Jared Goff threw four interceptions Sunday and the Rams were held without a touchdown for the first time since their 2016 season finale in a humbling defeat to the Bears.
CHICAGO – The Rams were cold, and colder.
The temperature at Soldier Field fell below freezing Sunday night, and not even a blowtorch would have heated up the Rams’ offense, which typically burns even the best of defenses.
Not this Bears’ unit. In an effort worthy of their old-school roots, the Bears harassed quarterback Jared Goff, bottled up running back Todd Gurley and basically sent the Rams’ offense back to 2016, the dark days to which no one wanted to return. By the time they came out of the cold, the Rams had slumbered to a 15-6 loss.
The Rams were held without a touchdown for the first time since their 2016 season finale. They hired Coach Sean McVay a couple weeks later, and he fixed the Rams’ offense, at least until the Bears broke it.
The Rams failed to score a touchdown in a game for the first time since the 2016 regular-season finale, with an offensive group that fewest points in the league. They totaled 180 yards against the Bears, their lowest since that same awful game against Arizona.
What went wrong?
“Everything,” Gurley said. “They did a great job. We played like (expletive). They held us to six points. Simple as that.”
Even with their struggles, the Rams were in the game until late in the fourth quarter. Down by nine points, on consecutive possessions, they banged a short field goal off the goal post and saw Goff sacked for a third time in the game, this time turning the ball over on downs deep in their own territory.
A last-gasp drive by the Rams ended with Goff’s career-worst fourth interception of the game (one came on an end-of-half lob to the end zone).
“I mean, it’s bad, it’s pretty bad. You know it. We know it,” Gurley said. “They outplayed us. They did everything better than us tonight, basically.”
With a golden chance to clinch (at least) the No. 2 seed in the NFC and a first-round bye, the Rams (11-2) were good enough on defense, but dismal on offense. Goff completed 20 of 44 attempts for 180 yards, and a passer rating of 19.1. Gurley was an afterthought who totaled 28 yards on 11 carries.
The Rams’ defense allowed only one touchdown and forced three turnovers, but got victimized by an offense that looked out of sync all night. McVay, per usual, took the blame, and his actually deserved a good share of it this time, because the Rams seemed to abandon the run game too early.
“I feel sick about it,” McVay said. “Our job, from an offensive standpoint and my role as a play-caller, is to help our team move the football and score points.
