Jeff Fisher is not the right coach for Los Angeles ... or any other NFL team

Jeff Fisher has had just about enough of the Eric Dickerson flap that he created. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Rams head coach spent most of his post-practice media session tamping down the fallout from Dickerson’s claim that Fisher banned him from the sidelines for criticizing the team.

“He’s welcome here,” Fisher said over and over again. “He’s always been welcome.”

That’s not exactly what Fisher said, according to Dickerson.

In Dickerson’s recollection of the phone call he got from Fisher earlier in November, the Rams coach said: “‘You’re not going to be talking about the football team, talking about our team, talking about my coaches, expecting to get things from this football team. We’re not going to give you anything. We’re not going to support you in anything. As long as I’m here as coach, we feel uncomfortable with you coming on the sideline. The players are uncomfortable with that. So as long as I’m head coach here, I’m just going to let you know it’s not going to happen.’”

Dickerson held back until Fisher played dumb on Monday, telling the press that he’d always welcomed Dickerson to be with the team.

The issue here isn’t whether or not Fisher is telling the truth when he claims that he never banished the Hall of Famer from the sidelines. The real issue here is outing the quid pro quo relationship the Rams have with the team’s most recognizable superstar.

Fisher and the Rams are willing to have celebrities and former players at practice, in the team facility, and on the sidelines just as long as they’re not criticizing the team’s 4-7 record or the coach, who’s not had a winning record with the team since being hired in 2012. (I’m guessing that means Snoop Dogg won’t be coming to anymore games after his rant.)

You’d think a coach with 162 career losses, the second-most EVER, over 20-plus years in the NFL would have a thicker skin than that.

Then again, Fisher’s facing more scrutiny in three quarters of a season in Los Angeles than he’s had to deal with throughout his lengthy, lackluster career. He’s been excoriated by the L.A. press corps for his losing ways and for being petulant in his battle with Dickerson.

To be a coach in the National Football League — especially in the country’s second-largest market trying to enjoy a football renaissance and two years away from opening a gilded palace blessed by the league — you need a certain amount of emotional maturity.

Any other coach would’ve been fired after five seasons of consistent losing records, losing in spite of the circumstance, the personnel, schedule, etc. And if that didn’t do it, alienating a franchise’s most popular alumnus in a petty turf war probably should.

Amazingly enough, Fisher’s future with the Rams doesn’t seem to be in jeopardy.

Rams COO and executive vice president Kevin Demoff (whose father, Marvin, is also Fisher’s agent), defended the team’s head coach this week.

“It’s easy to talk about the record, but you have to take a snapshot of everything this year and give him the credit that he’s due,” Demoff told Steve Wyche of the NFL Network.

“The past two years, he’s had to deal with the specter of relocation. This year, the actual relocation. A couple of coaches have had to deal with the specter of relocation. No coach has had to deal with an actual relocation. You have try to understand what this team has been through and the success he has had.”

Does that line sound familiar? It should, at least for the handful of people who are still paying attention to the Rams. It’s the same excuse Fisher used the after Sunday’s 49-21 blowout at the hands of the Saints — and after being shut out by the 49ers to start the season.

However, the constant losing, feuding with superstars, and a pattern of mediocre TV ratings in the market, may be too much even for the bottom line-first Rams leadership to ignore. Demoff left open a window in a Tuesday conversation with LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke:

“Jeff has done a tremendous job handling the distractions of this offseason … but at the end of the day, we all need more wins,’’ Demoff said. “How this team responds to adversity, how we get better, the progress Jared shows, the form the defense shows … that’s what these last five weeks are all about. That will tell us a lot about whether we have the right pieces to move forward in 2017.’’

This could very well be a case of two different messages for two different audiences. Given the way the Rams handled the Dickerson flap in the first place, that wouldn’t be especially surprising.

Winning at New England this week will be a very tall order for the Rams — the Patriots have outscored Fisher’s teams 104-7 in the last two games they faced him. Given the level of preparation the Rams showed last week against the Saints, Fisher probably could have made a wiser investment of his time this week than sparring with Dickerson.

The Rams are 13.5-point underdogs.

A fifth straight losing season is all but assured. The team’s leadership may be willing to accept Fisher’s excuses and tolerate mediocre football. After all, the value of the Rams has already doubled since the move, and there’s nothing another losing season can do to change that. Everyone else in Los Angeles, from fans to the media, won’t be as forgiving.

It’s impossible now for the Rams to live up to Fisher’s well-publicized goal of “not fucking going seven and nine ... or eight and eight ... or nine and seven.”

A 9-7 record is the best they could do if they win out the season ... so much for expectations.