Turf Show Times
The Los Angeles Rams are set to play the Chicago Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field in a game to be played in freezing temperatures. They’ll be facing a defense that leads the NFL in interceptions, and a quarterback who’s seen a drop in form (not to be read as played badly).
Back in 2018 on their way to the Super Bowl, the Rams went up against one of the better run defenses in the NFL at the time in the Dallas Cowboys. Despite that, head coach Sean McVay called 39 runs between CJ Anderson and Todd Gurley to Jared Goff’s 28 passes. Anderson and Gurley rushed for 238 yards between them and three touchdowns as the Rams won 30-22.
It was the classic Kyle Shanahan mindset of “We’re going to run it until you show that you can stop it.” On that day, the Cowboys could not stop the Rams rushing attack led by the best run-blocking offensive line in the NFL. The opening two drives of that game were a combined 27 plays and took 12:39 off the clock. Out of those 27 plays, 15 of them were runs. While that only resulted in six points, it set the tone for a game in which the Rams had over 36 minutes in time of possession.
If the Rams are going to beat the Bears, they are going to need a repeat of that performance from seven years ago. A common theme from that 2018 Rams team is that this one has a dominant run-blocking offensive line and two running backs leading the charge. As ESPN’s Benjamin Solak recently wrote,
“According to NFL Next Gen Stats, those 2018 and 2025 Rams are the only two rushing offenses since 2016 with success rates over 50% on carries by running backs. The 2018 team was at 50.13%, while the 2025 Rams are right behind at 50.12%. No cheeky scrambles, no quarterback keeps on read options — pure running back handoffs.“
One of McVay’s biggest criticisms is that he too often gets away from the run game. That criticism is somewhat overblown, but it’s also not inaccurate. This season, the Rams have had the fourth-highest early-down pass rate in the NFL. The only three teams higher than them missed the playoffs. The Rams’ pass-rate of 58.5 percent is their highest since 2021. They currently have a four percent pass rate over expected which is also higher than 2021 when it was three percent.
With Matthew Stafford playing as well as he has this season and Puka Nacua having the type of year that he is, it makes sense to put the ball in the hands of your best players. When the Rams leaned on the run game to win back in Week 5, it folded with a fumble at the goal line and getting stuffed on fourth down to end the game.
However, the Rams have one of the best run games of the last decade. Those 2018 and 2025 teams...
