 10 games. In those 15 contests over that span, the young signal-caller threw for only seven scores while being picked off a dozen times.

In 2012, the first year under Fisher, Bradford put together his finest campaign and was off to a good start this past season when he was lost after seven games. In his last 23 games, the much-maligned quarterback has thrown more than twice as many touchdown passes (35) than interceptions (17).

All told, critics point to the four-year veteran’s inability to stay healthy, as well as his career 18-30-1 record as a starter, as reasons that the Rams may not progress any further than they have in recent years despite an influx of exciting young talent.

Now would be a good time for Bradford to prove the skeptics wrong.