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With linebacker Danny Trevathan’s loss looming large for the Chicago Bears, linebacker Roquan Smith stepped up in his absence in a losing 17-7 effort against the Los Angeles Rams.
After showing flashes last season that he could be the next great Bears linebacker, Smith’s production has dipped in 2019.
But Smith came out a man determined to wreck the Rams offense, which the Bears’ defense managed to do until the fourth quarter. They held Los Angeles to 10 points heading into the fourth quarter, but relinquished a late touchdown that was the dagger for Chicago.
“I felt good throughout the game, but it’s not the standard,” Smith said, via the Sun-Times. “We failed to [win], so it’s back in the lab and finding ways to get better. I still don’t think I did good enough, because I didn’t do good enough for us to get the ‘W.’ That’s how I’m thinking of it. We’ve just got to get better.”
Smith led the Bears in tackles with 11, including one tackle for loss. Four of those tackles came on third down, whichi forced a punt or a field-goal attempt, which was a big reason why the Bears were holding on trailing 10-7 in the fourth quarter.
He came up big early in the game with an interception of Rams’ quarterback Jared Goff as Los Angeles was driving deep into Chicago territory.
“I felt like they were a bit predictable in some of the things they were doing,” Smith said of the Rams’ offense. “It was just going back to film study. But I didn’t make enough plays.”
After Chicago’s defense forced two first-quarter turnovers, ultimately it was the Bears’ offense that didn’t make enough plays.
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