St Louis Rams Ground The Chicago Bears Into 42-21 Submission

After a miserable start plagued the Chicago Bears in the first half, the Bears entered the second half trailing the St Louis Rams 24-14.

Nov 24, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Rams tight end

(89) celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the Chicago Bears at the Edward Jones Dome. Mandatory Credit: Scott Kane-USA TODAY Sports

On the first possession of the second half, the Bears offense was driving the ball down the field. On the arm of quarterback Josh McCown, the Bears offense drove the ball deep into the red-zone . The Bears offense was then faced with a first and goal situation on the Rams 4-yard line. After two incomplete passes and an unsuccessful scramble by McCown, the Bears were faced with a fourth and 1 situation on the Rams 1-yard line. Bears head coach Marc Trestman opted to go for it on fourth down. The play was snuffed out by the Rams defense as Michael Bush was tackled in the backfield.

Red-zone inefficiency continues to be a problem for Trestman and the Bears. The offensive play-call for the Bears in the red-zone has been highly questioned over recent weeks. Those questions are bound to grow louder after the miscues on Sunday. One thing to question is why was Bush in on the fourth down play instead of Matt Forte.

Following the Bears miscue on fourth down, the Rams offense proceeded to pick apart the Bears defense once again as the unit drove down the field and into Bears territory. The Rams drive was quickly halted when quarterback Kellen Clemens was sacked on third down by Bears linebacker James Anderson. The sack on third down forced the Rams to take a field goal and expand their to lead to 13 over the Bears.

The third quarter would conclude with the Bears trailing the Rams 27-14.

After a penalty on safety Craig Steltz negated what would have been a punt-return for a touchdown by Devin Hester to begin the fourth quarter, the Bears offense started the quarter with the ball on their 28-yard line. After a third down conversion, Bears running back Matt Forte was injured on a first-down play that saw the running back take a McCown pass for 1-yard to the Rams 23-yard line. Two plays a later, a pass interference penalty on the Rams defense in the end-zone gave the Bears offense the ball on the Rams 1-yard line with a fresh set of downs. A holding penalty on Rams cornerback Brandon McGee gave the Bears a new set of downs on the goal line.

After a holding penalty on Bears right tackle Jermon Bushrod pushed the Bears back ten yards, a screen pass on second down from McCown to Forte brought the Bears back to the Rams 1-yard line. On third down, a roughing the passer penalty on the Rams defense once again gave the Bears a new set of downs. After running back Michael Bush was stuffed on the first down play, the Bears went back to Bush on second down who gained the one yard that was needed for a touchdown.  After taking nearly 7 minutes, the Bears offense managed to finally score a touchdown on the series and bring themselves within six points of the Rams.

The Rams responded with a touchdown of their own by running back Benny Cunningham. After a successful two-point conversion, the Rams led the Bears 35-to-21. The Rams would add another touchdown after a McCown fumble was returned for a touchdown. The fumble by McCown was the first turnover for the Bears quarterback this season. The touchdown gave the Rams a 42-21 lead and that would prove to be the final score of the game.

This game certainly was disappointing for the Bears. With the Detroit Lions losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, this would have been the game for the Bears to leap-frog the Lions in the standings. But the Bears were plagued with penalties and miscues in the red-zone that kept the team from ever seizing control of the game from the Rams. Not to mention the Bears defense allowed over 250 rushing yards, a performance that isn’t going to win many games in the NFL.

The Bears now head to the Minnesota next week to play the Vikings on December 1.