The Los Angeles Rams came up just short in a 24-18 loss to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, but it wasn’t without Matthew Stafford adding another milestone to his impressive resume.
With his 224 passing yards against the Bears, Stafford reached 57,025 for his career and leapfrogged Eli Manning (57,023) on the NFL’s all-time list.
Stafford is now 10th in passing yards, trailing only Tom Brady (89,214), Drew Brees (80,358), Peyton Manning (71,940), Brett Favre (71,838), Ben Roethlisberger (64,088), Philip Rivers (63,440), Matt Ryan (62,792), Dan Marino (61,361) and Aaron Rodgers (59,904).
Stafford was more focused on the loss but briefly discussed the accomplishment and said he is honored to be mentioned with some of the all-time greats, via Stu Jackson of TheRams.com:
“Tough to think about at the moment, obviously, after a loss, but it’s a humbling thing to be mentioned with a great player like Eli,” Stafford said postgame. “Obviously, (he) had an outstanding career, and I’m sure at the end of the season or whatnot, I will spend more time thinking about that kind of stuff. But I was a fan of this game long before I became a player of it in the NFL, and to be mentioned with some of those guys is a really cool, humbling thing for me.”
Stafford reached additional milestones in Sunday’s loss to the Bears. He passed Bob Waterfield (11,849) for the seventh-most passing yards in Rams franchise history (11,916) and also reached 1,015 completions to pass Norm Van Brocklin (1,011) for seventh-most in franchise history.
Stafford previously made NFL history with the Rams’ improbable comeback win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3. He notched the 36th fourth-quarter comeback of his career, which tied Brees for fifth all-time.
“It’s cool anytime you’re getting mentioned with guys like Drew Brees who did such amazing things in this league for such a long time. I feel humbled again to be in that same breath. I have a lot of respect for him and who he was as a player,” Stafford said of the accomplishment.
“Fourth quarter comebacks are great. [It] means your team can count on you in those moments. They’re also not so great [because it] means you’re down, so play better than the first three. It’s funny. Football’s a funny game. Sometimes one great quarter can erase three bad ones, so take them whenever you can get them.
Rams injury updates
While Cooper Kupp has been ruled out for the Rams’ Week 5 matchup against the Green Bay Packers, the team could soon be getting back cornerback Darious Williams and defensive tackle Larrell Murchison.
They are both expected to resume practicing this week. “Yeah, the plan is with him and [Larrell] Murchison is in to start their clocks. We’ll get them on the grass and then we’ll see what that looks like,” head coach Sean McVay said.
