The LA Rams Transformation - There is hope.

WindyCity

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The line is a lot better. They average an entire yard per rush more. The Bears do struggle more in pass pro but that Rams O-line was shot in run and pass pro.

An offensive coach, 2 or 3 new receivers, a new RT and depth on the O-line and you got yourself a much improved offense.

You do know that is a lot to add correct?

The Bears went 1/6 in multi year free agent signings last season, now they need to sign and hit on 2 free agent WRs? That is a big jump for them.
 

Nicker

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People need hope.

The Rams are unrealistic. They literally had the perfect offseason.

More realistic is you hire a good coach, not a superstar, you sign a few decent free agents and your top pick is good and you win 7-8 games.
I completely agree. I do think that we are one outstanding pass rusher away from being really good on defense though. If we got Bradley Chubb and signed devante Adams ( I don't LOVE him, but he's probably the best of what will be available) maybe we get lucky with a head coach and our offense takes off. A middle of the pack passing game, with our good running game and a defense that can get after the QB would be enough for us to compete for a playoff spot. Granted, it's a big ask...
 

Mjiton

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Brilliant new coach or bust
 

bamainatlanta

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Howard & Cohen are good backs but they are nowhere near the talent that Gurley is.
 

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The Rams lucked into an offensive mastermind. Jared Goff still sucks, but McVay is masking all of his flaws and putting him in the perfect plays/situations more often than not. I don’t believe Goff vs. Trubisky is a push, or at least I hope not.
 

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People need hope.

The Rams are unrealistic. They literally had the perfect offseason.

More realistic is you hire a good coach, not a superstar, you sign a few decent free agents and your top pick is good and you win 7-8 games.

This is where you are dead wrong. Les Snead has been building this team since 2012 the same year the Bears hired Emery. He inherited Fisher as coach and had to deal with him in the draft room. The Rams ignored their fan base and retained Snead while firing a dinosaur coach that believed in pounding the rock and playing defense. The young GM found an excellent offensive mind to shape the 1st round QB he drafted the previous year.

So he didn’t have the perfect off-season, he’s been working his plan since 2012. He also grabbed Aaron Donald right in front of Mr. Emery. Continuity at GM and eventually head coach is key if you want to win. Pace inherited a situation as bad or worse than Snead. Connect the dots...
 

didshereallysaythat

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I completely agree. I do think that we are one outstanding pass rusher away from being really good on defense though. If we got Bradley Chubb and signed devante Adams ( I don't LOVE him, but he's probably the best of what will be available) maybe we get lucky with a head coach and our offense takes off. A middle of the pack passing game, with our good running game and a defense that can get after the QB would be enough for us to compete for a playoff spot. Granted, it's a big ask...

I would be shocked beyond belief if the Packers let Adams go. Nelson is gonna be 33 next year and they love receivers up north.
 

Alpha Male

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Why do people expect a rams like turnaround? Rams are more of an exception than the rule. This Chicago Browns we are talking about. there will not be turn around.
 

Teddy KGB

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I have noticed a lot of references from various posters including myself in reference to both of these teams poor offenses and the quick transition the Rams were able to make in just one year with a couple personnel and coaching changes.

Let's have a quick snapshot of the numbers behind both offenses -

Points per game: LA - 14.0 CHI - 15.9
Passing yards per game: LA - 184.4 (6.2 YPA) CHI - 160.3 (6.4 YPA)
Rushing yards per game: LA - 78.3 (3.3 YPA) CHI - 115.5 (4.3 YPA)

Both offenses rank last in yards. The Rams also ranked last in points. The Bears surprisingly, rank 29th in points per game. Pretty similar in regards to ineptness but I must say that the Bears are pretty much better in every facet and the fact that they have been able to run the ball as effective as they have is actually quite impressive.

Now let's have a look at the personnel -

QB:
Jared Goff vs Mitch Trubisky - PUSH

RB:
Todd Gurley vs Jordan Howard/Tarik Cohen

WR:
Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Brian Quick and Pharoh Cooper vs Dontrelle Inman, Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright and Josh Bellamy

TE:
Lance Kendricks and Tyler Higbee vs Zach Miller and Dion Sims

OL:
LT - Greg Robinson vs Charles Leno JR
LG - Roger Saffold vs Kyle Long
C - Tim Barnes vs Cody Whitehair
RG - Cody Wichmann vs Josh Sitton
RT - Rob HAvenstein vs Bobbie Massie

To me, the Bears have an advantage at all of the bolded positions. QB is a push as I liked both guys coming out of the draft but you could probably give the edge to Trubisky when you look at just how bad Goff was last year. I like the combination of Howard and Cohen just a little more than I like Gurley but you could make an argument either way. There is a massive difference in the offensive line play and I think that's the difference here. The Bears have 3 very solid starters in Leno, Whitehair (even though he has struggled) and Sitton and another in Long if he can get his shit together.

So as bad as the you think the Bears offense is now, this is far from a lost cause nor does it show that its going to take years to rebuild like I have seen some posters outline.

Now let's look at the additions the Rams made tot ransform the offense -

Coaching - Obviously, the biggest transformation was Sean McVay who looks like he could be the next great coach in this league. It's unlikely the Bears are going to be able to find a guy this good, but he doesn't have to be as long as he puts together a solid all-around staff.

Personnel -
- Andrew Whitworth
- John Sullivan
- Robert Woods
- Sammy Watkins (via trade)
- Cooper Kupp (3rd round pick)

Now to me, that's not a heck of a lot of assets sunk into the offense. Whitworth was their marquee signing and many thought he was going into decline slowly. John Sullivan is more of a veteran presence. Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp are solid but unspectacular and Sammy Watkins was acquired via trade and off the top of my head I am pretty sure the Rams offense was already chugging along pretty well before he started to get accustomed and produce.

Coaching and offensive line play to me, were the biggest differences in the Rams transformation and the Bears already some talent on the O-line. I do not think sinking money into some overpriced wide receiver free agent will be the answer but rather a solid coaching change and multiple, modest investments into improving the receivers. Making sure the O-line is fortified with Sitton getting older, Massie being underwhelming and Long always injured should be the main focus to protect Trubisky and open holes for our talented runners.
Totally agree with you.

This offseason, I focus on getting the right coach, COMPETENT WRs, and totally rebuilding the O line. Whitehair can stay, rest is up for discussion.

I don't go for the home run WR until 2019 draft. This year I draft a LT in rd 1.

Sent from my SM-G920T using Tapatalk
 

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Why do people expect a rams like turnaround? Rams are more of an exception than the rule. This Chicago Browns we are talking about. there will not be turn around.

The Rams playoff drought is even longer than the Bears. We're basically looking at the Rams as a model of the 2017 Bears...they were the 2016 version
 

Washington

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The Rams lucked into an offensive mastermind. Jared Goff still sucks, but McVay is masking all of his flaws and putting him in the perfect plays/situations more often than not. I don’t believe Goff vs. Trubisky is a push, or at least I hope not.

Doesn't Goff still have to throw the football to his own teammates without the other team catching it regardless of the play? Perhaps we can one day have a QB who is that shitty and still puts up winning stats.
 

nc0gnet0

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Doesn't Goff still have to throw the football to his own teammates without the other team catching it regardless of the play? Perhaps we can one day have a QB who is that shitty and still puts up winning stats.

I was listening to sports talk radio today and they were discussing Goff's transformation into an at least serviceable QB. Was an interesting conversation. Along with some upgraded weapons, it seems like a lot of the credit goes to the Center they picked up, who supposedly is calling blocking schemes at the LOS, and then Matt LaFleur is having the team line up at the LOS with 20+ seconds. NFL rules dictates that the QB's headset/microphone get turned off at the 15 second mark. Having them at the line of scrimmage so early allows the OC to call the audibles, and not the QB.
 

WindyCity

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This is where you are dead wrong. Les Snead has been building this team since 2012 the same year the Bears hired Emery. He inherited Fisher as coach and had to deal with him in the draft room. The Rams ignored their fan base and retained Snead while firing a dinosaur coach that believed in pounding the rock and playing defense. The young GM found an excellent offensive mind to shape the 1st round QB he drafted the previous year.

So he didn’t have the perfect off-season, he’s been working his plan since 2012. He also grabbed Aaron Donald right in front of Mr. Emery. Continuity at GM and eventually head coach is key if you want to win. Pace inherited a situation as bad or worse than Snead. Connect the dots...

Last offseason he hit big on all 3 phases of the offseason.

I didn't make a comment on how long Snead had been building. His offseason in 2017 was exceptional.

Last offseason they literally hit on every major decision they made, that is a fact. They did not miss on any of their signings of their picks. They would have improved just with McVay, but when you add in crushing the personnel decision they took a HUGE step forward.
 

WindyCity

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The Rams literally did not miss on a major decision last offseason.

That is rare.

I think the Bears will take a big step next year with strong offseason, but the 1 year turnaround the Rams had would require an offseason where they hire the right coach, nail 3-4 free agent moves and get early contributions from their draft picks.
 

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Good thread Polar Bear.


Disclaimer: Rams fan here.
 

ob1force

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I wholeheartedly agree with the old school notion of building within the trenches first and foremost. OL is not a finished product right now and it needs to get polished up this offseason.

Get a real center via free agency so Whitehair can slide back to his natural position and draft an OT early to push Massie or Leno. Cut Sitton to save some cash.

WR's are a bit overrated and when you look at past SB champions you know why. It isn't exciting but having a Marvin Jones + Golden Tate type of tandem is more than sufficient.

If we could get guys near that level, we're going to have some fun watching the offense for once, assuming we hit on the right head coach.
 

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The Rams literally did not miss on a major decision last offseason.

That is rare.

I think the Bears will take a big step next year with strong offseason, but the 1 year turnaround the Rams had would require an offseason where they hire the right coach, nail 3-4 free agent moves and get early contributions from their draft picks.
Problem is Trubisky is greener than a leprechaun and Pace only looks for "value" in free agency, often where no other team would see any value at all. Need impact players and Pace fears going after them.
 

Chicago4Life

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Problem is Trubisky is greener than a leprechaun and Pace only looks for "value" in free agency, often where no other team would see any value at all. Need impact players and Pace fears going after them.

thats the big question mark this offseason, now that pace has trubisky will he look to overpay to bring in the type of talent trubisky deserves or continue down that same path of thinking tier 2/3 players will be enough talent. If adams, watkins, robinson, landry hit the market there will be a lot of competition, pace needs to do whatever it takes to secure one of those guys while adding a 2nd complementary player like richardson/moncrief/lee etc...
 

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Last offseason he hit big on all 3 phases of the offseason.

I didn't make a comment on how long Snead had been building. His offseason in 2017 was exceptional.

Last offseason they literally hit on every major decision they made, that is a fact. They did not miss on any of their signings of their picks. They would have improved just with McVay, but when you add in crushing the personnel decision they took a HUGE step forward.

Yeah the Rams killed it last offseason and there's no way anyone can doubt that.

Hiring McVay was an absolute home run hire

McVay hiring Wade Phillips was also a great hire for a defense that already had some good talent

Getting both Whitworth and Sullivan was huge for them as well, it's not easy to be able to get two of the better o-lineman in that same free agency.

R.Woods has been great out of the slot. He didn't get off to a great start but about 4 games in until he got hurt two weeks ago he was playing great football and putting up really good numbers.

Getting S.Watkins was big. I know he hasn't been getting a lot of touches but he's a threat that the other defense always has to account for and when you have a great offensive mind like McVay then they know how to use him to make other players better.

Drafting C.Kupp was a great draft pick as well. They have 3 WR's that are really good at what they do.

Everything they did on offense from McVay to the WR's to the o-line has been a huge help for T.Gurley after having a bad 2016 season.

Although i would love it, i just can't see R.Pace having that type of offseason. There isn't many times that GM's ever have offseasons like that to where pretty much every single move they made worked and worked very well for them. Not even L.Snead will ever have another offseason like that one.
 

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