Chicago Bears: The good, bad, and ugly from Rams game

Bears dominant defense

The Bears defense wasn’t good last night, they were exceptional. It wasn’t just one of the most impressive defensive performances of the year, but one of the most impressive performances in recent memory.

Even thinking back to the dominant defensive units of Lovie Smith, you’d be hard-pressed to recall such a dominating performance when you take into account the quality of the offensive opponent, the magnitude of the game, and the end result.

Think about what the Rams have accomplished this year on the offensive side of the ball. They are third overall in total yards and yards per game. They are also third overall in points per game, scoring 32.7 per contest. It wasn’t that long ago that their matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in which they dropped 54 was compared to a video game. Just take a look at their point totals this season:

The above outlier is enough to make even Malcolm Gladwell smile. Prior to the game, there weren’t many analysts who thought the Bears defense could slow down the Rams’ offense, much less eviscerate them the way they did. They limited the Rams to two field goals and zero touchdowns. Also, according to Bill Zimmerman, the Rams had only two drives longer than 19 yards.

The Bears defense set the tone on a night when the offense could get nothing going (more on that later). Despite the low scoring affair, the game never felt like it was in doubt because of how well the defense played, though Eddie Goldman‘s safety to start the second half really set the tone.

There really aren’t enough superlatives to describe this defense, but suffice it to say they won the game for Chicago and that’s the best compliment you can pay to a defense.