CHICAGO (WGN) — The Chicago Bears offense played turnover-free football and the defense was as advertised in a win over the Los Angeles Rams Sunday at Soldier Field.
Caleb Williams went 17/23 for 157 yards and a touchdown, while D’Andre Swift finished with 16 carries for 93 yards and a touchdown on top of reeling in 7 catches for 72 yards on his way to becoming the first Bears player with 70-plus rushing yards and 70-plus receiving yards since Jeremy Langford did so against the Rams on Nov. 15, 2015.
Here’s how the game unfolded.
Game Recap
The early goings for the Bears’ offense mirrored the struggles they faced over the first three weeks of the season.
Poor blocking paired with false start and illegal formation penalties killed their first three drives of the game, as the Rams offense found middling success, kicking a pair of field goals to take 6-0 lead during the early portions of the second quarter.
As Chicago’s defense did against the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, they found a way to cause chaos and force a turnover to kickstart efforts to put points on the board.
Montez Sweat met Matthew Stafford in the backfield for a strip sack recovered by the Bears at the 6:50 mark in the second quarter, and three plays later, Roschon Johnson punched in a touchdown from one yard out to make it 7-6 in favor of Chicago.
Johnson’s touchdown was the first of four straight scoring drives from the Bears, as Cairo Santos hit a 40-yard field goal that was followed by Caleb Williams finding DJ Moore for a 9-yard touchdown catch and later, a 36-yard touchdown run from Swift.
The offensive fireworks weren’t a one-sided affair though, as a pair of Joshua Karty field goals sandwiched around a Kyren Williams rushing touchdown made it a 24-18 game with just under 9 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
Karty finished his day 4/5, where he hit field goals from 52, 46, 37 and 25, and missed one from 43.
The defense regained their footing on Los Angeles’ final two drives of the game, forcing a punt with 4:25 left, and an interception to ice the game with 56 seconds to go.