Two years ago on a cold December night in Chicago, Jared Goff had by far the worst game of his NFL career. He completed 20 of 44 passes for 180 yards with no touchdowns and four interceptions. He was sacked three times, fumbled the ball once and was a big reason for the Rams’ ugly 15-6 loss.
His passer rating in that game was a career-low 19.1, 16 points lower than his previous low of 35.1 from 2016. Goff didn’t exactly bounce back from that performance as the 2018 season wore on, despite the fact that the Rams made it all the way to the Super Bowl.
His struggles carried over into 2019, including a less-than-stellar performance against the Bears. In Week 11 at home against Chicago, Goff led the Rams to a 17-7 win, but only by completing 11 of 18 passes for 173 yards and an interception. Again, he failed to throw a touchdown pass.
The Bears are the only team he’s faced multiple times but has yet to throw a touchdown pass against. In two games against Chicago, Goff has completed 31 of 62 passes for 353 yards with no touchdowns and five interceptions and a fumble. His passer rating of 33.9 is his lowest against any single team, while his completion rate of 50% is his worst against any team he’s faced multiple times.
It might be too small a sample size to say the Bears have his number, but their defense has clearly given him trouble in the past two years. He’s not focused on those poor showings, however, and is instead looking forward to the upcoming matchup on Monday night.
“Well, two years ago they beat us pretty good and then last year we beat them, and I thought we played pretty well considering when we had that line of offense and we’re 1-1. They do a good job on defense. They were obviously really good up front and veteran in the backend. I think Eddie Jackson is one of top safeties in the league, Kyle Fuller is obviously a top corner in the league and they’ve got (Tashaun) Gipson, who’s an established veteran. So I mean, they’re established and they’re a good team and we’ve got our hands full, but we’ll be ready.”
Goff said he didn’t learn anything different from that 15-6 drubbing that he hasn’t learned from other losses in the past, saying he didn’t let that game affect their future performance – as evidenced by their Super Bowl run.
He doesn’t even see many connections between last year’s meeting and the upcoming one on Monday night, saying, “They have a completely different team, we have a completely different team, so the approach will be different.”
Coming into this one, the Bears once again have a top defense. They’re seventh in total points allowed, have allowed the fewest touchdown passes and the sixth-lowest yards per pass attempt.
Khalil Mack and Akiem Hicks are both still there, and Robert Quinn has been added to the mix as a replacement for Leonard Floyd. If Goff gets help from his offensive line, he’ll have time to make better decisions with the football than he did against the Bears the last two years.
But if the pressure gets to him, it could be another ugly night against a tough Chicago defense.