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GAMEDAY Open Thread/Live Blog: Bears vs. Rams | Week 11
Join us as we live-blog and discuss Bears vs. Rams here in our weekly GAMEDAY Open Thread. Dive into the conversation—it's easy—by simply going to the top of the site and in the bottom right-hand corner of the Bearmaven logo, click the follow button.
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Inactives
Bears
DB Duke Shelley
LB Isaiah Irving
LB Danny Trevathan
TE Adam Shaheen
DE Abdullah Anderson
G Alex Bars
WR Riley Ridley
Rams
WR Brandin Cooks
T Rob Havenstein
CB Darious Williams
WR Robert Woods
S Jake Gervase
OL Jamil Demby
DL Greg Gaines
First Quarter
15:00: Rams won and defer, Bears receiving.
Nice return by Cordarrelle Patterson to the 29. Decent field position for a change. And so much for that, giving it to Tarik Cohen in the middle again. Two runs and no yards and it's third-and-long. Beautiful zone beater on third down for the first down by Mitchell Trubisky and Bears go no huddle after first down.
Beautiful pass play out of the backfield to David Montgomery for 19 yards. Looks like his ankle is fine. Trubisky gets outside the pocket and keeps looking for a receiver and misses chance to scramble for 7 yards on third down so Eddy Pineiro misses a 48-yard field goal badly left. Wasted drive. Better get some kickers in for tryouts. 0-0
11:43: Ha Ha Clinton Dix recovers stripped fumble by Eddie Jackson on first Rams run by Todd Gurley. Bears are at Rams 46.
Two passes to Taylor Gabriel leave the Bears facing third-and-2. I would imagine its two-down territory here. Allen Robinson, Mr. Dependable, comes up with the third-down catch and Trubisky takes a bad shot from Aaron Donald because Rashaad Coward barely put a hand on him. Three plays later and a third-and-9 play at the Rams 31 but a screen pass to Ryan Nall fails. Bears line up to go for it on fourth-and-9. Taylor Gabriel can't haul it in. Apparently Nagy has lost confidence in Eddy Pineiro already. A wasted opportunity after the turnover in Rams territory. The Bears don't score enough points to be wasting opps.
9:09: Leonard resurfaces and forces an incompletion by Jared Goff on first down. Todd Gurley gashes the Bears for 13 yards. This is the kind of thing the defense can't afford. Gurley takes a short pass 23 yards, not really a screen but a flare out after a roll by Goff.
Roquan Smith picks off Goff on a rollout pass with Rams approaching red zone. Smith had a big pick against the Rams last year as well.
The defense still seems to have Goff's number.
6:17: Anthony Miller had the deep route and Trubisky underthrew him and it was tipped away. Bears facing third-and-9 at their own 18. Ben Braunecker makes nice play on a short pass but comes up a yard short. Nick Kwiatkoski a big hit on punt but Rams pull a stupid mistake and line up in the neutral zone on punt, letting Bears keep the ball. Rams on the punt actually looked like 2 guys were offsides.
Running game still not working. Bobby Massie pulled on a first-down run by Montgomery and seemed to have an opening for Montgomery but he didn't see it and they get 1 yard. A short 6 yard toss to Gabriel and the Bears face third-and-3. Tarik Cohen converts a short toss into first down. Javon Wims with a first-down catch in Rams territory, the sixth receiver Trubisky has found. Bears at Rams 32. Trubisky reluctant to run again but does gain 4 and an incompletion leaves the Bears third-and-4 at the Rams 29. Pineiro has 47-yard kick go wide right. 0-0
Bears have controlled the game and have nothing to show for it.
Cody Parkey missed seven in a 16-game season. Now Pineiro is at 5 misses in 10 games.
:28: Rams just discovering there is no Akiem Hicks or Danny Trevathan and two power runs by Gurley has them at Bears 47. Quarter Ends. 0-0
Second Quarter
15:00: Rams starting to use the double team on running plays effectively the way other teams have without Hicks on the field. Another Gurley run puts it at the Bears 29. Eddie Jackson makes a tackle for loss, but Leonard Floyd was held by two blockers on the play with no call. Rams get a screen for 9 and face third-and-6.
Roquan Smith punishes Goff on a scramble a yard short of the first down and Rams have a decision to make. They'll try a field goal of 38 yards by Zuerlein. Officials say it's good but it sure looked over the top of the upright. Rams 3, Bears 0
11:31: The Blackhawks currently are outscoring the Bears 2-0. Tarik Cohen with another pass for zero yards. The Bears have no running game at all so far but Montgomery scratches out 4 yards. Third-and-six and Trubisky tries a back shoulder throw to Cohen, but the ball is thrown poorly. Bears punt. Running into the kicker but it may not be a first down. Bears decline it rather than re-punt.
Two offensive geniuses and the only thing working is a Rams run up the middle.
10:05: Bears stop Gurley for a change for a yard at 23. Screen sets up third-and-2. Bears stuff Gurley for a 1-yard gain and Rams have to punt. Roquan enjoying one of his best games to date. Picking up the slack with Trevathan gone. He has two big tackles and an interception.
7:47: Bears start at the 29. Montgomery a 5-yard run to the right and 2 yards over guard leaves it at third-and-3. Trubisky threads the needle in the zone to Anthony Miller for the first down but that was a dangerous pass. Trubisky has Ben Braunecker along the sideline but overthrows him and waits too long to pass it. Hill picks off Trubisky on pass defelected by Miller. Overthrown pass again and Miller did something really dumb. He just stuck one hand up flat-footed and batted it up in the air so it could be picked. One bad pass, one dumb mistake by Miller.
5:21: Rams get 9 yards on a couple runs but then Cooper Kupp moves and it's third-and-6. Kupp beats Buster Skrine for a 52-yard touchdown pass. The replay shows Kupp lost the ball out of bounds before the goal line but officials called it a touchdown. Play under review. Skrine looked like he thought he had safety help and let Kupp get a few steps behind and the safeties were drawn off elsewhere. The key on this review is whether they have an angle at the goal line because the only one so far was over and behind. Rams get the ball at the 1 but no TD. Gurley gets the 1-yard TD run. Rams 10, Bears 0
Bears better start sweeping the shed or being me or something because their offense isn't getting anything done and now the defense is starting to cave. Again.
3:28: Smart pooch kick by Rams to JP Holtz. At this point, the only thing that is going to get the Bears back in this is a Patterson kick return. Wow, what do you know, Cohen gets to run outside and gets 9 yards. They go to no huddle again to increase tempo.
Cohen gets a first down but then they go to the well too often and he gets stuffed for loss.
At halftime, if the Bears haven't scored and I doubt they will, Nagy needs to think about lighting a fire under them by starting Chase Daniel. Normally this would be stupid against the Rams because Daniel has no mobility and would be getting creamed by Donald, but Trubisky isn't using his mobility anyway. He just stands and stares. So Daniel can do that much. 2:00 warning.
Trubisky has a free shot with Fowler jumping offsides and what does he do? Dumps it off to Cohen for a short gain. Wow. Tarik Cohen with a gutsy run for a first down on second-and-6 play. Bears face third-and-8 after Jalen Ramsey sticks it to his old buddy Allen Robinson for a short gain. Trubisky is stopped on a scramble after he stood and stared for about 20 seconds. Again, Trubisky is reluctant to run and trying to pass. He had the first down if he took off immediately. They'll punt from the Rams 40. Rams will kill the clock's last 18 seconds. Halftime: Rams 10, Bears 0
This game should be 10-9 or 10-6 but Pineiro and Nagy combined to remove points.
Third Quarter
15:00: Rams going back to Gurley. Get 7 on two runs and have third-and-3. Gurley gets stopped a yard short again by Roquan Smith playing so solid and it looks like they'll punt. If they didn't, they should fire McVay on the spot. Bears at their own 20 when ball goes into the end zone.
Bears start out working the outside passing game and attacking horizontally, then bring it back inside to Anthony Miller downfield for 14 yards and they're at their own 47. Another Miller completion puts them in Rams territory with second-and-1. David Montgomery back in runs for the first down at the Rams 41. That's twice Littleton has stayed with Cohen downfield in a pass pattern. Second-and-10. Bears actually go to the run and Tarik Cohen takes a read option run over left guard to the 29. Rollout pass by Trubisky to Gabriel puts it at the Rams 18. Toss to Montgomery gets zip. The line continues to have trouble executing blocks on basic plays. Usually yardage comes on something tricky. Another incompletion to Gabriel. It seems the Bears have decided Allen Robinson can't catch a pass against Jalen. Touchdown toss 14 yards vs man coverage to Cohen against Littleton. He couldn't cover Cohen by the goal line. Suddenly the Bears have life with 80-yard TD drive. And Pineiro actually makes PAT. It's 10-7 Rams lead.
The Bears have outpassed the Rams 165 yards to 89.
7:10: Rams start at 25. Rams go back to Gurley, but this time in the passing game for 6 yards. Does McVay have the patience to stick with the run? Third-and-1 for Rams. Defense rises up. Eddie Goldman and Roquan nail Gurley for a loss. Rams punt into end zone. 66-yard punt and it went well into the end zone.
The Rams haven't used as much of the double-team blocking approach in this half so far. They should go back to it because everything else isn't working. It's letting the Bears take back control of the line of scrimmage.
4:50: Cohen with a 4-yard catch against the blitz. Miller gets inside out of the slot for 5 and it's third-and-1. Just a horrendous play call. Bears try running an old style option toss by Trubisky to Montgomery with two defenders blitzing. It went nowhere. Two penalties on the punt, one a hold but the unsportsmanlike penalty on Patterson gets L.A. out to good field position. Dumb play by Patterson, removing his helmet and cussing because he felt he was blocked illegally apparently.
Bears should be leading this one. Two missed Pineiro field goals and a dumb Nagy decision not to try a 48-yarder and go for fourth-and-9 are keeping them with a 10-7 deficit.
2:39: Rams pick up a first down and are now in Bears territory but Kyle Fuller breaks on ball on bootleg pass and Fuller can't hold the INT. Two incompletions and officials missed an obvious offensive holding penalty on the second-down play. Rams try a wide receiver screen to Kupp on third-and-10 from the 44 but get just 3 yards and will punt, unless Johnny Hekker decides to fake it.
1:18: David Montgomery for 4 and then Thanos makes a return. Aaron Donald. He nearly sacks Trubisky. On third-and-6 Trubisky throws long and no one is within 20 yards of it.
Fourth Quarter
15:00: The Rams punt but Allen Robinson drops a Trubisky dart on first down. Rams defensive line injury stops play. Robinson catches a 6-yard pass against blitz to make it third-and-4. The new Mitchell Trubisky, the pocket passer, stays in there with the ball and gets sacked after no one comes open forever. But Rams' Troy Hill bails out the Bears with a holding penalty downfield in coverage.
Bobby Massie out and Cornelius Lucas in due to back injury. First play he's in is a 4-yard Montgomery run. Now Dante Fowler is leaving with an injury. Trubisky throws for 1 yard to Allen Robinson and they face third-and-6. Badley underthrows Robinson and Jalen Ramsey had good coverage. Bears punt again.
If Bears are going to win this game, they're going to need to take away the ball again and do it in Rams territory. Their own offense isn't capable of something more.
11:16: Bilal Nichols gets mugged and they call holding Rams' Whitworth. Mack covers on a pass and the incompletion makes it second-and-20. Now on third down the Bears' Buster Skrine knocks ball loose from Kupp on screen but Rams recover and punt.
Hekker with the play of the night maybe. A 68-yard punt that gets the Rams out of trouble and pins the Bears back at their 18. Cohen misplayed the punt then let it go.
8:35: Trubisky uses his feet, evades a sack and hits Miller for 6 yards and it's third-and-1. No one open and Trubisky dumps it into the ground and they punt again.
7:43: Rams get 3 from Gurley. Rams being patient but then hit an 18-yard play-action throw to Reynolds. He lost it twice but it rolled back into his stomach. Fuller gets beat for a touchdown of 51 yards to Reynolds. But Rams lined up in an illegal formation. Rams facing third-and-7 at Bears 48. 5:20 remaining. Going no huddle Goff finds Reynolds as Fuller gambles and tries to go for the ball. The Rams are inside the 25. Eddie Jackson run blitz results ina 3-yard loss. Everett catches a throw to the 4 and Bears are in trouble. The no-huddle offense is burning a gassed defense. Brown scores on a 4-yard run and the Bears are pretty much done, trailing 17-7 with 3:31 left. Rams 17, Bears 7
Another outstanding Bears defensive effort against a good team completely wasted by an inconsistent passing game, no running game, Pineiro's poor kicking and Matt Nagy's lack of confidence in his kicker. At 4-6 the Bears should start thinking about looking at some of the inactive young players now. Next year has to be their goal now. Trubisky 24 of 43 for 190. Another sloppy passing night.
Chase Daniel now in at quarterback?????
If they were going to do this, it should have been at halftime. Time to give Tyler Bray a start.
Jalen Ramsey may not have made big plays but he blanketed Allen Robinson all night and took away the most dependable weapon Trubisky can rely on. He has made a big difference for the Rams. Their defense is really hitting stride now with four straight strong efforts.
This will be an interesting postgame discussion about Trubisky and what happened. Nagy pulled Trubisky aside before his benching and had a long talk to him. Sort of whispering in his ear.
Rams 17, Bears 7 Final
