Bear Digest

One area where the Bears can claim a huge edge over the Rams

The Rams are the No. 1 offense and their defense is top 10 in preventing scoring but the Bears definitely have an edge in one key way.
Gene Chamberlain|
Josh Blackwell celebrates his onside kick recovery against Green Bay in Week 16.
Josh Blackwell celebrates his onside kick recovery against Green Bay in Week 16. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson's touch is felt by the Bears on offense but players on defense have often talked about how he influences them throughout the season, either in energizing them or making them confident the offense can pick them up if they falter.

It seems Johnson also impacts special teams and a move he made in the game with Green Bay may have made all the difference. It wasn't even in the second half during the rally.

Johnson called for a rare icing of the kicker at the end of the first half and Brandon McManus missed from 55 yards. He actually missed twice, as he kicked it short when officials were late to stop the play due to Johnson's timeout request. This is likely a staff type of decision, with special teams coordinator Richard Hightower involved.

“You always talk about each week whether icing the kicker is the right thing to do with that particular player, and you try to look at his history a little bit," Johnson said.

Apparently they think McManus doesn't handle this well but ultimately Johnson gave credit to Hightower's special teams.

"I think we usually have a pretty good feel on whether we want to do that or not," Johnson said. "I don't know if it gave us any momentum going into the locker room. You're down by 18 already, so it's not going to be a feel good no matter what, but whether that got in his head or not, you'd have to talk to him about it. We felt like it was the right thing to do in that moment against that opponent and him missing some of those kicks. Once again, I give a lot of credit to our field goal block team for creating some pressure throughout that game that might've impacted the kicking as well."

The special teams battle this week in the  divisional playoffs against the Rams looks heavily weighted to the Bears' side and the kicking is part of it. L.A. is on its second kicker, Harrison Mevis, and he has missed just once. He is 14 of 15 on field goals but with only one try 50 or longer. That's not a part of any advantage because the Bears' Cairo Santos knows how to kick at Soldier Field.

"So, Soldier Field this time of year is not easy to kick in," Johnson said.

"And so that's why we're very fortunate to have a kicker we really trust.”

The other part of this is the Rams have had nothing but weird kicking issues and mediocre-to-poor special teams play.

They had Joshua Karty kicking off and his knuckleball kicks were the rage of the league as he caused teams to take 20-yard-line touchbacks or mishandle kickoffs entirely. But a slight problem there—he couldn't do what the team needs a kicker to do. He missed five field goal tries and eventually was released.

Mevis doesn't have this skillset and the Rams went back to letting strong-legged punter Ethan Evans kick off. So the Bears can just about figure they'll have the ball at their own 35 to start possessions after kickoffs. Evans has a 75.4% touchback margin and as a team they're at 55.45%. No one else in the league is higher than 37.25%.

The Bears haven't started drive past their own 35-yard line in the last 21 kickoffs and only got to the 35 twice in the last 10 kickoffs, so they'll take the 35 and be happy.

Rams special teams are nothing special, as Evans didn't average as much punts as Tory Taylor despite having the indoor advantage. They're 2.4 yards better at net punting, showing they cover the punts better. Bears punt returner Devin Duvernay averaged 11 yards per return, 1.7 better than the Rams' Xavier Smith. Duvernay and the kick returners average 1.3 yards better than the Rams' return group.

The Rams very nearly lost to the Panthers because they had a punt blocked in the fourth quarter.

When you add in the Johnson/Hightower coaching handle, Bears special teams look well-equipped to handle the Rams. They can only hope the same proves true for their defense and offense.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.