There was blue and gold everywhere as the LA Rams took to the field at their beautiful new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California in Monday Night Football.  The Chicago Bears came out to California boasting a 5-1 record to challenge the Rams, who went into the game at 4-2 on their home turf.  Week 7 of the NFL is now in the bag after a game that had some scratching their heads over the plays that were being called.

The Rams Come Out Charging

LA was the odds on favorite at -6.5 while the over and under was set at 43.5.  Some wondered why the Rams were favored at all; some jumped on the low total and bet the over.  However, as they have a habit of doing, the boys in Vegas were pretty close on this one as well.  If you took the Rams and the under, you came out ahead.

Looking at the Tuesday morning numbers; one statistic stands out that goes a long ways toward explaining the Bears’ loss.  Jared Goff threw for two touchdowns and no picks, while Nick Foles threw for two interceptions and no touchdowns – the Rams won by two touchdowns.

Nick Foles Has A Bad Night

Foles has now had a pass intercepted in the Bears last 6 consecutive games, hardly a bragging point.  On Monday Night Football he was intercepted in the end zone by Rams safety Taylor Rapp.  The Bears quarterback went 28/40 passing for 261 yards while Jared Goff of the Rams completed 23 of 33 passes for 219 yards.  Just so-so numbers from both.

This was a game that focused on outstanding defensive play from both sides.  Both sides have a genuine “bad boy” linebacker known for getting to, distracting and sacking the opposing team’s quarterback.  “Bad boy” might just be too mild a collar to put on these guys, many are just calling them beasts.  The Bears have Khalil Mack, and the Rams have Aaron Donald and having either one of these guys coming at you all game makes for a long, hard evening of football.

On Monday Night Football, it was the Rams defense that dominated, as two time NFL defensive player of the year Aaron Donald kept Nick Foles and the Bears offensive off balance all evening long and held them to a season low 10 points.  Chicago had given up just three touchdowns in their last three outings, but Jared Goff and company scored 3 TD’s on the Bears D in just one evening at home at SoFi Stadium.

The Bears Offense Fails To Perform

Actually, the only points scored by the Bears offense was the 42-yard field goal by Cairo Santos at the beginning of the second quarter.  The lone Bears touchdown was scored in the fourth quarter by their defense as, in the middle of the fourth quarter, the Rams’ Robert Woods fumbled the football deep in his own territory.

The fumble was recovered by Eddie Jackson, who glided in eight yards to the end zone for the Bears’ only touchdown of the day.  Chicago’s head coach Matt Nagy said after the game, “I don’t ever remember having our own defense score more than our offense.  That’s, that’s that’s hard to do.  So that part I don’t like, and it bothers me.”

The poor Bears could not catch a break at SoFi.  Even the Rams punter, Johnny Hekker, had it in for them, landing five punts inside the Bears 20-yard line that were downed on the 10-, the 7-, the 6-, the 5- and the one-yard lines.

The Rams record improves to 30-0 under head coach Sean McVey when LA holds the lead at half time.  They’re done with being homeless now, the beautiful new SoFi Stadium, built on the site of the historic Hollywood Park Race Track in Inglewood is a new home that the team can take pride in and the franchise now has all the pieces in place to become one of the NFL’s leading contenders.