The are trying to keep pace in the absolutely wild NFC West. The blew out the on Sunday, while the and played a Sunday Night Football cla sic, with Arizona winning in overtime. The Rams host the on Monday night, in a battle of two more teams that have designs on making the playoffs.Chicago is off to a surprising 5-1 start, led almost entirely by a stifling defense that seemingly rivals the one that carried the team to the playoffs just a couple years ago. L. Nick Markakis Jersey A. is just behind at 4-2 and coming off a dreadful performance in a primetime game just last week.Let's break down the matchup.How to watchDate:Monday, Oct. 26 |Time:8:15 p.m. ETLocation:SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, California)TV:ESPN|Stream:fuboTV ( )Follow:When the Bears have the ballIt may seem like the Chicago offense has been much improved with under center rather than , but that's not exactly true. In the first two of Trubisky's starts, the Bears averaged 333.5 yards and 22 points per game. Trubisky started the third game of the season but was eventually benched for Foles, who led a comeback agains the . But in Foles' three starts, the team has averaged just 257.7 yards and 18 points per game. They have faced a tougher slate of defenses, to be sure, including those of the and , but it's not like this is an offense suddenly humming at peak efficiency now that there's been a change under center. Instead, the Bears are largely still struggling to move the ball. On the year, they are averaging just 4.8 yards per play -- the third-worst figure in the league behind only the and the Washington Football Team. They've scored on only 35.3 percent of their po se sions, 26th in the NFL. They've scored a touchdown on only 10 of 19 red zone trips, a conversion rate that also ranks 26th in football. They've converted only 39.3 percent of third-down opportunities, 29th in the league. Their average drive has traveled only 27.6 yards, which ranks 29th as well. Their 1.88 points per drive average ranks 24th, but considering that they have been afforded the league's fifth-best average starting field position, it much worse than R.A. Dickey Jersey that.The Chicago run game has completely deteriorated without , as has struggled to gain any kind of traction over the past three weeks. The Bears have run for a total of 126 yards over their past three contests. It is incredibly difficult to see them establishing much in the way of a ground game against the Rams, despite the fact that L.A. has allowed at least 100 yards on the ground to five of six opponents and ranks near the bottom of the league (28th) in Football Outsiders' Adjusted Line Yards per carry, which a signs credit for rushing yards to the offensive and defensive lines as a percentage of yards gained. The Rams have stuffed only 10 percent of opponent runs at or behind the line of scrimmage, but the Bears have seen 19 percent of their carries get similarly bottled up.The one saving grace for the offense so far is that Foles has been under pre sure only a slightly above-average percentage of the time, seeing defenders in his face on 32.5 percent of drop-backs, per Pro Football Focus and Tru Media. The Rams have generated pre sure only slightly more often than that (33.2 percent) but have generally done so without resorting to many blitzes. Being able to get to or near Foles while still playing coverage gives L.A. an advantage on this side of the ball -- especially if the Rams decide to use to shadow star Bears wideout . Ramsey has been moving around the formation a bit more this season than in years past, working in the slot to be in position to make more plays. Robinson moves around the formation quite a bit as well, but where that type of tactical alignment used to allow a receiver to avoid Ramsey's coverage, that's no longer the case. If the Rams decide they want Ramsey on Robinson, he'll be on Robinson; and then Foles will be left trying to work secondary matchups with , , and/or tight ends and .And being able to do any of that presupposes the offensive line holding up against the likes of , who should have a tremendous quickne s advantage against the Bears' interior offensive line. In other words, it's likely to be incredibly tough sledding for Chicago in this one.When the Rams have the ballThe Rams are coming off a dispiriting performance against the 49ers Tyler Flowers Jersey last week. They ended up with 390 total yards and an eight-point margin of defeat, but both of those figures oversell the job they did moving the ball. had easily his worst game of the season, completing just 19 of 38 pa ses for 198 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. (The second score was a 40-yard chuck jump-ball to in what was e sentially garbage time.) Despite not being sacked, Goff seemed somewhat rattled in the pocket, throwing high, low, and wide of his intended targets several times. It took the Rams quite a while to get their run game going against San Francisco, so it would not be a surprise if they came out and try to run the ball right at the Bears early in the game. Chicago hasn't been quite as stingy Chipper Jones Jersey against the run (11th in DVOA) as the pa s (11th), so it makes sense for the Rams to try to get that part of their offense going, knowing that it plays such a large role in their play-action attack as well.Los Angles likes to rotate its three backs -- , , and -- but because the Rams couldn't sustain drives for much of last week's lo s, they didn't get the chance to do that. Henderson has looked like by far the team's most effective runner this season, but Sean McVay has been pretty insistent that this will remain a committee.The bad news for the Rams is that the Bears have allowed just 3.85 yards per carry against zone runs so far this season, per Pro Football Focus and Tru Media, and they've stopped 14 of 86 such carries at or behind the line of scrimmage. The better news is that the Bears have been somewhat vulnerable to play action throws, allowing a 98.1 pa ser rating on throws after a run fake, compared with a 67.2 rating on straight dropbacks. The latter tendency plays into the Rams' preference for play action plays featuring layered cro sing routes, and could provide an opportunity for the likes of and/or to find openings over the middle of the field. In order for Goff to find them, however, he'll surely need to be well protected. Again, there is good news and bad news here. Goff has been under pre sure le s often than almost any quarterback in the league, getting sacked, hit, or hurried on only 24.5 percent of his dropbacks. The Bears have pre sured opponents quite a bit more than that (29.5 percent), and that figure is even higher (30.7 percent) since return to a full-time role in Week 4. Quinn and will surely put pre sure on tackles and , but the Bears' biggest pa s-rush advantage might be up the middle, where will get to work against L.A.'s interior offensive linemen, who are not as strong in protection as the tackles. (Hicks reportedly had an illne s during the week, but is expected to play.)If the Rams are able to hold up in protection, they may still have some trouble finding openings down the field. Dansby Swanson Jersey The Chicago pa s defense has allowed four touchdowns this season and has five interceptions. Opponents are completing only 57 percent of their pa ses at an average of 6.1 yards per attempt. The Bears typically play sides with the cornerbacks instead of having shadow, so the Rams will be able to get Woods and/or Kupp matched up against slot man or rookie if they want, but those guys have been solid enough in coverage that the Bears shouldn't feel too terribly about the matchups.Prediction: Rams 21, Bears 16 Click here Click here Click here  |
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