If only the St. Louis Rams had listened to their mothers: “Never play with fire, especially indoors.”

It would have been especially good advice on Sunday, when a pregame pyrotechnics display got a little out of hand and caused the turf near the end zone to briefly catch fire and delayed the start of the game by approximately 30 minutes.

The burn happened when players were coming out of the tunnel to a firework display, which just seems like a bad idea on so many levels, one of which presented itself. Thankfully it was only the three-yard line being singed and not Jeff Fisher’s mustache. Just think of the carnage had that happened.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

That this is the first time anything like this has happened is amazing. Fake turf and burning chemicals to make controlled explosions seems like a wonderful, safe idea to me, right?

ESPN’s St. Louis reporter for NFL Nation, Nick Wagoner, said the fire was quickly extinguished. The cleaning machine looked like something out of the R2-D2 reject pile from the original Star Wars.

Seriously, I think that’s what they used to clean up messes made during the construction of the St. Louis Arch in the early 1930s. That’s older than Edward Jones himself.

Afterward, the spot that remained looked like what happens when you leave your dog at home too long and the Resolve slightly discolors your favorite carpet. Also, the whole thing appeared to happen when the defense was running on the field, which is the first time they’ve been on fire all year.