Editing Marc Bulger (section)

===St. Louis Rams===
==== 2000-2001 ====
The [[St. Louis Rams]] signed Bulger to the practice squad late in the 2000 season. He was signed to the active roster by the Rams on January 12, 2001. As the third string quarterback, Bulger did not see any playing time during his first season with the Rams, as the team advanced to [[Super Bowl XXXVI]].

==== 2002 ====
In 2002, after the Rams started 0–5, Bulger filled in for an injured [[Jamie Martin (American football)|Jamie Martin]], who had been filling in for the injured [[Kurt Warner]], who was the reigning league MVP. Bulger finished the season with a 6–0 record in games that he both started and finished, but he was injured early in a game against the [[Seattle Seahawks]], and the Rams ended the season at 7–9 and missed the playoffs one year removed from their NFC Championship.

==== 2003 ====
Bulger entered the 2003 season as Warner's backup, but was promoted to No. 1 on the depth chart after Warner committed five turnovers and suffered a concussion in an opening week loss to [[2003 New York Giants season|the New York Giants]]. Bulger then led the Rams to a regular-season record of 12–4, securing the [[NFC West]] title and a first-round bye. The Rams went on to lose a double-overtime thriller to the eventual NFC Champion [[2003 Carolina Panthers season|Carolina Panthers]] in the divisional round of the playoffs. Bulger made the Pro Bowl where he was the game's MVP.

==== 2004 ====
[[File:Marc Bulger in Rams locker room 2004-10-07.jpg|thumb|left|Bulger with a fan in October 2004]]
Bulger's performance in 2003 solidified his position as the Rams' starting quarterback. Warner was released in June 2004, and the Rams signed Bulger to a four-year, $19.1 million contract. The Rams went 8–8 in 2004, narrowly losing the division to the heavily favored [[2004 Seattle Seahawks season|Seattle Seahawks]], but earned a wild-card berth in a mediocre NFC.

The Rams defeated Seattle for a third time in the wild-card round, but lost the following week at the hands [[2004 Atlanta Falcons season|of the Atlanta Falcons]] in the Divisional Round by a wide 17–47 margin.

==== 2005 ====
On October 17, against [[2005 Indianapolis Colts season|the Indianapolis Colts]], Bulger injured his right shoulder. After missing two games, he returned to the field on November, 20 against the [[Arizona Cardinals]] where he re-injured his shoulder. He was then placed on IR on Christmas Day in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=2267449|title=Rams make it official, place Bulger on IR|date=December 21, 2005}}</ref> He finished the 2005 season with 14 Touchdowns, 9 Interceptions and a 94.4 passer rating.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/2299/marc-bulger|title=Marc Bulger Stats}}</ref>

==== 2006 ====
On September 10, 2006, in a game against [[2006 Denver Broncos season|the Denver Broncos]], Bulger reached 1,000 completions faster than any quarterback in NFL history. Bulger achieved this in 45 games, two games less than ex-Rams QB [[Kurt Warner]]. [[Drew Bledsoe]] and [[Peyton Manning]] needed 48 games, and it took [[Dan Marino]] 49.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=2656381|title=The Weekly Conversation: Marc Bulger|date=November 10, 2006}}</ref>

==== 2007 ====
On July 28, 2007, Bulger signed a six-year, $62.5 million contract extension with the Rams, making him the highest-paid player in Rams history. The contract included $27 million in guaranteed money and put him in a group of six quarterbacks making $10 million a year or more. Bulger had one year remaining on a four-year, $19.1 million contract, which would have paid him $4 million in 2007.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/rams/2007-07-27-carriker-deal_N.htm USA Today]</ref> In [[2007 St. Louis Rams season|the 2007 season]], Bulger was plagued with injuries through the entire season as was the entire team. Injuries on the offensive line took effect as he threw more interceptions than touchdowns for the first time in his career. He was considered one of the biggest disappointments of the season, which saw the Rams slump to 3–13.

==== 2008 ====
[[File:Marc-Bulger-Rams-vs-Jets-Nov-9-08.jpg|thumbnail|Bulger in November 2008]]
On September 23, 2008, after starting 0&ndash;3, Bulger lost his starting role to [[Trent Green]].<ref>http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/sports/rams/story/b605f70073ab0699862574cd005abbe2?OpenDocument {{dead link|date=June 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  However, seven days later, new head coach [[Jim Haslett]] named Marc Bulger the starting quarterback for the rest of the season.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3618158|title=Haslett restores Bulger as Rams' starting QB|date=September 30, 2008}}</ref>
On November 9, 2008, vs the Jets, Haslett replaced Bulger with Green after halftime after the Jets took a 40&ndash;0 lead in the first half, cued by four first half Rams turnovers.

A week later he was put back in as starting quarterback. His performances improved slightly as the year went on, but he still turned in another lackluster season with more interceptions than touchdowns and continuously declining completion percentages.

==== 2009 ====
Bulger was placed on season-ending [[injured reserve]] on December 26, 2009, as [[2009 St. Louis Rams season|the Rams]] slumped to a franchise-worst 1&ndash;15 record, and a 6&ndash;42 record for the three seasons from 2007 to 2009. He had thrown just five touchdown passes during the 2009 season, although his statistics remained where they had been in 2007 and 2008, apart from an improved [[interception (American football)|interception]] percentage of 2.4 percent vis-à-vis 4 percent.

Bulger asked for, and was granted, his release by the Rams on April 5, 2010, his 33rd birthday.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-04-05 |title=Rams release QB Bulger, avoid $8.5M salary hit |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=5057937 |access-date=2025-05-11 |website=ESPN.com|agency=Associated Press |language=en}}</ref>