Category: Latest Bears News

Biggest concerns following Bears’ 34-14 loss to Rams in Week 1

From the secondary to the offensive line, here are some of the biggest concerns from the Bears’ brutal loss to the Rams in Week 1.

The Chicago Bears suffered a brutal 34-14 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, where there were plenty of issues on offense and defense.

While the offense outperformed the defense, they still only mustered 14 points, which isn’t going to be enough to win games. But it certainly doesn’t help when your defense is getting blasted by Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ high-powered offense.

Here are some concerns that arose from the Bears’ brutal loss to the Rams in Week 1:

Bears PFF grades: Best and worst on defense from Week 1 loss vs. Rams

The Bears defense was embarrassed in a 34-14 loss to the Rams. Here’s how PFF graded Chicago’s defense in Week 1.

The Chicago Bears dropped their season opener, losing 34-14 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. But it wasn’t the offense that was the biggest disappointment. That honor belonged to Chicago’s once-vaunted defense.

The Bears gave up 34 points — the highest to the Rams in the last four meetings — and allowed Matthew Stafford and LA’s high-powered attack to destroy them on national television. Missed tackles, blown coverages and big stars with less-than-impressive outings proved to be a recipe for disaster in the season opener.

While the defense was bad, there were some players who performed better than others. Here’s how the Bears defense graded, from best to worst, in their Week 1 loss from PFF:

Bears PFF grades: Best and worst on offense from Week 1 loss vs. Rams

The offense wasn’t the worst unit on the field for the Bears in their Week 1 loss to the Rams. Here’s how PFF graded Chicago’s offense.

The Chicago Bears dropped their season opener, losing 34-14 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football. But Chicago’s offense wasn’t the worst thing on the field.

Despite scoring just 14 points, the Bears offense performed better than many expected against a top-ranked Rams defense from a season ago. Andy Dalton made his debut for the Bears, and rookie Justin Fields even got in on the action for a whopping five plays.

Chicago established a balanced attack with running back David Montgomery, who ran for 108 yards on 16 carries and one of their two rushing touchdowns.

While the offense wasn’t terrible, there were some players who performed better than others. Here’s how the Bears offense graded, from best to worst, in their Week 1 loss from PFF:

5 takeaways from Bears’ 34-14 prime-time loss vs. Rams

From the Bears’ atrocious secondary to Justin Fields’ debut, here are our takeaways from the Bears’ Week 1 loss to the Rams.

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.

Here’s how QB Andy Dalton played in his Bears debut against the Rams

Andy Dalton made his Bears debut vs. Rams, where the offense didn’t exactly thrive under him. But it didn’t exactly crash and burn either.

Matt Nagy finally made due on his promise to Andy Dalton to get the start for the Chicago Bears in their Week 1 opener against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.

And, like many expected, the Bears offense didn’t exactly thrive under Dalton. But it didn’t exactly crash and burn either.

Things couldn’t have started worse for Dalton, who tossed an ill-advised interception in the end zone on third-and-6 from the 8-yard line on Chicago’s opening possession to halt momentum on offense.

Despite that opening-drive interception, Dalton was decent in his debut. Dalton completed 27-of-38 passes for 206 yards with one interception for a 72.9 passer rating, which isn’t too shabby going against a Rams defense that was the best in the NFL last season. Still, it wasn’t exactly an outing that inspired confidence should Dalton be the starter moving forward.

But it was clear the Bears didn’t trust Dalton to execute on offense, as evidenced by Dalton’s pass chart, which showcased a wholly conservative game plan that never really gave Chicago a chance to win.

Dalton didn’t complete a pass over 10 yards against the Rams (0 for 2, INT). His longest pass attempt was 16 yards, and only 5 of his 38 attempts were for 10 yards or more. Dalton had just one pass attempt travel more than 15 yards. By comparison, every other starting quarterback in Week 1 had at least four passes for 15-plus yards.

Chicago’s offense looked better than their defense, which was certainly a tough pill to swallow. Dalton was helped by a nice balanced attack led by running back David Montgomery, which allowed the offense to kill the clock on a couple of drives and keep the Rams’ high-powered offense off the field at times.

But there’s only so far a decent performance will get Dalton and, ultimately, this Bears offense when they’re playing ultra conservative. Especially when Justin Fields is waiting in the wings with the ability to bring some explosiveness to the offense.

While Dalton’s Week 1 performance probably isn’t enough to get him benched in favor of Fields, his leash is certainly getting shorter the more we see the limitations of this Bears offense with Dalton compared to when Fields is under center.

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Bears fans are dragging Eddie Jackson for tackling comments following struggles vs. Rams

Bears fans are roasting Eddie Jackson following the Week 1 loss after comments about Jackson belittling the importance of tackling surfaced.

Bears fans are roasting safety Eddie Jackson following the team’s Week 1 loss to the Rams after comments about Jackson belittling the importance of tackling surfaced.

Earlier in the week, the Bears shared a mic’d up segment of Jackson coaching up the defensive backs during training camp, where he was placing an emphasis on ball-hawking ability rather than tackling.

“What separates you? Are you going to tackle or get the football? Everybody can tackle…A million people can tackle, but not everybody can get the ball.”

There couldn’t have been worse timing for this clip to hit the Internet.

Bears fans came prepared with receipts following Jackson’s “everybody can tackle” comments, where they absolutely dragged the safety who couldn’t tackle anyone on Sunday night. While he finished with five tackles on the night, it was the tackles he left on the field — which led to scoring opportunities by the Rams — which were the biggest impact.

While Jackson had a dominant first two seasons in the league, which earned him a five-year, $58.4 million extension back in 2020, he’s coming off his worst season and, if this Week 1 loss is any indication, he doesn’t appear to be headed in the right direction.

David Montgomery was easily the Bears’ best player in Week 1 loss vs. Rams

David Montgomery showed he was made for Sundays with a dominant outing vs. Rams, which is why he was easily Bears Wire’s Player of the Game.

The Chicago Bears opened the 2021 season with a 34-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on a prime-time stage, where Chicago’s offense showed glimmers of hope, starting with one shining star in particular.

Our Bears player of the game is running back David Montgomery, who proved he was made for Sundays with a dominant outing to kick off the 2021 season. Montgomery recorded his first (of hopefully many) 100-yard games against a top-Rams defense from a season ago. Montgomery rushed for 108 yards on 16 carries, including 79 yards in the first half, and a touchdown. He also added one reception for 10 yards.

“David ran really hard, and it’s fun to see because you’ve seen it all camp,” said quarterback Andy Dalton. “You know what all he can do, and now you get him in a game atmosphere and for him to run the way he did, I love to see the way he played.”

Montgomery was impressive on Chicago’s first two possessions, where he had 57 rushing yards on three carries. Naturally, Matt Nagy didn’t go to Montgomery once on the Bears’ ensuing possession.

Nagy promised Montgomery would get 20-plus touches a game, but he fell short of that mark by four, which had a lot to do with Chicago’s growing deficit in the closing quarter.

Still, the Bears offense managed to establish a balanced attack behind Montgomery, where they were able to keep things close into the third quarter against a Rams defense that was the best in the NFL last season. Let’s hope Nagy remembers to continue to feed Montgomery this season.

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Bear Necessities: The Morning After…the Bears’ 34-14 loss vs. Rams

We’re recapping the Bears’ Week 1 loss to the Rams and Justin Fields’ brief rookie debut.

This is our online morning newsletter, Bear Necessities. Subscribe to get the latest Bears news delivered to your mailbox every day.

The Chicago Bears kicked off the 2021 season with a disappointing 34-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, which marked their third consecutive loss in this series.

Overall, it was a rough outing for the Bears, whose defense struggled to contain Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ high-powered attack. Despite scoring just 14 points, there were encouraging signs from the offense. Bears fans were treated to a limited portion of Justin Fields, who left many begging for the rookie quarterback to take the field on a more permanent basis.

There was plenty to digest from Sunday’s game. Our Bears Wire staff is sharing their immediate reactions to Chicago’s opening loss of the season:

Bears vs. Rams game recap: Everything we know about Chicago’s Week 1 loss

The Bears dropped their season opener to the Rams, suffering a brutal 34-14 loss on Sunday Night Football. We recap the game.

The Chicago Bears dropped their season opener to the Los Angeles Rams, suffering a brutal 34-14 loss on Sunday Night Football, where Chicago’s offense managed to outperform their once-vaunted defense.

While many anticipated the Bears not being able to upset the heavily-favored Rams, there were plenty of questions that Chicago is left to answer heading into next Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, including concerns on defense.

But the big story from the game was the debut of rookie quarterback Justin Fields, who appeared in five plays throughout the course of the game. While he didn’t get a bulk of snaps, it certainly felt like a start. Given Andy Dalton had a decent outing, you have to wonder if the losses keep building just how long Matt Nagy will be able to keep Fields on the bench.

Instant analysis of Bears’ 34-14 loss vs. Rams in Week 1

The Bears dropped a 34-14 loss vs. Rams, where the only saving grace was the periodic appearance of hopeful franchise savior Justin Fields.

The Chicago Bears dropped a 34-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, where the only saving grace was the periodic appearance of hopeful franchise savior Justin Fields, who is more than ready to play in the NFL.

No one expected the Bears to beat the Rams, and yet there were opportunities to do just that. Unfortunately, Chicago squandered any chance to win with mishaps on offense and defense.

Despite only scoring 14 points against the Rams, the Bears offense was the least disappointing unit on the field for Chicago, which is certainly not something I expected to be typing.

The Bears offense looked efficient at times, where they were able to sustain drives and eat time off the clock, including a beauty of a 16-play, 81-yard scoring drive that lasted 9:38 to trim the Rams’ lead to 20-14.

For all the flack he’s received, quarterback Andy Dalton had a decent debut for the Bears, completing 27-of-38 passes for 206 yards with one interception and a 72.9 passer rating. His biggest blunder was an ill-advised interception in the end zone on Chicago’s opening series. But aside from that, Dalton was decent. But it’s difficult to imagine this Bears team winning with decent quarterback play.

As promised, Fields made his NFL debut against the Rams, where he made a handful of appearances throughout the game. Fields completed 2-of-2 passes for 10 yards and added a 3-yard rushing touchdown. While it wasn’t a dominant performance by any means — he simply wasn’t given an opportunity to do much — it left many wondering why Fields is sidelined while Dalton takes starting reps.

Dalton didn’t do enough to lose the job following Week 1, where the offense showed signs of promise. But you have to wonder if the losses start to add up just how long Matt Nagy can wait until he inserts his young franchise quarterback.

But it was running back David Montgomery who shined the brightest on offense, where he finished with 16 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown. Montgomery had 79 yards rushing in the first half, and he looked like someone destined for a breakout season.

While many expected the Bears offense would struggle against one of the best defenses in the league, the same couldn’t be said about Chicago’s defense. Sure, there were concerns in the secondary, which was a focal point when examining what went wrong on defense. But the Bears boast one of the league’s best front sevens, and they were expected to come through.

Sure, defensive tackle Akiem Hicks and outside linebacker Robert Quinn combined for a sack on Matthew Stafford. But the debut of Sean Desai’s defense was embarrassing to say the least. They gave up 34 points to the Rams, and it probably would’ve been more if not for Chicago’s offense sustaining drives. Tackling remains a huge concern, as do blown coverages. If the defense continues to play like this, it’s going to be a long season.

Stafford was near flawless in his Rams debut, completing 20-of-26 passes for 321 yards and three touchdowns for a 156.1 passer rating. He was sacked just once. Rams receiver Cooper Kupp was the beneficiary of Stafford’s big day, hauling in seven receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown.

Then again, the Bears’ season opener didn’t show us anything we didn’t already know. Chicago isn’t going to contend this year, in which the most important thing is Fields’ development.

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