The margin for error in Los Angeles has become razor-thin for the Rams, and they needed a win in the worst way on Sunday night. They got exactly that, beating the Chicago Bears 17-7 at the Coliseum.
It wasn’t pretty, and it certainly wasn’t a shootout by any means, but the Rams got their sixth win of the year. They move to 6-4 on the season, keeping pace with the Vikings and 49ers, who won earlier on Sunday.
The Rams had just 283 yards of total offense, and Jared Goff struggled throughout the night, but Todd Gurley had a big impact and helped lift the team to victory. The defense was a big part of the win, holding Chicago to 267 yards and 6-for-17 on third down.
Player of the game: Todd Gurley
Gurley had his most productive game of the year, gaining more than 100 yards from scrimmage and setting a season-high with 28 touches. He was the only consistent player on offense in a game where neither team had much success.
Stat to know: 3.6
The Rams held the Bears to just 3.6 yards per play on Sunday night, limiting them to only 267 yards of total offense on 74 plays.
Game notes
- The Bears defense is good, but there’s still something off with the Rams offense. Jared Goff simply isn’t playing well right now and it’s really holding the team back. Sean McVay opted to lean heavily on the run, which was the only part of the offense that worked, but it also limited the number of big plays Los Angeles could produce.
- Goff finished the game only throwing it 18 times, completing 11 of those passes for 173 yards. He had zero touchdowns and one interception with a passer rating of 69.9. He should’ve had two touchdowns, but Cooper Kupp fumbled it at the 1-yard line and a 51-yard TD pass to Josh Reynolds was taken off the board due to a penalty.
- Without Robert Woods, the Rams had to change things up with their personnel. They utilized a lot of 12 personnel, putting two tight ends on the field at the same time very often – especially early in the game.
- Gerald Everett didn’t play much in this one, and even when he was on the field, he didn’t have much of an impact on the game. He was only targeted once and made a 20-yard grab, but he played his fewest snaps of the season. It’s unclear why that is, but Everett was limited in practice with a wrist injury this past week.
- Gurley finally got going, being featured heavily on offense. The Rams were atrocious on third down, which caused drives to stall, but Gurley played well. He went over 100 yards from scrimmage and scored one touchdown, essentially carrying the Rams offense to victory. On a night where Goff was subpar, Gurley stepped up in a big way.
- Jalen Ramsey had his best performance of the season as a member of the Rams. He covered Allen Robinson for much of the night, and the Bears wideout only had four catches for 15 yards. Troy Hill was also effective, making six tackles with one interception and a sack.
- The Bears had almost no answer for Aaron Donald, as is the case for most offensive lines. He had two sacks, two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits in the game.
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