Los Angeles Rams versus Chicago Bears: Matchups to watch revisited

After a disappointing loss at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Los Angeles Rams headed back home and rebounded with an important 17-7 win over the Chicago Bears. The win kept the Rams’ slim playoff hopes alive and effectively ended the Bears’ season.

Let’s revisit the matchups to watch:

Rams’ offensive line vs. Bears’ defensive line

Last week’s matchup to watch:

The Bears are not the same defense they were in 2018, but they’re still a strong unit that poses a lot of issues for offenses with their front-seven. The defensive line possesses the ability to disrupt a lot of what the Rams do in particular. Players like DT’s Roy Robertson-Harris and Eddie Goldman, and EDGE’s Leonard Floyd, and obviously Khalil Mack are as good of a front as there is in the league. The Rams are starting a brand new offensive line as both C Brian Allen and RT Rob Havenstein are out for the contest, and the replacement players in G’s Austin Corbett and David Edwards and T Bobby Evans have a combined four NFL starts.

The offensive line needs to ensure some sort of stability, otherwise the Rams may very well put together another offensive stinker. The running game will be important, but protecting QB Jared Goff has to be of the utmost importance. The defensive lineman of the Bears oughta be licking their chops as they have the clear advantage in this battle.

There aren’t enough good words in the dictionary to explain how much of an impressive performance the offensive line put together. Goff was not sacked once on the night and the rushing attack gained well over 100 yards on the ground. The new offensive line was helped a lot by scheme and chip blocks, but when they were called upon to do their job, they executed well.

QB Mitch Trubisky vs. Rams’ secondary

Last week’s matchup to watch:

Trubisky may actually be the worst starting QB in football, though he is coming off a three-touchdown performance against the Detroit Lions. Still, the signal caller is a highly mistake-prone, inaccurate, and bad decision maker, giving the entirety of the Rams’ defense the edge. Trubisky is averaging only 5.8 YPA. This contest would be a great time for CB Jalen Ramsey to secure his first interception in horns.

The Rams’ secondary did a marvelous job limiting the Bears and their weapons as Trubisky didn’t do much of anything on the day. The only positive play the Bears really had was a 20-yard touchdown to RB Tarik Cohen, but the coverage by ILB Cory Littleton was good on the play, he just didn’t get his head turned around in time to play the ball. CB Troy Hill pulled down an interception and CB Jalen Ramsey was locking every opposing receiver up.

QB Jared Goff vs. FS Eddie Jackson

Last week’s matchup to watch:

The regression has hit Goff nearly as hard as it’s hit Trubisky as both QB’s are among the worst in QB rating this season. Goff is deserving of some context though, because the performance of his offensive line has been putrid. Generally, when given time, Goff has been solid, but those times have been few-and-far between. Going into this week, the offensive line has managed to downgrade further, leaving even the most optimistic with only the slightest amount of optimism for the Rams and Goff to get going offensively.

Jackson has yet to secure an interception after pulling in six in 2018. Jackson actually picked off Goff in 2018. He’s not performing at his peak right now, but Jackson determines a lot of the coverage on the backend for the Bears. His range and closing ability as a single-high safety can make or break the day for the Rams’ passing attack.

Jackson had a solid contest as he collected eight tackles and a forced fumble, but Goff got the best of the Bears’ secondary on multiple occasions. Unfortunately for Goff, he had two 51-yard deep touchdown bombs reversed, one completely wiped due to penalty and one ruled out at the one-yard line. It was a clear win by the Rams’ weapons.

WR Robert Woods vs. CB Kyle Fuller

Last week’s matchup to watch:

Even though the Rams struggled offensively in Week 10, Woods — aka Mr. Consistent and reliable — managed to secure seven receptions for 95 yards. Cooper Kupp remains Goff’s favorite target, but teams would be wise to continue to double Kupp and force Goff to look elsewhere. Woods is likely to draw a lot of coverage on the boundary from Fuller as he’s developed into one of the best cornerbacks in football.

Woods was a surprise inactive due to a “personal reason”. Fuller had an up-and-down contest as he nearly had a pick-six, but he also got smoked by WR Josh Reynolds for a 51-yard touchdown on a deep post that was wiped out due to an illegal formation penalty. Fuller is one of the top cornerbacks in football, but he also got-got by Goff and TE Gerald Everett on the final scoring drive when he jumped an out route to Reynolds that left a big open gap for Everett behind in the vacated area.

CB Jalen Ramsey vs. WR Allen Robinson

Last week’s matchup to watch:

Robinson is one of the best receivers in the league, unfortunately being held back by his quarterback. Still, Robinson managed to put together a strong Week 10 performance, pulling down six receptions for 86 yards. The Rams are likely to allow Ramsey to shadow AR12. The matchup between the two is going to be incredibly entertaining as both players are emotional between the white lines. One thing to note: Ramsey and Robinson are relatively similar in stature, which could pose as a positive for Ramsey as he won’t have to deal with a small and shifty receiver.

Ramsey proved yesterday under the bright lights on Sunday Night Football why the Rams traded so much for the superstar cornerback. Ramsey had a fair share of coverage on all three receivers from the Bears, but Robinson was absolutely locked up by #20. ARob had four receptions on six targets for 15 yards. Ramsey also had a big and beautifully clean hit against Robinson.