Even Sean McVay fears Bears offense may be more than defense can handle

The Los Angeles Rams are advancing in the NFL Playoffs. In the Divisional Round, the team is facing the bitter cold and the Chicago Bears. The team can even expect less-than-impartial officiating in the game. But one thing that the team will not face is a motivated Chicago Bears team. At least, not from bulletin board motivation material from head coach Sean McVay.

He was more than generous with praises for his opponent's head coach, Ben Johnson, who took over this season and led his team to the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs. But embedded in his flowery praise of Johnson and the Bears offense is a bit of concern over his own defense.

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He touted Johnson's ability to call a timely screen that proved to have a huge impact on the outcome. And he states in plain language what a challenge that will be. The thing is, Chris Shula must stop the Bears offense, not McVay. And that task will not be easy.

Chris Shula is under the gun against the Bears offense

LA's defense carried the team to the postseason last year. But over the past five games, this defense has allowed an average of 30.0 points per game. While some of that plummet in productivity could be attributed to the absence of defensive back Quentin Lake, it's not the only reason for the drop off.

The Bears offense can score points. They averaged 25.6 points per game in the regular season and scored 31 points in a comeback win over the Green Bay Packers. That places a great deal of pressure on the offense to put up as many points as possible.

But on the road in a different time zone, can this offense overcome the weather, the biased officiating, and the Bears? The Bears run a similar style game plan to that of the Carolina Panthers, and it needed a miraculous come-from-behind effort from quarterback Matthew Stafford to pull off that victory.

Stafford may have salvaged defensive coordinator Chris Shula's candidacy for a head coaching job, but that is likely a one-off. Shula needs to find a way to shut down a very proficient Bears offense. And if the comments from head coach Sean McVay is any indication, that may be a very difficult task.

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