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Rams can't afford slip-up vs. Bears
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_eea7f40c-d765-562a-a595-545d16cd06d0.html
This would’ve all been much easier had the Rams taken care of business in Minnesota last week. But they didn’t.
The 21-18 overtime loss to the Vikings didn’t help but didn’t kill the Rams’ ongoing crusade for their first playoff berth since 2004 and their first winning season since 2003.
However, that outcome does make Sunday’s noon kickoff against Chicago at the Edward Jones Dome all the more significant. If they’re really serious about making something of this season, the Rams (4-4) absolutely, positively must hold serve at home against the Bears (3-5).
The largest crowd of the season is expected at the dome, never mind that thousands and thousands will be wearing Chicago colors. Bears fans travel well, and in this season of relocation fear in St. Louis, well, good seats are available.
After an 0-3 start, the Bears have regrouped to win three of their last five. And despite lots of injuries and a lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball, coach John Fox’s group has become a tough out lately.
“I mean, you look at their games,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “The last five, they’ve all been three points or less, whether they won them or lost them. The overtime loss to Detroit was tough on them, but they’re playing good ball. They’re playing good defense.”
The Bears’ new offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, has quarterback Jay Cutler playing some of the best football of his career. At face value, Cutler’s numbers aren’t overwhelming — 10 touchdown passes and an 89.6 passer rating.
But Cutler is playing within himself, not trying to do too much, which means his historically high turnover rate is way down this season.
“His confidence is high,” Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “He’s a very talented guy. You can see his mechanics (have improved).
“That’s the kind of John Fox team you always see. He’s a very good person on managing fundamentals, emphasizing those kinds of things. And you can see not only in Cutler, but in a lot of those guys, they’re doing that.”
Unlike their pass-happy ways last season under former coach Marc Trestman, the Bears have made more of a commitment to the run, be it with the now-injured Matt Forte or rookie Jeremy Langford in the backfield.
More often than not, that’s led to third-and-manageable situations and a noticeable advantage in time possession.
“They just kept running the rock, over and over and over it seemed like,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said, referring to Monday’s 22-19 Bears comeback victory over San Diego. “I think they’re running it more than I expected.”
In 2014, the Bears ran the ball 355 times compared to 609 passes. They’re much more balanced so far this season, with 228 rushes and 287 passes.
That ball control and time of possession edge probably has made the ninth-ranked Chicago defense look better than it is. Truth be told, it’s not an overly talented group of defenders. The Bears have a modest 14 sacks — basically half the Rams’ total. And only five NFL teams have fewer takeaways than the Bears’ nine.
“No busted coverages,” quarterback Nick Foles said of Chicago’s fifth-ranked pass defense. “You can tell they know what they want to do. They do it well. They do a great job of disguising coverages, rotating the safeties at the last second and stuff like that.
“So pre-snap reads are huge, but post-snap reads are even more important. They’re gonna mix it up. They’re gonna make their man look like zone; zone look like man. We’ll try to get our keys on what we see.”
And after Minnesota found a way to contain the phenomenon that is Todd Gurley, it’ll be interesting to see if Chicago takes the same approach. Moreso than any other opponent since Gurley moved into a starting role five games ago against Arizona, the Vikings loaded the box with an extra defender (or two) and dared the Rams to beat them with Foles and the pass.
The Rams couldn’t do it, struggling to string completions together and once again proving amazingly inept on third down. The Rams haven’t passed for even 200 yards in a game since the season opener against Seattle. Over the past three games, they have converted only four of 37 third downs, or a paltry 10.8 percent.
“We need more big plays,” Fisher said. “We need big runs. We needs chunks. We need to change field position. We’ve played some good defenses. ... We’re due for a breakout game on offense.”
With the league’s 31st ranked offense, they’ve actually been overdue for quite some time. Even with Fisher’s stated need for more big plays, some medium one would help on third down to keep drives alive.
That’s where veteran wide receiver Wes Welker, signed Monday to replace the suspended Stedman Bailey, comes in. Even if he’s only on the field for a dozen plays Sunday, make them all third-down plays. If Welker gets two or three catches, that could mean two or three third-down conversions.
Fisher tried to maintain a poker face Friday, his last media session of the week, in terms of Welker’s availability. But he wasn’t very convincing. The Rams have no need to save Welker for December — they need him now even if it’s in a limited role.
Because the Rams need to win now. They’re beginning to run out of cushion if they truly want to make this season any different than the last 10.
• By Jim Thomas
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/foot...cle_eea7f40c-d765-562a-a595-545d16cd06d0.html
This would’ve all been much easier had the Rams taken care of business in Minnesota last week. But they didn’t.
The 21-18 overtime loss to the Vikings didn’t help but didn’t kill the Rams’ ongoing crusade for their first playoff berth since 2004 and their first winning season since 2003.
However, that outcome does make Sunday’s noon kickoff against Chicago at the Edward Jones Dome all the more significant. If they’re really serious about making something of this season, the Rams (4-4) absolutely, positively must hold serve at home against the Bears (3-5).
The largest crowd of the season is expected at the dome, never mind that thousands and thousands will be wearing Chicago colors. Bears fans travel well, and in this season of relocation fear in St. Louis, well, good seats are available.
After an 0-3 start, the Bears have regrouped to win three of their last five. And despite lots of injuries and a lack of playmakers on both sides of the ball, coach John Fox’s group has become a tough out lately.
“I mean, you look at their games,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said. “The last five, they’ve all been three points or less, whether they won them or lost them. The overtime loss to Detroit was tough on them, but they’re playing good ball. They’re playing good defense.”
The Bears’ new offensive coordinator, Adam Gase, has quarterback Jay Cutler playing some of the best football of his career. At face value, Cutler’s numbers aren’t overwhelming — 10 touchdown passes and an 89.6 passer rating.
But Cutler is playing within himself, not trying to do too much, which means his historically high turnover rate is way down this season.
“His confidence is high,” Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said. “He’s a very talented guy. You can see his mechanics (have improved).
“That’s the kind of John Fox team you always see. He’s a very good person on managing fundamentals, emphasizing those kinds of things. And you can see not only in Cutler, but in a lot of those guys, they’re doing that.”
Unlike their pass-happy ways last season under former coach Marc Trestman, the Bears have made more of a commitment to the run, be it with the now-injured Matt Forte or rookie Jeremy Langford in the backfield.
More often than not, that’s led to third-and-manageable situations and a noticeable advantage in time possession.
“They just kept running the rock, over and over and over it seemed like,” linebacker James Laurinaitis said, referring to Monday’s 22-19 Bears comeback victory over San Diego. “I think they’re running it more than I expected.”
In 2014, the Bears ran the ball 355 times compared to 609 passes. They’re much more balanced so far this season, with 228 rushes and 287 passes.
That ball control and time of possession edge probably has made the ninth-ranked Chicago defense look better than it is. Truth be told, it’s not an overly talented group of defenders. The Bears have a modest 14 sacks — basically half the Rams’ total. And only five NFL teams have fewer takeaways than the Bears’ nine.
“No busted coverages,” quarterback Nick Foles said of Chicago’s fifth-ranked pass defense. “You can tell they know what they want to do. They do it well. They do a great job of disguising coverages, rotating the safeties at the last second and stuff like that.
“So pre-snap reads are huge, but post-snap reads are even more important. They’re gonna mix it up. They’re gonna make their man look like zone; zone look like man. We’ll try to get our keys on what we see.”
And after Minnesota found a way to contain the phenomenon that is Todd Gurley, it’ll be interesting to see if Chicago takes the same approach. Moreso than any other opponent since Gurley moved into a starting role five games ago against Arizona, the Vikings loaded the box with an extra defender (or two) and dared the Rams to beat them with Foles and the pass.
The Rams couldn’t do it, struggling to string completions together and once again proving amazingly inept on third down. The Rams haven’t passed for even 200 yards in a game since the season opener against Seattle. Over the past three games, they have converted only four of 37 third downs, or a paltry 10.8 percent.
“We need more big plays,” Fisher said. “We need big runs. We needs chunks. We need to change field position. We’ve played some good defenses. ... We’re due for a breakout game on offense.”
With the league’s 31st ranked offense, they’ve actually been overdue for quite some time. Even with Fisher’s stated need for more big plays, some medium one would help on third down to keep drives alive.
That’s where veteran wide receiver Wes Welker, signed Monday to replace the suspended Stedman Bailey, comes in. Even if he’s only on the field for a dozen plays Sunday, make them all third-down plays. If Welker gets two or three catches, that could mean two or three third-down conversions.
Fisher tried to maintain a poker face Friday, his last media session of the week, in terms of Welker’s availability. But he wasn’t very convincing. The Rams have no need to save Welker for December — they need him now even if it’s in a limited role.
Because the Rams need to win now. They’re beginning to run out of cushion if they truly want to make this season any different than the last 10.
