Bear Digest

Bears Report Card Against Rams: No Failure to Communicate Here

Grading the Bears: Coaches stressed communication all week in practice and when they had big moments in Sunday's 24-18 win over the Rams they had the answer every time.

Gene Chamberlain

Darrell Taylor gets in the face of Matthew Stafford to force an interception by Jaquan Brisker, sealing the Bears' win.
Darrell Taylor gets in the face of Matthew Stafford to force an interception by Jaquan Brisker, sealing the Bears' win. / Matt Marton-Imagn Images
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The great contrast between how the Bears handled their two successive road games and how they played at Soldier Field Sunday had coach Matt Eberflus' eye.

He noticed a different team in the 24-18 win than the one he saw wilt against the Colts and Texans. They learned, he said.

"They're going to respond," Eberflus said.

The thing they responded best with was avoiding turnovers and limiting penalties in the second half.

Both proved critical. These are not complicated issues.

"When you don't have two turnovers that's the most important thing," quarterback Caleb Williams said. "When you have a defense like us, you've got a punter and a kicker that we have, you're not turning the ball over, it goes a long way.

"You're going to win a lot of games."

Losing streak stopped, now they can set about building a winning streak this week at home against Andy Dalton and the Carolina Panthers, another flawed team they could handle if they apply some of the lessons they've learned in four games.

Here are Bears grades for a victory earned over a team with one of the NFL's worst defenses, and playing without its two best offensive weapons.

Running Game: A-

While they didn't shred the porous Rams defense on the ground, they came away with success in the key spots when those were needed. One was the goal line with Roschon Johnson, another time was finally breaking the big play when D'Andre Swift exploded through the hole Cole Kmet made and split the secondary for a 36-yard touchdown run. They also kept the clock running just enough in the fourth quarter with it when they neeed this. What they did best in the running game was not collapse when they lost guard Teven Jenkins with a rib injury, and then remain persistent with the ground attack even when it didn't always get more than a 2-yard gain.

Passing Attack: B

The big gains downfield weren't there but Caleb Williams accepted this and was satisfied to go with checkdowns. The longest completion downfield was the 22-yard play-action throw to Kmet just before Swift's 36-yard TD bolt. The 27-yarder Swift caught set up a field goal before halftime but was just a quick 5-yard pass Williams got off before being clobbered that was turned into a catch and run. The TD throw to DJ Moore helped make up for the time the two failed to make connections in the end zone when Moore had come wide open. It was efficient with the exception of three sacks allowed, but on two of those Williams got caught in the pocket with the ball a little too long.

Run Defense: B-

They've been leaking against the run but when you're playing pass defense as effectively as they did, something usually needs to be sacrificed. The 119 yards and 4.6 yards per carry didn't do great damage because they managed to prevent a big 36-yard run like the Bears offense had against the Rams defense. The longest Rams run was 14 yards by Kyren Williams but the four tackles for loss the Bears run defense had did enough to disrupt what the L.A. offense needed to do and it kept pressure on Stafford to produce in the passing game.

WINNERS AND LOSERS FOR THE BEARS IN 24-18 VICTORY OVER RAMS

SHANE WALDRON GOES FROM ZERO TO VERY NEARLY HERO WITH BEARS WIN

CALEB WILLIAMS PICKS AND CHOOSES HIS WAY TO WELL ORCHESTRATED WIN

BEARS PIECE TOGETHER 24-18 VICTORY OVER THE RAMS

Pass Defense: A-

A team leading the league in passer rating against actually didn't help themselves by giving up a 77.4 passer rating against, even though that's a low number. They were giving up a 66.2 rating before this. When Matthew Stafford had the time, he found open receivers and usually it was Tutu Atwell matched up on Tyrique Stevenson or Jordan Whittington underneath the zone. But they limited the bigger gains to two over 19 yards and none longer than 25 yards. The rush produced sporadically but at key times, like with the Rams driving in the first quarter, when Montez Sweat made a strip-sack in the first half and then at game's end when Darrell Taylor got in Stafford's face well enough to force an interception to decide the game. Three sacks and six quarterback hits is solid, but nothing to get too excited about considering the Rams' problems protecting so far this year. Perhaps the key to the day was Gervon Dexter's interior pass rush early, when he had a sack. It was the kind of thing the quarterback doesn't forget and they tend to rush throws when this happens.

Special Teams: A

Punter Tory Taylor and kicker Cairo Santos held up their end of it. Santos made his 52-yard try and a 40-yarder while Josh Karty was missing from 43 yards. Taylor's uncanny ability to get backspin on high punts inside the 10 led to the punt downed at the 8 to set up the game-sealing interception. His 66-yarder to the sideline at the 8 one punt earlier might have been the best punt the Bears have had since Bobby Joe Green was punting. Three inside the 20 and a 55.4-yard average with 48.0 yards net is a day any punter would love to have. The only flaw on the day was a 17-yard punt return allowed but it came on a put so long they still had a good net on it.

Coaching: A-

Matt Eberflus had an excellent grasp on when to dial up the blitz and did it effectively with Brisker getting a blindside sack. Give credit here, too, to defensive coordinator Eric Washington because the defense had good recognition of how the Rams were using motion to throw them off. This is always a problem going against a Sean McVay offense. Shane Waldron did not forget the running game this time and finally scrapped the wide receiver screens for a more conventional one using Swift that the Bears executed well twice. The best coaching contribution came during the week of practice when they put a huge emphasis on communication between players, and between players and coaches. It seemed to produce desired results and they'll need it to continue.

Overall: A-

It's best not to get carried away by this win because of the issues the Rams have with injuries and as pass and run defenders, but the Bears protected a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter and a week earlier the Rams overcame a 10-point deficit against the 49ers. The Rams had been tested by some powerful opponents, including Detroit and the resurgent Cardinals. And the Bears held up no worse than those teams had.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.