The Los Angeles Rams won their first home game at SoFi Stadium in front of a crowd against the Chicago Bears 34:14. Star quarterback Matthew Stafford showed an appealing performance.
The Bears started on their first drive like the fire department. After a remarkable 50-yard kickoff return from Khalil Herbert, the guests started on their own 43 and found themselves a little later after a 41-yard run by David Montgomery in the Red Zone. Shortly thereafter, quarterback Andy Dalton afforded an interception by David Long in the end zone.
In return, the Rams took the lead after just three plays – Matthew Stafford fired a 67-yard touchdown pass after play action to Van Jefferson, who fell even near the 20-yard line at the catch, but from no defender on the The ground was touched and was therefore allowed to continue running into the end zone.
As a result, the Rams Defense made two stops – one through Downs, one through a fumble from Dalton. However, the hosts only made field goals out of these, so that the door remained open for the guests.
Before the break, Montgomery brought his team back on with a 3-yard TD run. After the break, however, the Rams hit back: Stafford threw a 56-yard touchdown pass at a wide-open Cooper Kupp, who simply pulled past defensive back Marqui Christian out of the slot and then had a free run far away from the Safetys.
The Bears came back afterwards and Fields made a first touchdown run in the league after a read option for the re-connection, but LA kept its foot on the gas and extended the lead with a touchdown from Darrell Henderson. This was followed by another turnover on downs in favor of the Rams.
As a result, the home side only tried to downplay the clock, but found the end zone one more time in the person of Robert Woods.
Los Angeles Rams (1-0) – Chicago Bears (0-1)
Result: 34:14 (10: 0, 3: 7, 14: 7, 7: 0) BOXSCORE
Rams vs. Bears – the most important statistics
- Stafford brought a breath of fresh air to the Rams offense. His first 2 touchdowns for the Rams were both over 50 yards – as many 50+ yard TDs as the Rams threw throughout the 2020 season.
- The Rams hadn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in a game the previous year. This time, however, Montgomery broke that mark (108 YDS, 16 CAR, TD).
The star of the game: Matthew Stafford (Quarterback Rams)
Matthew Stafford (20/26, 321 YDS, 3 TD) should make all the difference for the Rams this season. In any case, his debut was very promising. He not only shone after play action or bootlegs, but also with conventional dropbacks, which led to success. If Stafford holds this shape, the Rams are dangerous.
Flop of the game: Tashaun Gipson and Eddie Jackson (Safetys, Bears)
While Andy Dalton finally caught himself after a weak start and the Bears offense at least controlled the ball for a long time, the team’s Achilles heel was the secondary and here the two safetys. As usual, the Bears played with two-high looks, but those Safetys, as the next defenders, gave up the two long touchdowns and dug a deep hole for the guests early on.
Analyse: Rams vs. Bears – die Taktiktafel
-
The Rams aggressively played their usual personnel packages, i.e. 11 or 12, mostly in tight formations. It was noticeable, however, that the Rams relied a lot on empty formations early on, very different from last year, when there was mostly a running back in the backfield.
-
A tried and tested stylistic device was once again play action and bootlegs, which Matthew Stafford also met. Seen for example at the 67-yard touchdown pass at the start of the game to Van Jefferson.
-
An important finding on the Rams Defense side was the fact that certain elements from the previous year under Brandon Staley have been retained by the new Defensive Coordinator Raheem Morris. Above all, the star role should be mentioned here, who continued to play Jalen Ramsey and was therefore repeatedly involved in the game and also helped against the run. Meanwhile, Aaron Donald was posted on the line, sometimes inside, sometimes outside, depending on the situation.
-
The Bears, on the other hand, did not show too many defensive variants and almost exclusively used their top pass rusher Khalil Mack on the left side. In the second half, however, he was also used inside.
-
Quarterback Justin Fields also came on short appearances on his debut. He made his first pass in the first drive of the Bears directly over 9 yards. Otherwise, he always came back to the train and finally scored his first NFL touchdown run after the read option via keeper.
- The Rams played mostly light boxing and focused more on pass coverage. In a way, they challenged the guests to run with the ball. The Bears did that more or less consistently and accordingly held the ball much longer (35:14 minutes).
– .
