Chicago Bears: Suffocating defense keys Bears to huge win

The Chicago Bears showed how good their defense is on Sunday night when they shut down the high-powered Los Angeles Rams to get a big win.

The Chicago Bears came into their Sunday primetime matchup against the Los Angeles Rams as the betting underdogs and with questions swirling about their defense.

This stop unit already proved their skill this season, but could they hang with an elite offense like the Rams?

With millions around the country watching, the Bears demonstrated just how good their defense is while they dismantled the Rams in a 15-6 win.

While the Bears didn’t dominate in all phases of the game, they came through when it was most needed–especially on defense. Just check out these insane stats the Rams had coming into this game and what they had to scrape together on Sunday night:

The Rams are full of weapons like wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods. They also have the best running back in the NFL in Todd Gurley. On Sunday night, none of them had much of an impact for the Rams. Gurley had 28 rushing yards and only 11 carries.

The Bears toyed with Rams quarterback Jared Goff. He didn’t look comfortable at any point during the game. He had a career-low 19.1 passer rating on the night. He got sacked three times, one of which was a safety by defensive tackle Eddie Goldman.

It seemed as if the Rams got less and less confident in their offense as the game went on. Bears coach Matt Nagy became increasingly conservative on offense as he realized the Rams couldn’t move the ball downfield against his defense.

Make no mistake about it, this was Goff’s worst game of his career. On the other end, Bears quarterback Mitch Trubisky didn’t fare so well either.

Trubisky missed the two games prior to Sunday night’s matchup with a shoulder injury. It would make sense that he’d be rusty because of the missed time and the additional factor of temperatures below freezing, but he made some costly mistakes.

Trubisky threw three interceptions throughout the game, and the worst part about it was that the receivers he was trying to hit on each throw were open. This was a problem that popped up earlier in the season when Trubisky had a rough stretch.

Despite the poor play of both quarterbacks, it was the Bears defense that picked up the rest of their team and willed them to victory. Trubisky will use this experience to learn as a quarterback. Don’t forget that the Rams defense is also one of the best in the NFL.

Trubisky did have one bright spot on the night, throwing the game’s only touchdown to offensive tackle Bradley Sowell. Yes, you read that right. Nagy drew up a brilliant play that made it look like the team was going to run the ball with defensive lineman Akiem Hicks as they did last week.

Instead, what followed was a nice play action fake and a really good catch by Sowell. Seriously, look at this high point technique:

This was a fun game for the Bears and especially for Bears fans. Coming off a crushing overtime loss to the below-average New York Giants, it was a game they really needed to win and bounce back.

It almost feels strange to say that the Bears just beat the best team in the NFL in a primetime game. Yes, it wasn’t perfect and there’s a lot of improvement to still be made, but this team looks more and more like contenders as the season goes on.

Next week, the Bears can clinch the NFC North at home when they take on the rival Green Bay Packers. The Bears will look for revenge for the heartbreaking 24-23 loss they suffered on the first week of the season in Green Bay.

It’s going to be another fun week of football, keep checking Da Windy City for more postgame coverage of this big win and pregame coverage of the upcoming rivalry game.