Ten days after they looked lousy in a loss to the Packers, the Bears looked much improved on Sunday, playing tough defense and keeping the mistakes to a minimum on offense in a hard-fought 23-6 win over the Rams.
The Bears’ defense simply shut down the Rams’ offense all day. Forget keeping the Rams out of the end zone -- the Bears kept the Rams out of the red zone. The only scores St. Louis managed were a pair of field goals, one from 56 yards and one from 46 yards.
Although Jay Cutler and the Bears’ offense still don’t seem to have everything worked out -- Cutler still found himself under pressure at times -- it was far from the total offensive meltdown the Bears had against the Packers. And when your defense is playing as well as the Bears’ defense played on Sunday, all you need to do is avoid an offensive meltdown to win the game.
Chicago took an early lead on a Robbie Gould 54-yard field goal, extended the lead when Michael Bush scored from three yards out to cap a 12-play, 81-yard drive, and then spent the rest of the game nursing the lead, with a Major Wright 45-yard interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter sealing the win.
We still don’t know if Chicago’s offense will be good enough to be contenders. But Chicago’s defense is definitely playoff-quality, and against a Rams team that had played well in the first two weeks of the season, there was no question that the Bears were the better team at Soldier Field today.