Bear Digest

Why Rams QB Matthew Stafford is Dennis Allen's worst nightmare

The Chicago Bears defense is searching for ways to try and stop the most effective passing attack in the NFL at Soldier Field Sunday.
Gene Chamberlain|
Matthew Stafford fumbles after being sacked in the Bears' 24-18 victory over the Rams last season.
Matthew Stafford fumbles after being sacked in the Bears' 24-18 victory over the Rams last season. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Montez Sweat hadn't really heard about the finger injury suffered by Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford on his throwing hand, or at least he said this.

"I'm not going out there trying to break his finger or anything like that. I'm just trying to affect the game as any other game," the Bears edge rusher said.

Maybe Sweat should rethink that. The Bears defense can use any edge it can get trying to stop Stafford and his dangerous wide receiver combination of Puka Nacua and Davante Adams.

Stafford has enjoyed particular success stinging defenses of Bears coordinator Dennis Allen. It happened when Stafford was with the Rams and Lions, and when Allen was defensive coordinator or head coach for the Saints.

  • It even happened when Allen was very young as a coordinator with Denver and Stafford had been Lions QB for only 2 1/2 seasons. He threw for three TDs and 262 yards in a 45-10 rout of John Fox's Broncos.
  • Stafford beat Allen's Saints defense for three TD passes and a  148.6 passer rating in a 35-27 Lions win shortly after Allen took over as defensive coordinator from Rob Ryan in 2015.
  • Allen's Saints did manage to beat Stafford in 2017 but he still threw for three TDs and gutted New Orleans' defense for 38 points. The Saints had to score 52 that day to win.
  • Stafford led the Rams past the Saints with Allen as head coach in 2023, 30-22, when he threw for two TDs and 328 yards.
  • About the only time Allen could really say he got the best of Stafford was in 2022 when they limited him to 159 yards passing on 11 of 18, but he still had two TDs in a 27-20 New Orleans victory. The problem was, Staford didn't finish the game. They knocked him out for the season that day with a bruised spinal column and Bryce Perkins finished the game at QB.

So perhaps that idea Sweat mentioned isn't too bad. Just kidding.

"He's a veteran quarterback, he understands coverages, and he's seen a lot of looks," Sweat said. "He understands where to go with the ball and how to get the ball out fast. He's just an all-time great quarterback and he's been doing it for a long time at a good rate."

Stafford has such a quick delivery and throws so often in rhythm off three-step, five-step drops or in shotgun that it's a challenge for the pass rush to affect his throws.

"I mean, the challenge is just not being able to," Sweat said. "It's pretty hard to affect the quarterback when he's on time and getting the ball out fast."

Combined with Nacua and Adams, as well as a good complementary group like tight end Colby Parkinson, it's easy to see how the Rams finished first in passing. Both running backs Kyren Williams and Blake Corum had more than 50 targets, as well.

Nacua led the league in catches with 129 for a league-high 80 first downs.

“I would just say that he does everything," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "They throw him screens, intermediate routes, deeper routes. His hands are incredible. Even the one-handed catch he almost made against the Falcons (rule incomplete), that would have been special.

"But also he’s a willing blocker. They send him in there to dig out the safeties which most No. 1 receivers aren’t really doing that like that. So it’s just the toughness that I see from him and he’s one of those guys that like as a running back, they get better and better the more volume, he more touches they get, so I expect them to feed him as much as possible so we’re going to have to know where he is on every snap.”

Adams has a league-high 14 TD catches.

“It’s the technician," Byard said. "I think when you look at the best route runners in the league, they make all their routes look the same. Whether they’re running a 5-yard hitch route, a go ball, comeback at 15 yards, it all looks like they’re going vertical and I think that’s the toughest thing.

"And he’s so good at the line of scrimmage. That’s the reason  why inside the 5-yard line he has all these touchdowns because if Matt Stafford sees him one-on-one he trusts that he’s going to get a good release, that he’s going to get open and he’s going to put the ball where he needs to be."

The Bears have experience stopping Stafford and the Rams at Soldier Field in last year's 24-18 win. However, the Bears were playing a different defensive scheme before Allen, they were close to full health including cornerback Jaylon Johnson, and L.A. didn't have Nacua due to injury. Stafford's top available targets were Jordan Whittington and Tutu Atwell on that day.

Facing this type of passing attack, and with a defensive coordinator who has had trouble keeping up with Stafford's on-time passing game, it's going to almost require Caleb Williams to light it up again like he did in the fourth quarter Saturday, or for the Bears to control the ball like they did earlier this season against the Eagles.

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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.