ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The Washington Redskins hope they said hello to their future on the day the Los Angeles Rams probably said goodbye to their past.
In what was likely their last game in California after moving from Cleveland in 1946, the Rams lost their seventh straight -- a 24-21 setback to the Redskins before 25,705 at Anaheim Stadium.
For the Redskins, the victory ended a seven-game losing streak, as they finished with a 3-13 record and avoided blowing a second-half lead for the ninth time this year.
"This is the best Christmas gift I could have," said wide receiver Henry Ellard, who left the Rams to sign with the Redskins this year.
After the Redskins took the lead on rookie Heath Shuler's 1-yard rollout pass to James Jenkins with 49 seconds left in the third quarter, the Rams had four more possessions, and were stopped each time.
On the next-to-last one, the Rams stopped themselves, when Chris Miller overthrew open Johnny Bailey in the end zone from the Washington 16 and Tony Zendejas was wide right with a 33-yard field-goal attempt that would have tied the game with 4:14 remaining.
"It feels great to win," coach Norv Turner said, beaming.
The Redskins, who will have the fourth pick in next year's draft (they probably would have had the third choice if they had lost, because the Houston Oilers won their second game), hope the victory is a springboard for the second year of Turner's rebuilding program in 1995.
"This should prove to be a big boost to our off-season," Turner said. "It's going to be good for us to go through the off-season knowing we won our last football game."
Shuler got his first victory even though he passed for only 149 yards and had his first pass of the game intercepted by Anthony Newman and returned for a touchdown.
"It's exciting," Shuler said. "It goes to show you that, regardless of how low we got, that we never gave up. That's what I appreciate most about my teammates."
For the Rams, the game probably ended an era. They were the first major-league team to move to California and once drew crowds of more than 100,000 in the Los Angeles Coliseum. But their support waned in recent years after they moved to Anaheim, and club executive John Shaw has been negotiating for weeks to move the team to St. Louis.
That gave the game an air of finality, even though the team hasn't announced a move yet.
Although the crowd was smaller than the announced crowd for the last game in Baltimore in 1983, the fans were supportive.
There was only occasional chanting against owner Georgia Frontiere, but it wasn't as loud and sustained as that during the last game in Baltimore, when the fans shouted insults at owner Bob Irsay.
"They're die-hand fans," running back Jerome Bettis said. "They come out and support us in times when we're down, out there yelling their hearts out."
The most negative comments were two signs. One read, "Georgia is a Grinch" and the other said, "Merry Christmas to John and Georgia. . . . NOT."
But then there was a plane flying over the stadium with a sign knocking Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke. It read, "Jack Kent Cooke has labor trouble at the Daily News." The Redskins owner also owns the Los Angeles Daily News.
It was fitting that on the last play of the game, Redskins veteran Monte Coleman wrapped it up by tackling quarterback Miller at the Washington 41, 10 yards shy of a first down.
Although Coleman wants to come back next year, he may be one of several veterans who won't be part of the rebuilding program.
Coleman noted he also made the last tackle on Steve Largent and made the last interception on Joe Montana when he was a 49er.
"I'll just put [the last tackle] in the record books with those," he said.
But Coleman hopes the Redskins don't ask him to retire.
"I still enjoy the game tremendously," he said.
Of the 45 points scored in the game, 24 were scored in the last five minutes of the first half.
After Miller threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Todd Kinchen to put the Rams ahead 14-7 with 4:19 left in the half, Brian Mitchell tied it up with a 78-yard punt return with 1:33 left.
Martin Bayless, who was playing even though his father died last week and earned a game ball along with defensive coordinator Ron Lynn, then intercepted a pass that set up Chip Lohmiller's 37-yard field goal with 57 seconds left.
The Rams countered with Miller's 36-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jermaine Ross -- his first NFL catch -- with four seconds left in the half to take a 21-17 halftime lead.
The Redskins then got the only touchdown of the second half to win.
"Let's not lose sight of the fact that we were 3-13 and lost probably a record seven or eight games in the fourth quarter," linebacker Andre Collins said.
"But the one good thing about today was that we won close game in the fourth quarter."
Washington 0 17 7 0 24
L.A. Rams 7 14 0 0 21