Bears Piece Together a 24-18 Victory Over L.A. Rams

It’s more of a piece-by-piece approach for the Bears offense and on Sunday they added running back D’Andre Swift to the arsenal.

Swift gave a Matt Forte type of performance, rushing for 93 yards on 16 attempts with a decisive 36-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and catching seven Caleb Williams passes for 72 yards in a 24-18 Bears victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

“I just think it’s growth,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “We have to grow into that. We’ve only had a few games together. I think we’ve improving every single week. We’re addressing the issues that need to be addressed.

“Early on it was getting in and out of the huddle and cadence and making sure we’re doing good there. And then it was distributing the ball to different skill sets. We did that. Now it’s running the football. We did a better job with that. We’re just addressing the issues. When you’re building chemistry the first time together with a new and young quarterback, I just think that’s a part of growing.”

They advanced haltingly early, getting outgained in the first half 159 yards to 97 but still taking a 10-6 lead because of Roschon Johnson’s 1-yard power run behind William Perry style fullback Doug Kramer, a spare Bears center. Cairo Santos had a 40-yard field goal before half to offset kicks of 46 and 37 yards by Rams kicker Josh Karty.

When the Rams came out strong to start the second half with drives to another field goal and a Kyren Williams 3-yard touchdown run, Williams and the Bears offense matched it with two TD drives of their own.

First Williams connected with DJ Moore at the back of the end zone for a 9-yard TD on third-and-5, ending a 12-play, 74-yard march to put the Bears up 17-9. Then Swift broke a run 36 yards off left guard one play after Williams hit Cole Kmet for 22 yards over the middle, and the Bears went up 24-15 with a 75-yard drive.

“Amazing,” Moore said. “You just seen Dre go off today in run game and pass game. I mean, to get him going is a huge benefit to us.

Williams played a more steady game and finished with a 106.6 passer rating, showing he also had learned since last week. He went 17 of 23 for 157 yards with the lone TD to Moore.

What he learned from last week, though, wasn’t about passing it for touchdowns.

“Obviously when you don’t have two turnovers, that’s the most important thing,” Williams said.

Actually, he had three turnovers the previous game because he lost a strip-sack that resulted in a TD, but who’s counting?

“When you have a defense like us, you have a punter and a kicker like we have, and you’re not turning the ball over, it goes a long way,” Williams said. “You’re going to win a lot of games.”

The punter proved huge and the Bears defense did the taking away in this one.

Stafford went 20 of 29 for 224 yards but threw the interception to Jaquan Brisker on the final Rams drive to kill off his team’s chance for a second straight fourth-quarter comeback.

“I owed the team one,” Brisker said he was thinking.

He had picked off Stafford in the second quarter in the end zone but had just come back in from out of bounds without establishing both feet in bounds.

“Just get my mind right, stay locked in, stay focused and try to get the ball at some point today,” he said he was thinking after that mistake.

Brisker got it back on first down after punter Tory Taylor had pinned the Rams back on the 8-yard line for the second straight drive. He pinned back inside the 10 three times on the day.

“He’s got a couple different sand wedges, I think, so he’s pretty good,” Eberflus said.

Darrell Taylor then applied the heat on Stafford and he threw right to Brisker.

“Last year I dropped it against the Detroit Lions and that (Sunday) was one I was like, ‘I can’t drop that again,'” Brisker said. “It felt good getting the game-winning pick. Especially on Matthew Stafford and things like that.”

Back now to 2-2, they also managed to come away feeling better about the future than after their previous loss to the Colts. Even offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and assistants could smile after a week when the whole coaching staff seemed to be taking on water. Eberflus, especially, liked how they responded to adversity.

“Just looking at our players, trying to use the whole roster and making sure that we’re always thinking forward and being productive,” Eberflus said. “My hat’s off to the offensive staff, utilizing the people and getting the scheme to do that.”