Chicago Bears: 8 Observations after Week 7 loss to the Rams

The Chicago Bears still had opportunities to come from behind to win

As well as the Rams played and as badly as the Bears played, if not for at least three big turning points, the Chicago Bears could have pulled off another improbable come from behind victory.

The first turning point was the Nick Foles end zone interception. This turned out to be a 14 point swing in the Rams favor. Instead of being just seven points down after gaining momentum from a good drive, they went 21 points down after the Rams drove the other way for a TD.

The second big turning point happened with less than a minute in the first half. Goff threw a ball where the nearest guy was Tashaun Gipson. The Bears safety for some strange reason reacted to the ball like he was playing volleyball not football. It was a very catchable ball yet he batted it down.

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The Chicago Bears would have been in a position to at least kick a field goal and maybe even take a few shots at the end zone [Editor’s note: Or even score a defensive touchdown]. Instead of ending the half down 10-3, they would have had some momentum and either could have been down only 10-6 with a field goal or even tied the game with a touchdown.

The third play that could have led to a win for the Bears would have been their biggest play of the year. Foles missed a wide-open Mooney for what would have been a 95-yard touchdown play. In this play, Brandon Staley, formerly the Bears linebacker Coach, now the defensive coordinator for the Rams, made a great play call to stop this touchdown from happening.

Staley, apparently knowing Charles Leno’s flaws as a pass protector, overloaded the left side. Leno’s decision as to who to block shows how bad he is at his job. He chose the guy on the outside who had a longer way to go to get to Foles. If Leno chose the other pass rusher who was closer to Foles that would possibly have given Nick a split second more to step forward as he unloaded his pass. This would have greatly increased the chances of Mooney making the catch.

Leno’s bad decision was the difference between a big play and a wasted opportunity to turn around another game from a seeming loss into a win. However, Mooney has to learn from this too. There was another long pass in an earlier game that if he turned his head around sooner he could have been able to make the catch. The Bears during practice should throw lots of deep balls so Mooney has to turn around and track the ball. Tracking down balls over his head is probably Mooney’s biggest weakness as a pass-catcher.