Adaptation of Rams' Principles Assists Bears

The Bears had trouble last year adjusting to all of the motion the L.A. Rams offense runs under Sean McVay but they've gone to some of the same principles in their own offense and sharpened up their own defense in the process.

The Los Angeles Rams kept everything under wraps in preseason by giving starters virtually no playing time.

Coach Sean McVay's offense doesn't really need to change much to give the Bears problems, after beating them so convincingly the last two years and particularly last season.

The Week 1 opponent for the Bears shredded their offense in Los Angeles last year with McVay's pet use of motion, and the Bears have to anticipate more of the same with a passer of Matthew Stafford's ability now instead of Jared Goff.

"Obviously that offense will be able to open up a little bit more—what will that look like? We don’t know," Bears safety Tashaun Gipson said. "But one thing for certain is that McVay, he's an offensive guru man, and I don't think that the offense will change much because what he's doing is working."

Bears coach Matt Nagy has seen his defense dismantle McVay's offense when it had Goff.

"No doubt they've presented challenges to us every year," Nagy said. "In '18 we were able to get them and then the last two years they got us."

Goff beat them last year 24-10 and the Rams' defense outlasted the Bears' defense 17-10 in 2019. Stafford didn't have much success against the Bears since Nagy became coach until last year. Then he rallied the Lions for a 34-30 win at Soldier Field to deal a severe blow to their playoff chances. He also staked Detroit to a 23-6 lead in the 2020 season opener until  a late rally led to a Bears win.

"His talent is unbelievable and now you go ahead and put him with a great coach like Sean McVay, and that offense and the weapons that they have around him is, they're going to do a lot of good things," Nagy said. "So I know that for us we're going to be challenged, that's going to be an exciting time for (defensive coordinator) Sean (Desai), for our defense."

The scheme problem confronting the Bears is all the motion the Rams run. It freezes edge rushers Robert Quinn and Khalil Mack as well as the inside linebackers. It helped Goff throw for 220 yards on 23 of 33 with two touchdowns last year.

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"If you want to slow guys like Khalil and Quinn and these guys off the edge and (Akiem) Hicks and get to messing with the safeties and the linebackers' eyes, that's the perfect thing to do," Gipson said.

The Bears believe they hadn't been well-tuned to the attack enough defensively last year to do a great deal about it. Since then, their own offense has adopted many of the motion principles being used by the Rams and as a result the Bears defense faced it on a regular basis in practice.

"It's not thrown on us on game day," Gipson said. "We're able to see it since OTAs started. Since training camp, all of training camp. So I think that's big, huge for us.

"But like I said, they're gonna run their offense, man. It's our job to do our defense and make the plays when that time comes."

As for the difference Stafford makes, Nagy says it often comes when Stafford is moving even though he's not necessarily a scrambler. Stafford is more with his motion than someone like Aaron Rodgers.

"You know the thing with him is so many off-schedule throws for Matthew," Nagy said. "You know, you can be in scat protection and empty (backfield), he can push up and throw the no look throws, he can throw any dagger throw across the middle, 20, 25 yards left to right, right to left (with) anticipation.

"He's tough. So they're going to present a big challenge to us."

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