After turning in a stunner of a loss in Week 2, fans weren't particularly high on the Los Angeles Rams' prospects in Week 3, when they welcomed a slightly less injured San Francisco 49ers to SoFi Stadium for what felt like a pretty cut-and-dry loss on paper.
Fortunately, NFL teams play on the gridiron, not on paper, and against all odds, from injuries to schematic weaknesses, Sean McVay crafted a winning gameplan against his former fellow Washington assistant and secured LA its first win of the season and a crucial NFC West one at that.
So, with Week 4 rapidly approaching and the Rams tasked with hitting the road once more for a showdown between one of the oldest QBs in the NFL, Matthew Stafford, and one of the youngest in Caleb Williams, who knows a thing or two about playing winning football while the Los Angeles football market is watching, McVay's team has the edge once more, right? Or will they fall into another trap game, where a seemingly undermatched team builds up an insurmountable victory in the first quarter? While #Trapwatch has to always be on when the Rams are playing, especially since they are well below full strength, this game feels far more cut and dry, as they are better equipped to win the game the way the Bears like to play them.
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1. Neither team cracks 100 rushing yards
In Week 3, the Rams actually committed themselves to running the ball regularly, splitting the run-pass distribution right down the middle with a perfect 50-50 split, and the results followed, with LA controlling the time of possession, moving the ball effectively, and pushing Kyren Williams to his best stat line of the season, picking up 89 yards on the ground in addition to 27 more as a receiver.
And yet, despite their best efforts, the Rams still haven't cracked 100 rushing yards in a game so far this season, with the final tally coming in at 98, which is a season-best but is otherwise pretty disappointing versus expectations.
While some of these issues could come down to LA's turnstile offensive line, with 11 different players logging at least one snap on offense so far this season, there just hasn't been much of a commitment to moving the ball on the ground whether due to the specific game plan or because the Rams have played much of the season from behind, as evidenced by their -34 point differential.
Could the Rams finally break that trend in Week 4? Maybe so, but considering the Bears are a pretty middle-of-the-road rushing defense, with two of their three opponents picking up more than 100 yards but the Houston Texans failing to even reach 80, that might be a tough ask. Fortunately, the Bears also haven't run the ball for more than 85 yards in a game this season, so unless they really commit themselves to dominating the Rams' 30th-ranked rushing defense – which is a 50/50 proposition – this could be a low-rushing game where Stafford and Williams have to duke it out through the air in order to see who gets to even their record and 2-2 and which team falls to a worrisome 1-3 in a challenging division.
2. Matthew Stafford outduels Caleb Williams in Chicago
While the Rams and Bears probably won't be duking it out in the trenches in Week 4, fighting tooth and nail for every inch in a throwback battle on the ground, the same can't be said for their efficiency through the air, as both LA and Chicago have found themselves among pass-happy teams in the NFL, with Stafford throwing the ball 102 times through the first three weeks of the season while Williams has aired it out 118 times, good for the second-most in the NFL.
Now again, some of this has to do with the dynamics of the games both teams have been forced into, as Stafford pretty much had to throw the Rams into overtime in Week 1 after further offensive line injuries limited the running game, and the Bears have really counted on Williams to win them games through the air, even if it hasn't worked since opening night. Still, both teams also just seem to have an affinity for attacking opposing defenses through the air, with both teams having intriguing options at tight end and Pro Bowl receivers, even if the Rams won't have theirs available in Week 4 due to injury.
To his credit, Williams is slowly putting it all together, going from 64 passing yards in Week 1 against the hapless Tennessee Titans to 332 passing yards in Week 3, but his actual efficiency numbers haven't been too effective, with his net yards gained per pass attempt ranking 30th in the NFL at 4.0. If the Rams force the Bears into a shootout, who knows? Maybe Williams will make some mistakes, read the wrong routes, or even turn the ball over, of which he has six times this season – four interceptions and two fumbles – and the Rams will be able to capitalize on the USC product's misfortune with a steady performance by “Mr. Reliable” under center.
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3. The Rams ruin USC fans' weekend by beating Caleb Williams
While the Rams, even more so than the Chargers, own Los Angeles from a fandom standpoint, when you expand the fandom pool outside of the professional ranks to all football played in or around the city, the USC Trojans may give them a run for their money, with their former quarterback, Williams, being so popular he appeared in local ads and even had his own night with the Los Angeles Dodgers where fans got his bobblehead with a ticket purchase.
Now some of that has to do with the NCAA's new NIL money, which freed up athletes like Williams to make incredible money previously unimaginable to the likes of Reggie Bush, but it also has to do with the sheer star power of the former Trojan, with teams pegging him as a future first overall pick a year before he was draft eligible.
With plenty of USC fans set to watch their former QB go toe-to-toe against their city's premier football team, this feels like a win-win situation no matter who leaves the game with the W… unless you're a USC/Chargers fan, as if that's the case, you might be disappointed, as it's hard to imagine a world where Williams can outduel Stafford or where the Rams don't secure another win to even their record at 2-2.
