People say to expect the unexpected. What the Packers did to the Bears last week is a prime example as the Bears undoubtedly practiced against the usual Packers press man defense and got two man instead.
What the Rams will do this week is anyone’s guess. But I hope the surprises won’t once agian be of the unpleasant sort.
Matt Bowen at the Chicago Tribune thinks the Rams might bring a lot of pressure Sunday. I’m not so sure. As Bowen points out, the Rams have had good success with playing coverage the past couple weeks and given that the Packers beat the Bears with it so effectively, I don’t see why they’d change. On the other hand, I firmly believe a good pressure scheme would, in fact, beat the Bears. So the Rams, might, indeed, surprise and do it.
I’ll say this about the Rams. I watched their game last week and they’re a dangerous opponenet. They have some speed as a team. In particular, those defensive ends are fast. And I don’t care what people say about that much maligned offensive line. They looked OK to me. They gave quarterback Sam Bradford plenty of time and they weren’t holding guys in to help the way the Bears do. Their left tackle was blocking one-on-one. In fact, they’re so good at pass blocking that they use the pass to set up the run with back Steven Jackson and the rookie, Daryl Richardson.
In the Bears favor, the Redskins didn’t have Julius Peppers to help the other guys harrass Bradford. And the Bears offensive line will be better at home. Even last week they looked like they could block the run and the Ram defense looks to me like you can, in fact, run on it, too. That’s unusal for a Jeff Fisher coached team. In fact, they brought extra players into the box to stop the Redskins, though how much of that was associated with stopping RG3 is hard to guess. They were ceratin more worried about his legs than his arm.
Most importantly, the Rams lose because they’re young and make dumb mistakes. But if for some reason they come in here and don’t do that – a very big if – they’re very capable of beating the Bears. They have the potential to be a real problem. I don’t expect that to happen. But sometimes the expectations don’t live up to the reality.
