It wasn’t a pretty sight at SoFi Stadium on Sunday night if you were a fan of the Chicago Bears. Playing the Los Angeles Rams in prime time for the fourth straight year, the Bears were embarrassed in front of a national audience, losing 34-14 to start 0-1 on the season. The offense was lacking in explosive plays and the defense couldn’t stop any of them on the other side.
Starting quarterback Andy Dalton was efficient for the most part but failed to deliver any explosive plays whatsoever in the passing attack. The run game kept the chains moving as David Montgomery eclipsed 100 yards rushing, but the many yards yielded few points. An offense that scores just 14 points isn’t going to lead to many wins.
Defensively, it was as bad of a performance as I had seen in seven years. Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford diced up the secondary, having two passes of 50 or more yards go for touchdowns. The tackling was atrocious and aside from one sack, there was absolutely nothing to celebrate from this unit.
Week 1 in the NFL always provides the biggest overreactions, so while I’m going to try to avoid major hot takes, this performance overall doesn’t inspire much confidence for the rest of the season. Here are my takeaways from Sunday’s loss to the Rams.