Bears Crush Rams 27-3; Now Look To Battle With Vikings
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008 | Chicago Bears, NFL, Sports
The Chicago Bears road the shoulders of Matt Forte and a bruising defense to help defeat the lowly St. Louis Rams 27-3 in the Edward Jones Dome. Forte carried the ball 20 times for a career-high 132 yards, good for a 6.6 per carry average. Forte had a 13-yard touchdown run in the 1st quarter that gave the Bears a 7-0 lead, and then a 47-yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter that all but put the game away with a 21-point Bears lead. Kyle Orton was efficient, if not spectacular – completing 18 of 29 passes for 139 yards. Orton completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Jason McKie in the 1st quarter, and he did not throw an interception – all of which amounted to a respectable 85.3 passer rating.
The Bears defense finally showed some teeth, albeit against a weak Rams offense playing without stars Orlando Pace and Stephen Jackson. The Bears defense knocked starting quarterback Mark Bulger out of the game after just 2 pass attempts. Replacement quarterback Trent Green threw 4 interceptions – 2 by Lance Briggs, and 1 each by Brian Urlacher and Charles “peanut” Tillman. The defensive line finally pressured the quarterback – registering 5 sacks – 2 by each of Tommie Harris and Ogunleye, and 1 by Alex Brown.
The victory allowed the Bears to keep pace with the Minnesota Vikings, who defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 30-12 on the road. The Vikings and Bears now sit atop the NFC North division with 6-5 records. The 2 teams battle it out for the outright division lead on Sunday night in Minneapolis. With only 4 games left after the contest, it is a must-win for each team. Each team will have to pull out all the stops to get the all-important victory. There are 7 teams with better records than the Bears and Vikings in the NFC, so the only realistic shot at the playoffs will be through a NFC division title berth. So it all comes down to this. Will the Bears build off of the Rams performance and put up a good fight at the Metrodome? Or will the Bears return to the form shown at Lambeau Field 2 weeks ago where the team was embarrassed 37-3? We’ll have to wait and see Sunday night. It most likely won’t end up being the shootout that saw the Bears beat the Vikings 48-41 in Week 7 on the lakefront at Soldier Field, but it should still be just as exciting nonetheless…
