Chicago Bears @ LA Rams – Sunday Night Football
Each week this season the writers and contributors at the Ditka Digest will be posting their thoughts on the upcoming games, including a score line prediction.
Entering week 1 of the NFL season, the Bears are travelling to Los Angeles to face a familiar foe in the shape of the Rams. Yet again, we see these teams face off in primetime Sunday night football, with the world watching and hoping for a more entertaining affair than that which has been delivered in the last 3 meetings.
So without further ado, here are our picks:
Ray
The Bears never seem to be able to do things the easy way for the fans. Having tormented everyone with rumours of a Russell Wilson trade package, talk about Carson Wentz, and then signing Andy Dalton (sigh), Just Fields miraculously fell into the Bears area of the draft allowing Ryan Pace to scoop up one of the best QB’s in the draft. And yet, Andy Dalton will start. With the OL still terrifying me and a new defensive coordinator. There are enough questions on the Bears side to make me worried without even considering the Rams.
The Rams made a blockbuster trade acquiring Matthew Stafford and removing the very-average Jared Goff. Sean McVay now has a genuine championship calibre QB and that should scare the entire NFL.
For me this elevates the Rams to contender status in the NFC, gives them more verticality to their offence and makes for a really disappointing opening weekend.
PREDICTION – BEARS 10-27 RAMS
Tony
Having not seen the full starting offence for the Bears, there is really no way to tell how they are going to play. Not starting Justin Fields is a mistake, and with this shaky offensive line we could really see Andy Dalton’s lack of mobility stand out.
If the line doesn’t gel then I can’t see how they are going to hold up against the Rams defensive line. I think the Bears are going to have to employ max protect schemes as much as they can to try to contain Donald et al. One thing I will say is that the Rams defence have lost some key contributors in the offseason, and they have a brand-new defensive coordinator in place (we all seen how that affected the Bears defence when Pagano took over), so maybe it won’t look as good as it has in the past.
The Chicago defence should be able to do well against the Rams questionable rushing game, which means that we should expect the big plays to come from the arm of Matthew Stafford. Is Stafford all he is cracked up to be? Let’s see now that he has a good team around him.
It’s not looking great for the Bears in this game, but it is week 1 and stranger things have happened.
PREDICTION – CHICAGO 17-20 LA
Luke
I think our D will chase them – their lack of running game will hurt them and that Andy Dalton will be efficient but not stunning, but certainly experienced enough to seem through.
PREDICTION – BEARS 17-13 RAMS
Andre
I want a 48-0 win and Dalton rushing 2 TDs…. Realistically it’s hard to look past a Bears loss for me (apologies for the pessimism).
A weak OL and a dangerous Donald I feel creates a lot of stagnant play, a few poor drives and some turnovers. That in itself more game time for fresh Sean Desai defence that contains a few question marks against a QB in Stafford, who we all know from our games with Detroit, has the talent to be dangerous.
I think we’ll see some better QB play from Dalton than Bears have experienced in the past, but the red rifle’s offence will be more rusty and rushed than we hope.
I am happy to be proved wrong and I hope that I am. Bear down!
PREDICTION – BEARS 17-24 RAMS
Jonathan
Expecting the Rams’ defence to have a field day against the Bears’ beleaguered O-line. Andy Dalton will obviously be eager to impress but I don’t see him getting the protection to do so. On the other end of the ball, the Bears’ defence is patched up before the season starts and that will allow Matthew Stafford to get one over on his old rivals.
PREDICITON – BEARS 10-20 RAMS
Julian
Not good that Goldman has not travelled with the team. The o-line will struggle with the pressure forcing us to abandon the run game and making Dalton scramble for his life.
PREDICTION – BEARS 13-24 RAMS
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