Another Dud for Bears Offense in 17-7 Loss to Rams
The Chicago Bears defense did its part to keep the team's season afloat Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams.
Kicker Eddy Pineiro, quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and the offense made certain they all sank together.
Pineiro missed two field goals in the first half, the offense struggled to gain meaningful yards and ultimately the Rams scored a clinching fourth-quarter touchdown for a 17-7 victory.
"It's a game that it had nothing to do with effort," Bears coach Matt Nagy told reporters after the game. "Our guys played hard but in the end seven points isn't enough. You've got to score more points than that to win and we didn't do that tonight."
The Bears fell to 4-6 as Trubisky went 24 of 43 for 190 yards with an interception and 14-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to Tarik Cohen.
Trubisky suffered a mysterious hip injury on the Bears' last drive of the second quarter, leading to his removal from the game after the verdict had been decided in the fourth quarter.
"He just wasn't feeling right," Nagy said. "His hip was hurting him."
Trubisky came out and Chase Daniel went in after Trubisky had a long talk with Nagy at close quarters on the sidelines in the closing minutes.
The Bears had the ball four times after pulling within 10-7 and had one first down to show for those possessions before the Rams put it away with a 71-yard drive to Malcolm Brown's 5-yard TD run with 3:35 remaining.
"I made the decision to put Chase in there at that time," Nagy said. "I just know that it was affecting him. He wasn't saying anything to me."
Nagy suspected Trubisky was injured by watching his movement and throwing motion, particularly going to the left.
"I couldn't move around or buy time," Trubisky said. "I was just throwing with all arm. It affected my accuracy a little bit.
"It just kept getting tighter and tighter. I felt I could just play through it. They just didn't let me finish it out."
The defense gave up only 283 yards and had takeaways early with Roquan Smith's interception and a fumble forced by Eddie Jackson and recovered by Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. They held Jared Goff to a 69.9 passer rating on 11 of 18 for 173 yards.
The offense had its usual poor start, but did move it enough to set up 48- and 47-yard Pineiro field goal tries in the first half and he missed both wide, one left and one right.
"You want to see field goals made," Nagy said. "He knows that. Again, we're in a game like this and it's a defensive battle and points are at a premium. We want to be able to make those kicks."
Pineiro now has missed five kicks in 10 games. Cody Parkey missed seven in 16 games last year.
"I've got to do better," Pineiro said. "Just frustrating. I've got to get better, I've got to keep grinding."
Nagy decided not to kick another 48-yarder in the first quarter after the first missed kick and they went for a failed fourth-and-9 pass.
Ultimately the misses and decision not to kick made a difference when the Bears trailed only 10-7 in the second half after they survived Greg Zuerlein's 38-yard field goal and Todd Gurley's 1-yard TD run in second quarter.
"We just weren't churning out the yards on first and second down in the run game," Nagy said. "That's a credit to them, they're a good defense."
The scoring drive in the third quarter that ended on Cohen's catch after a wheel route almost seemed an aberration considering how poorly the Bears played offensively the rest of the game.
"They (the Rams) didn't know what to do," said wide receiver Anthony Miller. "We were playing a little bit of hurry-up. And I think when we play tempo we're a hard team to stop.
"We were able to play fast. I believe that's what happened. We had them on their heels on that drive."
No more the rest of the game, though, as a defensive effort worthy of a playoff team went wasted.
The defense gave up only 283 yards and had takeaways early with Roquan Smith's interception and a fumble forced by Eddie Jackson and recovered by Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. They held Jared Goff to a 69.9 passer rating on 11 of 18 for 173 yards.
Still, the Rams did succeed at running and Gurley gained 97 yards and Khalil Mack didn't even show up on the stat sheet with a tackle or quarterback hurry.
"We definitely all put ourselves into this mess," cornerback Prince Amukamara said.
At 4-6 the Bears are three games behind Minnesota in the loss column and unlikely to be making any late playoff run.
"It's tough losing," said Smith, who had a game-high 11 tackles besides his interception. "We all know that. It's not a feeling I'm accustomed to or we're all accustomed to."
After the way the offense has dragged down the defense six times, they may not be accustomed to it, but it is becoming a fact of Bears life for this season.
Twitter@BearsOnMaven
