Rams next game? Chicago! So…setting up the Bears game thread

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  • January 12, 2026 at 10:09 am #161122
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator
    zn wrote:

    On paper anyway, the Rams offense is better than the Chicago offense, and ought to shred the Chicago defense at a higher rate than the Chicago offense will against the Rams defense.

    stafford does not play well in below freezing weather. the weather could very well neutralize the offense.

    it might be better to just run the heck out of the ball and keep caleb off the field. avoid turnovers which the bears excel at on defense.

    and as wv mentioned, bears play better on defense at home.

    January 12, 2026 at 10:43 am #161126
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    RAMZILLA@elitster
    Time for redemption from the 85’ 24-0 loss

    John Breech@johnbreech
    With the Rams facing the Bears in the divisional round, Sean McVay will somehow be facing his 15th different team in 15 career playoff games

    January 12, 2026 at 10:44 am #161127
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    NFL Researcher@NFL_Researcher
    Caleb Williams by target this season, per @NextGenStats…

    Rookies Colston Loveland & Luther Burden III
    🔸71.0 comp pct
    🔸9.6 yards/att
    🔸8 TD, 1 INT
    🔸115.1 passer rating

    All Other Bears Receivers
    🔸52.6 comp pct
    🔸6.1 yards/att
    🔸21 TD, 8 INT
    🔸81.1 passer rating

    January 12, 2026 at 11:15 am #161130
    Avatar photowv
    Participant
    zn wrote:

    On paper anyway, the Rams offense is better than the Chicago offense, and ought to shred the Chicago defense at a higher rate than the Chicago offense will against the Rams defense.

    …

    Shredding the Bears defense? I dunno.
    Do you remember last year. Same two teams in Chicago. Only Chicago has a better coach this year. Rams offense scored 18 pts.

    w
    v

    January 12, 2026 at 11:29 am #161131
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    One thing i see from watching the highlights of last year’s Bear game. I guess Puka didnt play. Leading Ram receivers were Tutu, Whittington and Demarcus Robinson.

    This year obviously, its Puka and Davante. So, there’s that.

    Bears put a lot of pressure on Stafford last year. I forget if the Oline was injured or what. But Stafford was sacked 3 times and strip-sacked, and threw one INT, but the bears also had another INT that was called back on a penalty.

    Turnovers. Bears create em. So hold on to the ball, Kyren.

    w
    v

    January 12, 2026 at 11:32 am #161132
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    wv wrote:

    Do you remember last year.

    Yes. But. That was one of the Rams pre-bye games from one of their “slow start” years (23 and 24). They had OL issues and went 1-4 before the bye. They had to start guys like Bruss, who is the only decently high picked OL Wendell gave up on (he was a 3rd rounder). After the bye they went 10-2. They averaged 18.4 points a game before the bye that year (in 2024 that would have ranked 26th) and after the bye averaged 23 points a game (that would have ranked 13th).

    In their pre-bye struggle games from 2024, they also lost to Arizona (by a score of 10 to 41). ARZ went 8-9 that year. Tells you how bad it was before the bye that season.

    So I see the 2024 Chicago game as less about playing in Chicago and more about starting slow in 2024.

    January 12, 2026 at 11:45 am #161133
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    rams were without puka and cooper.

    but also bears didn’t have loveland and burden yet as they were still in college. williams is a year wiser. and i don’t know what the weather was but being that it was on september 29 it probably wasn’t too cold. next week’s game will be in freezing weather with snow very likely.

    it’s true that stafford played well last year in philly under similar circumstances against a more talented team. so i’m hoping he can replicate that performance.

    and also hoping that there aren’t any st gaffes and that the defense can somehow slow down caleb williams. maybe they should focus on taking away the run game and loveland. make the other receivers beat them.

    • This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Avatar photoInvaderRam.
    January 12, 2026 at 12:38 pm #161136
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    InvaderRam wrote:

    also hoping that there aren’t any st gaffes and that the defense can somehow slow down caleb williams.

    InvaderRam wrote:

    stafford does not play well in below freezing weather. the weather could very well neutralize the offense.

    wv wrote:

    Shredding the Bears defense? I dunno.

    So we agree the Rams will beat the Bears so badly that Chicago ownership will consider disbanding the team?

    January 12, 2026 at 1:07 pm #161137
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    January 12, 2026 at 1:19 pm #161138
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator

    Good lord.

    Just looked at the weather forecast. 16 degrees on Sunday during the heat of the afternoon.

    January 12, 2026 at 1:25 pm #161140
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    Nate Atkins@NateAtkins_
    Rams CB Ahkello Witherspoon broke his scapula again. He’s going on injured reserve and is done for this season.

    Gary Klein@LATimesklein
    McVay said he was optimistic that G Kevin Dotson, TE Terrance Ferguson and DB Josh Wallace would play against Bears.

    Ian Rapoport@RapSheet
    #Rams coach Sean McVay confirmed that QB Matthew Stafford has just a sprained finger and will be OK.

    January 12, 2026 at 2:26 pm #161142
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator

    i’m probably going to say this a thousand more times before next sunday. i’m gonna annoy everyone on this board and everyone i see. but the rams need to pound the ball on this run defense. especially if dotson is back and healthy.

    January 12, 2026 at 2:31 pm #161143
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    InvaderRam wrote:

    i’m gonna annoy everyone on this board and everyone i see. but the rams need to pound the ball on this run defense.

    post on!

    January 12, 2026 at 4:41 pm #161144
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    Stu Jackson@StuJRams
    Asked Sean McVay what stands out about Bears HC Ben Johnson’s system and rapport with QB Caleb Williams (given McVay’s own system and rapport with Matthew Stafford).

    McVay said he’s studied Johnson “really closely” going back to Johnson’s time with the Lions, and praised both his philosophy and flexibility in applying those foundational principles to different types of QBs

    January 12, 2026 at 5:39 pm #161146
    Avatar photoInvaderRam
    Moderator
    zn wrote:

    Asked Sean McVay what stands out about Bears HC Ben Johnson’s system and rapport with QB Caleb Williams (given McVay’s own system and rapport with Matthew Stafford).

    i forgot. same guy who rebuilt goff.

    this is what i want to see.

    January 12, 2026 at 11:40 pm #161149
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator

    Rams…first game wild card weekend.

    Last game divisional weekend.

    Kickoff: 3:30 pm pst on sunday.

    January 13, 2026 at 12:06 am #161150
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    Zooey wrote:

    Kickoff: 3:30 pm pst on sunday.

    Your time is off by 3 hours!

    Gary Klein@LATimesklein
    Rams play Bears at 630 ET

    January 13, 2026 at 9:52 am #161154
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    The Rams Forum: LA’s Playbook for Passionate Fans@RamsFansForum
    Rams had 5 losses by 11 points, Bears had 6 losses by 63 points. Rams biggest loss was 3 points, Bears biggest loss was 31 points to a team Rams beat by double digits. Rams next biggest loss was 1 point, Bears next biggest loss was 14 points to a team Rams beat by double digits and held to a season low 3 points.

    January 13, 2026 at 10:30 am #161157
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator
    zn wrote:
    Zooey wrote:

    Kickoff: 3:30 pm pst on sunday.

    Your time is off by 3 hours!

    Gary Klein@LATimesklein
    Rams play Bears at 630 ET

    The trouble with you easterners is you think you are the default center of the world. Everything is EST to you guys. In all the sports standings, the eastern divisions are always on the top. Your hubris sickens me.

    I deliberately calculated kickoff to the time zone that actually IS the center of the planet. Here’s proof:

    January 13, 2026 at 11:30 am #161163
    Avatar photowv
    Participant
    Zooey wrote:

    I deliberately calculated kickoff to the time zone that actually IS the center of the planet. Here’s proof:

    i didnt realize there were so many Ram Horns floating around in the ocean.

    w
    v

    January 13, 2026 at 12:12 pm #161168
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    Zooey wrote:
    zn wrote:
    Zooey wrote:

    Kickoff: 3:30 pm pst on sunday.

    Your time is off by 3 hours!

    Gary Klein@LATimesklein
    Rams play Bears at 630 ET

    The trouble with you easterners is you think you are the default center of the world. Everything is EST to you guys. In all the sports standings, the eastern divisions are always on the top. Your hubris sickens me.

    I deliberately calculated kickoff to the time zone that actually IS the center of the planet. Here’s proof:

    I lived in California. I never got used to watching games at 10 AM.

    January 13, 2026 at 12:22 pm #161170
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator
    zn wrote:

    I lived in California. I never got used to watching games at 10 AM.

    And I cannot imagine waiting until 1 PM for football Sunday to start. Then the second game is at 4 or 4:30? And the 3rd game is at 8:15.

    That’s some serious crap right there. In California, if I watch the Sunday night game, I still have time to go clean the kitchen and wrap up the day before hitting the sack. I would not appreciate having a game go past 11 pm. I go to bed around 10 pm every night. And for baseball – holy moley – you have baseball games that don’t even START until bedtime if you’re in EST.

    You have to wait until 6:30 pm for the Rams game to start. I would hate that. You’re literally waiting ALL DAY for the game to start.

    January 13, 2026 at 12:27 pm #161171
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    Zooey wrote:

    You’re literally waiting ALL DAY for the game to start.

    That way the kitchen is already clean and the day wrapped up before the game.

    Plus I’ve already shoveled the snow and chopped the firewood and cleaned the ice off the pick-up and put down sand so I can actually walk to the mailbox without falling. Stuff you apparently never even get around to.

    January 13, 2026 at 12:40 pm #161172
    TSRF
    Participant

    No way it is going to be colder than the 1985 NFC championship game.

    I know Ron Brown never had soft hands, but I clearly remember a play where Brock hit him right in the hands, would have been a big gain, and it just bounced off of him, like his hands were literally stone. I blamed the cold.

    Interesting stat I heard listening to Boston sports radio last time I was up there that West Coast / Dome teams have an abysmal playoff record in cold weather games. I guess the Chargers just proved the point.

    No excuses, though. They have to beat these Bears.

    January 13, 2026 at 4:49 pm #161181
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    January 13, 2026 at 7:20 pm #161187
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator

    FMulder

    This is going to be a slug-fest but I really think the whole weather thing is being overplayed.

    Stafford played in Det. Yes Det is in a dome but he played in GB and Chic every year. Kyren Williams played at ND. Blake Corum-Michigan Davante Adams was in GB for several years and I sure don’t worry about Puca.

    The old weather impacting non-cold weather teams is only relevant if those teams are finesse. In the past I would be much more worried about some of the Rams offenses because they were so based on exact timing and precision and…..finesse. This version of the Rams offense features heavy TE involvement and an above average smash mouth running attack.

    What the weather will have the biggest impact on is kicks and punts. I’ve seen too many games where the visiting FG kicker all of a sudden can’t make a kick outside of 35 yards and the punter becomes a coin flip. That is where I think the home team has the advantage in knowing how to use the wind and temps better.

    This needs to be an offensive game plan that utilizes the run, RB dumps, TE passes, and relatively close to the LOS passes. That does NOT mean they can’t push the ball down the field but I would love them to establish that early and then be able to use play action passes, double moves, and an occasional deep shot because the DBs have moved up.

    Caleb Williams is definitely apt to force stuff. It is also imperative for broken plays with him passing to try to get him to go to his left. That is when is tries the across the body 40 yard hail mary pass that usually ends up in the defenders hands.

    Finally, points are a premium. If you have a FG chance take it.

    January 13, 2026 at 7:28 pm #161188
    Avatar photowv
    Participant

    This was the Oline that got massacred by the 85 Bears defense. Imagine that.

    Irv Pankey
    Kent Hill
    Tony Slaton
    Dennis Harrah
    Jackie Slater

    w
    v

    January 13, 2026 at 10:41 pm #161190
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    wv wrote:

    This was the Oline that got massacred by the 85 Bears defense. Imagine that.

    Irv Pankey
    Kent Hill
    Tony Slaton
    Dennis Harrah
    Jackie Slater

    w
    v

    They didn’t have a qb. Imagine if they traded up in 83 for Marino. That’s who beat the 85 Bears.

    January 14, 2026 at 1:19 pm #161204
    Avatar photoZooey
    Moderator

    It’s kind of amazing that McVay will be coaching his 15th playoff game against his 15th team. No repeats.

    2 of those 15 teams are AFC teams: Patriots and Bengals.

    Which means that there are 2 NFC teams he has yet to meet in the playoffs.

    First person to correctly identify those 2 teams gets to choose which time zone we will all honor on Sunday.

    January 14, 2026 at 2:07 pm #161207
    Avatar photozn
    Moderator
    Zooey wrote:

    Which means that there are 2 NFC teams he has yet to meet in the playoffs.

    You mean besides the Rams?

    They haven’t played the Giants or Commandos in the post-season. And I get why those 2 teams are avoiding the Rams.

    As for our time zone, I choose Singapore.

    In terms of playoff games, they’ve only lost to 2 NFC teams–Falcons and Eagles. So they have issues with outside the division NFC predatory birds. The solution, of course, is to add those 2 teams to the NFC West.

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