Tag: rams bears

Rams-Bears injury report: A’Shawn Robinson good to go, Eddie Goldman doubtful

The Los Angeles Rams released their final injury report of the week ahead of Sunday’s game against the Bears.

The Rams wrapped up their first practice week of the regular season on Friday, just about concluding their preparation for the Bears on Sunday night. The injury report offered no reasons for concern to start the week and just about everyone is healthy going into this Week 1 matchup.

A’Shawn Robinson sat out Wednesday before being limited Thursday, making good progress as he continues to recover from a minor knee procedure. Sean McVay has said all along that he’s on track to play against the Bears and that hasn’t changed.

He doesn’t carry an injury designation into this game, which means he’s good to go for Sunday.

On the Bears’ side, it looks like starting nose tackle Eddie Goldman will miss this game with a knee injury. He hurt his knee in practice on Monday and hasn’t practiced since.

That’s a big blow for Chicago because he’s one of their top defensive linemen, especially against the run.

Rams would be smart to have Jalen Ramsey shadow Allen Robinson

The Rams have an elite cornerback in Jalen Ramsey, but will they have him shadow Allen Robinson?

There are several reasons the Los Angeles Rams acquired Jalen Ramsey from the Jaguars in 2019, but one of his biggest strengths is his ability to match up with elite receivers on a weekly basis. We saw him do a lot of that last season, all but taking away DK Metcalf, DeAndre Hopkins, Terry McLaurin and several others when tasked with covering them.

Allen Robinson beat him for one catch – a 42-yarder – in the Rams’ win over the Bears last year, but other than that, Robinson wasn’t a huge factor in the game. The Rams hope that’ll be the case again on Sunday night, but their plan for Robinson is still to be determined.

Raheem Morris said on Thursday that Ramsey won’t follow Robinson around and shadow him throughout the game, trusting that Darious Williams and David Long Jr. will be able to handle the talented receiver in coverage when those matchups arise.

“You know, you’re talking about Allen Robinson, a premier receiver in this league for a long time. He does some things very, very well. He’s a great isolation player. He’s a great player in third down,” Morris said. “He has been a great player for a long time on two different teams now and having the luxury of being able to play – if you want to look at it that way – he’s one of those guys you have to prepare for and you know he’s going to move around. They’re going to try to get him the ball in his hands, particularly in the third-down situations, particularly in situations when you’ve got to have it.

“It’s nice to have a player like a Jalen Ramsey to be able to have a got-to-have-it player on defense that you can match up with him. Not to say that he would follow him around the whole game or anything like that, but there will be times that they’ll have matchups. There will be times where he’ll be with Darious Williams and there’ll be times he’ll be on D-Long. And I’ve got a lot of confidence in all those guys holding up their end of the bargain.”

Morris wasn’t going to give away the Rams’ game plan anyway, but it would be foolish of them not to use Ramsey on Robinson for most of the game. The Bears’ other receivers are Darnell Mooney, Marquise Goodwin, Breshad Perriman and Damiere Byrd.

That’s not exactly the most threatening group of wideouts, though Mooney is an up-and-coming player for Chicago.

If the Rams can essentially take Robinson away, Andy Dalton will be left with an underwhelming group of receiving targets. Goodwin and Mooney can make plays down the field, but they aren’t players Williams can’t handle in coverage.

As Morris said, Robinson will be a go-to player on third down and in obvious passing situations. That’s when it’ll be paramount for Ramsey to be lined up across from him – or at least on his side of the field if the Rams are in zone. They can’t let Robinson beat them, especially knowing they have the ultimate eraser in Ramsey.

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Rams open as big favorites vs. Bears in Week 1

No team is favored by more points than the Rams over the Bears in Week 1.

Barring a major change between now and September 12, the Los Angeles Rams will begin the 2021 season as big favorites. The NFL announced on Wednesday that the Rams will host the Chicago Bears in Week 1, a Sunday Night Football matchup in prime time on NBC, and L.A. opened as the favorite.

According to BetMGM, the Rams are favored by seven points over the Bears at home. That’s tied for the largest spread of any game in Week 1, with the 49ers also favored by seven points over the Detroit Lions.

This is the second straight year the Rams will begin the season on Sunday Night Football, doing so last season against the Dallas Cowboys – a game they won in the SoFi Stadium opener. It’s also the fifth straight season the Rams will be favored in Week 1.

They’re 4-0 in season openers under Sean McVay since 2017, covering the spread each season. Here were the closing lines of their last four season openers:

  • 2017: Rams -3.5 vs. Colts (won 46-9)
  • 2018: Rams -6.5 vs. Raiders (won 33-13)
  • 2019: Rams -1.5 vs. Panthers (won 30-27)
  • 2020: Rams -1 vs. Cowboys (won 20-17)

The seven-point spread for Week 1 is subject to change, of course, and will undoubtedly move between now and September 12. The Rams will probably face Andy Dalton at quarterback, but if Justin Fields shines in camp and the preseason, it’s possible the rookie will get the start.

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Kurt Warner tells crazy story of how a bug bite led to him signing with Rams over Bears

If not for a bug bite and swollen elbow on his honeymoon, Kurt Warner may have been a Bear instead of a Ram.

Kurt Warner holds the title of being one of the most remarkable comeback stories in NFL history. He went from being an undrafted free agent in 1994 to playing in the Arena Football League to eventually winning a Super Bowl with the Rams, turning into a two-time All-Pro and two-time NFL MVP.

It was the Rams who gave him a shot after the Packers gave up on him in 1994, signing him as a free agent in 1998 after he spent three years in the AFL. But his Rams career almost never happened – and it may not have if not for a bug bite.

It sounds ridiculous, but Warner has a true story to tell, and he shared it on Pardon My Take this week. In short, a bug bite prevented him from working out with the Bears before he signed with the Rams in 1998.

Here’s how he told it, which sounds like something out of a book.

“So I’m playing Arena Football and obviously I’m waiting for my chance. So the Bears call me and said, ‘Hey, we want to bring you in for a workout.’ As soon as I get off the phone, I go running into my wife and I’m like, ‘Honey, the Bears, they’re bringing me in for a workout this Friday. I’m flying, I’m going right now.’ And my wife just kind of gave me this look and I’m like, ‘What’s the problem here? Why are you not excited for me? We’ve been working for this forever.’ And she goes, ‘Dude, we’re getting married on Saturday.’ Blew off my whole wedding, didn’t even think about it because I just wanted to work out for the Bears. So I had to call the Bears back and say, ‘OK, sorry, I know it sounds stupid, but forgot all about my wedding. I can’t work out this Friday, but any other time.’”

Warner and the Bears decided that he would work out the next week in Chicago, but Warner’s wife gave him a look again after rescheduling because they would be on their honeymoon. So while on his honeymoon, he and the team rescheduled again for a time when they got back from Jamaica.

This is when things get crazy.

“The night before we left, I woke up the next morning and my throwing elbow was swollen about the size of a grapefruit,” he continued. “To this day, we still don’t know what it was that bit me. They said it was maybe a centipede or a spider. They really don’t know. Of course, I had to call the Bears back again and go, ‘OK. You’re not going to believe this. Yes, the first time it was my wedding, the second time it was my honeymoon. And now, I got bit on my throwing elbow by something in Jamaica,'” Warner said. “And you can only imagine what was going on on the other end of the line, going, ‘Who is this dude? Like, we’re trying to give him a chance to make it in the NFL and this is what he comes up with three times?’

“And so, basically, after that, they hung up and they never called back and I never got the workout. And then about two weeks later is when I got the call from the Rams and flew in and did the workout and they ended up signing me.”

As you’d imagine, the story is better when told from Warner’s perspective, which you can see below.

Warner turned out to be a Pro Football Hall of Famer and became one of the greatest players in franchise history with the Rams, and they have a mysterious bug to thank for it. Of course, there’s a chance the Bears wouldn’t have signed him and he would’ve gotten a chance with the Rams anyway, but you just never know.

The Rams are just thankful he did wind up in St. Louis and helped win them a Super Bowl.

NFL power rankings: Rams only move up 1 spot after beating Bears

The Rams are still in the top 10, but not by much.

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The Rams and Bears closed out Week 7 with a matchup on Monday Night Football, one between two teams that are in the hunt in their respective decisions. The Rams were one game worse than the Bears, but you’d never know that after watching their Week 7 tilt.

Los Angeles crushed Chicago 24-10, and the game wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. The Bears scored zero offensive touchdowns, had just 14 first downs and committed two turnovers. The Rams put up 371 yards despite only going 4-for-13 on third down and fumbling it once, but the offense didn’t have much trouble moving the ball throughout the night.

Despite their convincing 14-point win, the Rams barely moved in this week’s power rankings. Mark Schofield of Touchdown Wire bumped them up one spot from No. 10 to 9, just ahead of the Colts. Here’s part of what Schofield wrote about L.A.’s performance.

The Bears dropped from No. 8 to 14, but the rest of the top 10 remained mostly unchanged.

Largely, the Rams answered that test. Buoyed by their defense and a bit of special teams, the Rams earned a hard-fought victory over the Chicago Bears in a game that matched up two teams facing some serious questions about their legitimacy. …

It was a statement win for a team that needed one given their schedule to date. Might this game ultimately have told us more about the Bears than the Rams? Perhaps. But for now, it is one to enjoy for Rams fans.

The Rams are right in the thick of the NFC West race, sitting only a half-game behind the division-leading Seahawks, who are 5-1. The Rams are also tied with the Cardinals and one game ahead of the 4-3 49ers.

A loss on Monday night would’ve dropped the Rams to last place in the division, so this was a huge victory. They still have five more NFC West games coming up in the second half of the season, so there will be a lot of movement in the division, but this was an important win against a good team.

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Rams players react to Week 7 win over Bears on Twitter

Jalen Ramsey called it a “great team win.”

There was probably a very different feeling in the Rams’ locker room following last weekend’s loss to the 49ers compared to Monday night’s victory over the Chicago Bears. It was a deflating loss in San Francisco that left Sean McVay, Aaron Donald and Jared Goff – among others, of course – dejected heading into Week 7.

But they bounced back in a big way on Monday against the Bears, crushing the NFC North-leading squad at SoFi Stadium. They won wire-to-wire, beating the Bears 24-10 at home.

The score shouldn’t have even been that close, if not for a Robert Woods fumble that was returned for a touchdown. But alas, a win is a win, even if it should’ve been by a wider margin of victory.

Here’s how Rams players reacted to the win on Twitter afterward, with the majority of them calling it a “great team win.”

Watch Jalen Ramsey’s clutch third-down stop from awesome sideline view

Jalen Ramsey came up with a huge stop on third down.

Jalen Ramsey runs and covers like a corner, but he hits like a safety or linebacker. It’s what makes him such a great defender for the Rams, and it’s why they were comfortable giving him $105 million – among other reasons.

He showed off his tackling ability on a big third down in Bears territory, colliding with Javon Wims along the sideline as the wideout made a mad dash for the first-down marker.

It was initially ruled a first down, but Sean McVay challenged the play and it was reversed, putting the Bears in fourth-and-inches from their own 19-yard line.

Take a look at Ramsey’s hit with the two players coming right at the camera.

Watch: Rams release hype video for prime-time battle with Bears

The Rams and Bears will square off for the third time in three years on Monday Night Football.

The Rams and Bears have gotten to know each other well in the past couple of years, squaring off in each of the last two seasons. Monday night will mark the third time in as many years that they’ll meet, with all of the games being held in prime time.

They’ve split the last two games against each other, with this battle almost being a rubber match. Will the Rams break the tie with their second straight win over Chicago? Or can the Bears knock off Los Angeles to move to 6-1 on the year?

The Rams are six-point favorites over the Bears despite having a worse record, in part because they’re at home and have mostly looked better this season. But it’s hard to see this game as an easy victory for L.A.

In advance of kickoff, the Rams shared a hype video for this prime-time battle with the Bears, getting fans ready for this huge Week 7 matchup.

How to watch Rams vs. Bears: Time, TV channel and streaming info

Everything you need to know for Monday night’s showdown at SoFi Stadium.

The Los Angeles Rams are back in prime time this week, the second game in a row they’ll play in a national spotlight. On Monday night, they’ll host the 5-1 Chicago Bears, who boast one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Having already lost to the Bills and 49ers – the only other teams the Rams have faced who are above .500 – Los Angeles would love to earn a statement win in Week 7, especially with the NFC West race tightening.

Fortunately, Rams fans will have no trouble catching this game on TV, with it being broadcast to a huge audience on ESPN. Below you’ll find all the information you need in order to watch Rams-Bears on TV, stream it online or listen to it on the radio.

Los Angeles Rams vs. Chicago Bears – Monday, Oct. 26 at 8:15 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Live stream: fuboTV (try it free)

Radio: ESPN LA 710 AM

Location: SoFi Stadium

Forecast: Sunny, 69 degrees, 7 mph winds

Referee: Bill Vinovich

Odds: Rams -5.5, O/U 44.5

The NFC West got tighter Sunday, making Monday’s Rams-Bears showdown even bigger

The Rams haven’t had a statement win yet this season, but Monday is the perfect opportunity in prime time.

As if the Rams needed any more motivation heading into Monday night’s showdown with the Bears, Sunday’s results in the NFC West should provide some. The best division in the NFL looks even more impressive on Monday morning after the Cardinals knocked off the Seahawks in overtime, and the 49ers blew out the Patriots in New England.

The Seahawks still lead the way at 5-1, but the Cardinals are hot on their heels at 5-2, with the 49ers back above .500 at 4-3. The Rams sit right in the middle of Arizona and San Francisco heading into their game against the Bears on Monday Night Football, entering with a record of 4-2.

If the Rams win, they’ll pull into a tie with the Cardinals for second place in the division, though Arizona owns the tiebreaker with a 2-0 record in the NFC West. With a loss, Sean McVay’s squad will drop to last place, losing the tiebreaker with San Francisco after the Rams lost to the 49ers last week.

The Rams are every bit as talented as the other three teams in the NFC West, but they have to prove it. Their only wins are against the NFC East, having yet to beat any team outside the worst division in football.

The Seahawks may lack a statement win like the Rams, having beaten only teams that are below .500, but they boast the league’s best offense in yards and points. The Cardinals earned their best win of the season on Sunday night by beating Seattle in overtime, but they had already beaten the 49ers earlier in the season, too. The 49ers’ best win came against the Rams, and they seem to be back on track after losing key players to injury.

And then there’s Los Angeles, lacking a win against any team with more than two wins. “Statement wins” aren’t the determining factor in whether a team is a legitimate contender or not, but the Rams can prove to the rest of the NFL on Monday night that they’re not a team anyone wants to face by beating the Bears convincingly.

Without question, they’ll have plenty of chances to prove their mettle later on in the season when they play the Cardinals and Seahawks twice, the 49ers again and the Bucs in Week 11, but this is a great opportunity in prime time to show they don’t just feast on bad teams.