St. Louis, Oakland, San Diego Present Reasons To Keep NFL Franchises

The three NFL cities in line to potentially lose their NFL teams to Los Angeles made thorough and impassioned presentations to the league Wednesday as a step toward keeping them.

Officials from Oakland, San Diego and St. Louis spoke to the league's Los Angeles, stadium and finance committees, all three of which play some role in a potential relocation. Oakland spoke first and was followed by San Diego and then St. Louis.

"This was an important day, and the passion of the cities came through," NFL executive Eric Grubman said. "The fans spoke in a very powerful way [at public forums in late October], and this was the opportunity for city leadership to speak with the passion they have directly to the owners."

The Raiders and Chargers have combined on a project in Carson, California, that would cost about $1.78 billion if approved by three-fourths of the 32 owners. Rams owner Stan Kroenke is pushing a rival project in nearby Inglewood.

The league has set a special meeting in Dallas on Dec. 2 at which substantial steps could come, including moving up from January the deadline for application to relocate. But Grubman and several owners have indicated no timetable is set in stone and that a vote on relocation could come in February or March or beyond.

A vote by March would be almost a necessity for Los Angeles to have a franchise or two playing there in 2016.

While representatives from the three cities outline plans for potential new stadiums -- St. Louis already has a state-backed project costing about $1 billion -- the league seriously contemplates a return to Los Angeles for the first time in more than two decades. Coincidentally, the Rams and Raiders were the teams that left the L.A. area after the 1994 season.

St. Louis Rams: After playing without four starters last week against Minnesota, the Rams are hopeful that they'll get some key players back this week. Jeff Fisher said that end Robert Quinn (knee) and tackle Rob Havenstein (ankle) should be back to practice Friday. That still leaves questions about safety T.J. McDonald, but the Rams will take whatever they can get after Thursday's day off. -- Nick Wagoner

Chicago Bears: Veteran Matt Forte (knee) is slowly making progress toward an eventual return, but Chicago is confident that rookie tailback Jeremy Langford can be effective against St. Louis' fifth ranked defense. Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said he did plenty of homework on Langford in the pre-draft process, and he's not surprised that Langford flourished in relief of Forte. It may be a stretch to think Forte can play Sunday in the Edward Jones Dome. On defense, the Bears are bracing for Rams rookie running back Todd Gurley, whom defensive coordinator Vic Fangio likened to a young Adrian Peterson. The Bears have the 24th rated rushing defense, a major concern with Gurley on the horizon. -- Jeff Dickerson