No Offense: Rams Stink Versus Bears

Well, that was not the game many of us were expecting between the St. Louis Rams and the Chicago Bears. It's safe to say that the game was lost on offense, the Rams offense specifically.

I'm not going to have a heart attack over this one. The Rams are a young team not far removed from 2-14 and all the talent gaps that lead to those kind of results, that kind of team will be prone to ups and downs, dramatic ups and downs, and these last two weeks were a classic example of that.

We've got a full recap coming shortly, but here's a few quick thoughts on the game:

• Which offensive line is the real version? Last week the backups dominated the Redskins, a team without two key starters, but this week the Rams had nothing in the way of protection or run blocking.
• Whatever progress the receivers were making was sapped this week. Brian Quick didn't even play. Brandon Gibson might as well not have played. The Rams lack a receiver who can consistently win in tight man coverage.
• We celebrated the Rams' edgy play last week. This week we saw the other side of that. Edgy play became sloppy, with bad penalties killing the Rams, among other things.
• live by the third down, die by the third down ... teams with high success rates on third downs will eventually come back to Earth, like the Rams did today.
• Missed interceptions should necessarily make the difference, not if the offense is playing competently, but Janoris Jenkins' missed pick could have changed the game.
• It's been hard to find much fault with the game plans so far, but the decision to abandon the run with the Rams down by a single touchdown in the fourth quarter was questionable, very questionable. That led the pick six and sealed the game for the Bears. The Rams passing attack was awful to that point.