LOS ANGELES — It was the identical previous story for Roquan Smith and the Bears’ protection. They made performs. They took the ball away. They performed properly sufficient to win. And it wasn’t ok.
The Bears had takeaways on their first two collection — security Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with a fumble restoration and Smith with an interception. They held the Rams to 283 whole yards, 5.four yards per play and three.2 yards per rush. They held Jared Goff to 173 passing yards and a 69.9 score. And all of it went for naught in a 17-7 loss Sunday night time at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“I felt good throughout the game, but it’s not the standard,” Smith stated. “We failed to [win], so it’s back in the lab and finding ways to get better. I still don’t think I did good enough, because I didn’t do good enough for us to get the ‘W.’ That’s how I’m thinking of it. We’ve just got to get better.”
Smith performed a starring position, not solely with the early interception, however with a hand in 4 third-down tackles that pressured both a punt or a field-goal try, serving to the Bears keep as shut as 10-7 properly into the fourth quarter.
“I felt like they were a bit predictable in some of the things they were doing,” Smith stated. “It was just going back to film study. But I didn’t make enough plays.”
The Rams had been short-handed, enjoying with out beginning proper deal with Rob Havenstein and beginning vast receivers Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods. And that they had their mishaps. Goff burned cornerback Buster Skrine for a 50-yard move play to Cooper Kupp to the 1-yard line that arrange Todd Gurley’s landing run with 3:28 left within the first half to provide the Rams a 10-Zero lead.
And Goff threw completions of 26 yards to Josh Reynolds and 20 yards to Gerald Everett within the fourth quarter that arrange Malcolm Brown’s five-yard landing run and gave the Rams a 17-7 lead with 3:31 to play.
Gurley rushed for 97 yards however earned it on 25 carries (3.9 yards per carry). All in all, the protection did its job.
“I think no parts of the team should feel sorry for themselves,” cornerback Prince Amukamara stated. “There’s no way that we can start pointing fingers at each other. We all got ourselves into this mess, and we’re the ones who can bail ourselves out.”
After going 4 video games with simply two takeaways, the protection regained a bit little bit of its edge with takeaways on the primary two possessions. On the Rams’ first offensive play of the sport, Eddie Jackson stripped the ball from Gurley on a brief acquire up the center, and Clinton-Dix recovered to provide the Bears the ball on the Rams’ 46.
The offense squandered that chance on downs on the Rams 31-yard line. But Smith intercepted Goff on the following possession to thwart the Rams drive.
“Just seeing the crosser coming — he was pretty much mine,” Smith stated of his interception. “I didn’t really expect the quarterback to throw the ball, but he did and I somehow made a play on it. A solid play. But I could have done more on that play as well.”
The chorus was all too much like pissed off gamers. Those two early takeaways ought to have sparked the offense, however there’s not a lot they will say about that.
“I think the whole team’s frustrated,” Amukamara stated. “But it’s not an effort problem. The effort is there. It’s just about executing. Yeah, we did do a great job of giving the offense the ball back . . .”