Tutu Atwell leads 5 winners and 3 losers for Rams in Week 4 loss to the Bears

Since the LA Rams have learned about injuries to WRs Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, the offense has been trying to redistribute the wealth to maintain the ability to score points. But compensating for the team's three top offensive weapons is not an easy task at all. The team entered 2024 knowing that starting TE Tyler Higbee would be on IR as well. So the team has a lot of offensive firepower to make up.

If injuries were limited to three players, that would be quite the challenge. But this is a team that has been impacted by multiple injuries to the same position on the depth chart. That compounds the problem exponentially. After all, injuries to the Rams roster are not limited to only impacting wide receivers. The team has been forced to deal with multiple injuries in the secondary and on the offensive line as well.

Still, the team expected some injuries, or should have. And even with injuries, I'm not convinced that the reasons for the team falling to a record of 1-3 are solely due to the quality of backups playing. There is plenty of great quality play on this team. But those shining stars often get overshadowed by poor performances.

So who are the shining stars? And who are the anchors dragging the team down? We have a few that come to mind:

(3) Losers- ILB Troy Reeder/Christian Rozeboom

The LA Rams run defense is putrid. So far, this defense allows a league-worst 165.5 rushing yards per game. Compare that to the Baltimore Ravens run defense, which has allowed just 57.8 rushing yards per game. The difference? The play of inside linebackers.

For the Rams, the team opted to entrust their defense to the combination of ILBs Troy Reeder and Christian Rozeboom. In Week 4, Reeder made seven tackles. Rozeboom made 11 tackles. But neither Reeder nor Rozeboom made any tackles to stuff a run, behind the line of scrimmage, or even helped to hold a runner to no gain.

In fact, on the season, the pair have combined for just one tackle for a loss. They have allowed 24 of 29 passes to find their target. And while they have combined for 67 tackles, due to their passive style of play, most of those tackles happen five or more yards downfield.

And therein lies the problem.

While there is a role for one inside linebacker to play cautiously, one or the other must take a far more active role in this defense. This defense has two inside linebackers who are cautious and fail to meet the ball carrier in the hole. Blame the defensive front all you like. But if the Rams fix the ILB issue, the run defense weill improve dramatically.