The Los Angeles Rams offense was shut down by the Chicago Bears in Week 14. Head coach Sean McVay elaborated on why they decided to stray away from Todd Gurley during the game.
Gurley was virtually non-existent all evening. McVay attributed his modest role to Chicago’s defense loading the box, according to Cameron DaSilva of Rams Wire:
“They were playing a lot of base defense to 11 [personnel] and then got into some structures where they were basically playing six guys at the line of scrimmage,” McVay said in his press conference. “We felt like the best way to be able to move the football was going to be throwing it. clearly, we’ll go back, look at the tape, I’ll look at myself critically and make sure that I learn from a lot of the bad decisions that I did make for us. Whatever I was deciding on tonight clearly wasn’t putting our players in good spots.”
It appears McVay was hoping to take advantage of the lack of coverage on the outside. Unfortunately, his attempts were thwarted by the Bears formidable defensive front. The secondary was able to hold out just long enough for their combination of bonafide pass-rushers to get to Jared Goff. As a result, the offense endured their worst outing of the 2018 NFL season.
Gurley finished with just 28 yards on 11 carries while hauling in three receptions for 30 yards. Meanwhile, Goff completed 20-of-44 passes for 180 yards and four interceptions. Perhaps even more disappointing is that the defense did a tremendous job of putting the offense in position to score after recording three interceptions. However, they could not get anything going and wound up settling for field goals.
If there is a silver lining, it is the Rams are capable of putting on a complete performance. Their special teams are consistently top-notch. If the offense and defense can get on the same page through the playoffs, they will undoubtedly be a formidable contender.
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