Bears coach Matt Eberflus summed up the week of preparation for Sunday's Week 4 game with the Rams at Soldier Field sounding more like an executive than a football coach.
"Overall, I thought the week was good, good communication," Eberflus said. "A lot of good figuring out and solving things we needed to figure out."
The problem with this is the NFL is fluid.
It's good they are solving problems they had last week, but what about the problems they'll face this week?
The Bears really didn't get that close to beating a team oddsmakers deemed them essentially better than--the point spread on the game was the Colts by 1 1/2 and the home team gets three points when the line is set.
Losing to inferior teams only suggests bad things for a third-year coach and indicates the possibility the Bears have plenty of weaknesses to exploit.
The worst part of the loss was how the Colts had one obvious defensive weakness and the Bears failed to properly attack it. Indianapolis couldn't stop the run against anyone and the Bears offense was made predictable by an inability to run.
This week the Bears face something similar against a porous Rams defense, one equally bad on the ground as against the pass.
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The NFL is fluid and situations change. This matchup comes against a team with a polished, poised veteran pocket passer in Matthew Stafford. So far, the Bears have only faced young, second-year QBs and only one of those has had any NFL success. They can't assume they'll be able to stop Stafford for 60 minutes.
The offense absolutely must produce this time because the Bears defense is not going to keep Stafford bottled up forever, even with both Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua out injured.
Here are the three keys for a Bears win over the Rams.
1. Interior Defensive Pressure
The Bears must pressure Stafford up the middle. They'll find their matchup off the left side of the Rams' line particularly friendly for their pass rush, but the middle is the key in this one because Stafford is a quarterback who lacks footspeed but does know how to step up into a pocket and throw, or step to where there is a place to throw. If the rush comes from Gervon Dexter, or in passing situations from DeMarcus Walker when he moves to tackle, or even Andrew Billings on first or second down, they can keep Stafford off balance. He'll be throwing into places where players in pass coverage could make picks. Dexter has been much improved this year but not enough where anyone could call him a dominant 3-technique tackle. He needs to play like one on Sunday. If he does, the Bears defense can rule the day. Walker has been able to generate a rush so far when moved inside and he needs to do this, as well.
2. Play 60 Minutes
Stafford will. That much is certain. He didn't give up with a 10-point deficit against the 49ers last week in the fourth quarter, even without his top two receivers. He won't this week. The Rams nearly beat the Lions at Ford Field in their opener because of his persistence.
Stafford might have done more with less throughout his career than any NFL QB. The Bears can't assume any lead they have is good enough unless they can turn it into a blowout, like the Rams suffered in their second game, a 41-10 loss to the Cardinals on the road.
3. Establish Something First
Shane Waldron's biggest flaw as a play caller so far has been his refusal to rely on anything. He runs the ball once or twice effectively and assumes it is established and moves on. He is constantly sampling everything in the game plan but when something has worked he doesn't use it enough. He needs to borrow a page from high school coaches or coaches in the NFL of another era and use what works until the defense proves it can actually be stopped.
Unpredictability comes from doing one thing effectively, then something else. It definitely doesn't come from simply throwing up an assortment of plays. The way to exploit this Rams defense is run it well, keep doing it, then go play-action with QB Caleb Williams. It isn't simply breaking off one running play, then assuming they have this covered and immediately begin passing. They must convince the defense they will run it and keep running it. Then they can throw.
Or if they choose the other route, it can work, as well: Convince them they'll throw first and then counter with the run. But this is usually less effective and relies on a rookie quarterback too much at the outset of a game and also at the outset of his career.
Twitter: BearsOnSI
