How will the Bears challenge the LA Rams at SoFi Stadium?

A defensive challenge for the Rams

The Bears will be a good test all around for the LA Rams restocked defense. While not expected to lead the NFL offenses in either yards or points scored, the Bears have a solid arsenal of offensive weapons that will challenge the Rams defensive front and secondary.

Los Angeles Rams

For their running game, David Montgomery is back once more. He put up over 1000 yards rushing and eight touchdowns in 2020. He was relatively ineffective for the Bears in the 2020 matchup, rushing 14 times for 48 yards. But he does enough to keep a defense honest. The Bears will likely try to get the football downfield to either wide receiver Allen Robinson or second-year receiver Darnell Mooney. In last year’s matchup, Robinson was four of four for 70 yards, while Mooney was three of seven targets for 40 yards.

One of the players that the Bears are really high on for this one is their tight end, Cole Kmet. Now in his second season, the Chicago Bears hope that the game has slowed down for him, and he will help deliver tough yardage receptions to keep the chains moving.

Of course, the Rams will counter with the best NFL defense from 2020. The team will be trying to outperform last year’s four quarterback sack performance. The team was led in that department by starting outside linebacker Leonard Floyd (two sacks, three QB hits, six tackles) and Justin Hollins (one sack, one QB hit, five tackles).  In terms of the secondary, both Jaylen Ramsey and Taylor Rapp picked off passes.

The Rams got a huge performance out of inside linebacker Micah Kiser last year, who led the team with eight tackles. This year, that plug-the-hole linebacker role will fall to Kenny Young and Troy Reeder. But The Rams will have a number of young players involved in the rotation this year. I would not be surprised to see big plays out of rookie Chris Garrett, defensive lineman Michael Hoecht, or even veteran defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson, who is currently on track to play Sunday Night.