[Elvis]

Yellow pants. It's a W.. Should have worn those in SF.

Is Forbath eligible to kick on Monday or does he have to clear NFL Covid protocols? I assume he's in shape if he was on the Bears PS.

Apparently not:

[snackdaddy]

I dunno about this one. The 49ers banged up defense shut our offense down. The Bears have a legit defense. The 49ers offense had their way with our defense. With a struggling quarterback and play calls you wouldn't expect to be so successful for a whole game. Foles isn't a world beater but he's better than Trubisky. And good enough to put up a few points. After last game I don't feel good about this one. I hope it was just an anomaly and not closer to what we really are. At this point I don't know who we are yet.

[Ramsdude]

I dunno about this one. The 49ers banged up defense shut our offense down. The Bears have a legit defense. The 49ers offense had their way with our defense. With a struggling quarterback and play calls you wouldn't expect to be so successful for a whole game. Foles isn't a world beater but he's better than Trubisky. And good enough to put up a few points. After last game I don't feel good about this one. I hope it was just an anomaly and not closer to what we really are. At this point I don't know who we are yet.

Did the Farty Whiners D really "shut us down" or were the dropped passes and bad play our own fault? I think maybe we made them look better than actually were. For whatever reason, we came out flat and unmotivated as evidenced by the Deebo play where everyone but Deebo stopped BEFORE the whistle and Ramsey yawning on the sideline was another clue.

The Bores D will be better than the Whiners so we better be ready to come out and play or we could lose this game. If we come with our A game we should win this one going away IMO.

[Hacksaw]

Did the Farty Whiners D really "shut us down" or were the dropped passes and bad play our own fault? I think maybe we made them look better than actually were. For whatever reason, we came out flat and unmotivated as evidenced by the Deebo play where everyone but Deebo stopped BEFORE the whistle and Ramsey yawning on the sideline was another clue.

The Bores D will be better than the Whiners so we better be ready to come out and play or we could lose this game. If we come with our A game we should win this one going away IMO.

Yeah I agree. The Rams looked flat out flat. Not sure why though. Our young players don't remember Brodie and Hardman bloody battles, the 80's Rice-A-Roni, the SOSAR crap and all the shellackings we suffered at the hands of those turds. We fans are likely more motivated by that hatred. They should have been motivated by the divisional match-up and the opportunity to knock them out of our way. Truly a conundrum. The only guess I have is they were lagged from all the early season travel. If not, Monday could get dicier than desired.

[AvengerRam]

My pick:

Rams 23
Bears 13

[Zen_Ronin]

Rams 17
Bears 10

[Hacksaw]

CUBS 13
RAMS 27

[Call me Roman]

Rams 24
Da Bears 13

[Elvis]

[Elvis]

Rams Head Coach Sean McVay – Media Availability – October 23, 2020

(On an injury updates with TE Tyler Higbee and RB Darrell Henderson Jr.)
“He (TE Tyler Higbee) has a little hand inflammation, so we're being smart with him. Same thing with (RB) Darrell (Henderson Jr.) – he had a little bit of a quad and (WR) Robert Woods had some groin soreness. So, we're just going to be smart with those guys that have played a lot of football for us.”

(On if the mentioned players will be available for Monday night)
“That’s the anticipation that they’ll be good to go.”

(On if the mentioned players will miss practice today)
“Yes. They’ll all miss practice today.”

(On whether these injuries make this week of adjustments and preparation more difficult)
“It's a good question. Here's what I would say with the guys that have played a good amount of football – with Tyler and Robert especially, you don’t worry about it as much. You don't minimize the importance of practice because it is, it is very important, but as you start to accumulate all those games throughout the course of a season, there's a natural wear and tear that takes part on these guys' bodies. Especially, because usually, each of the last few years we had the mini-bye (week) with our Thursday (Night Football) Game earlier. So, now representing our seventh game in a row, we've had a lot of travel. I'm never going to make excuses, but start to transition to a little bit more of an above-the-neck emphasis. It would be good to have those guys out there, but it still doesn't take away from the amount of things you can accomplish throughout the course of the week. Like to be able to have Darrell to be out there because I think he's still in that mode of the accumulation of reps is important for him. But, doesn't change that we have high expectations for what all those guys can accomplish on Monday night.”

(On being a veteran coach)
“I don't know that that's the case. I might feel like I'm 85, but… (laughs).”

(On if there is an extra sense of urgency following the loss compared to his first season coaching)
“Yeah, that repetition and that experience is really how you learn and how you go about being able to bounce back and using setbacks as setups for comebacks. I think what what's reflected from those leaders like you're talking about with (QB) Jared (Goff) and (DL) Aaron (Donald), is that to a man, I think we're all honest with ourselves, when you evaluate the performance, whether it's coaches, players, we can all be a little bit better. We all can be better. That's the expectation and that's where it doesn't just start where you just show up for that three-and-a-half-hour window on Monday night, your next opp, and think it's going to change. You've got to be committed to that process, your weekly rhythm. I think that's what those guys are talking about, but we want to bring it consistently. I think being able to evaluate and be honest with ourselves after a disappointing result is a great way of saying, ‘All right, well, let's be honest about it. Let's not let that deter us from moving forward, but let's also be honest about what we have to fix if we're going to go on the trajectory that we expect for this season, as we've got a lot of football left to be played.’”

(On approaching Chicago’s secondary)
“It’s a great challenge because they've got corner to play on sides. You've got an excellent safety in (Bears DB) Eddie Jackson I've been really impressed. As you watch what (Bears DB) Tashaun Gipson (Sr.) has been able to do, (Bears DB) Buster (Skrine) has done an excellent job, so they've got depth all across the board. I think what they do such a phenomenal job is understanding how they can play concepts and also
understand that even when they're rushing four, that ball has got to come out, because of who those guys are that are going forward. They use that to their advantage. I've been so impressed with the concept-trigger and recognition for a years between (Bears DB Kyle) Fuller and Eddie Jackson. Then you're seeing those other guys that are started to play with them a little bit more, start to take on a lot of the things that make those two in particular great players. But I think it's really just a result of the unit as a whole. That's why they're one of the best defenses in the league without a doubt. The thing I think that says the most about them is that they're best in crunch time. They're delivering on those opps. I mean, you look at the way that they've won those five games that they've won – they've all been one possession games at the end and they've found a way to come through, whether it be a turnover, getting a stop. It's been impressive and it's why they're winning.”

(On whether it’s a mentality of a team rising up at the end of a game)
“Yeah, I think so. It looked like they'd been playing pretty good throughout most of the games to me. So, I think they've made those plays at the most opportune times. Then in a lot of instances, those moments dictate where you are in a lot of pass-type situations. So, you're a little bit more regulated in what you can activate offensively. I think they do a great job in all phases, but I think they've especially shined in some of those known-passing situations where they can kind of dictate things on their terms a little bit.”

(On Bears OLB Khalil Mack and DL Aaron Donald squaring off in the same game)
“Well, they're not necessarily going at each other. I think you got to appreciate the greatness of both of those players. You know what I mean? I think what you see consistent with both (DL) Aaron (Donald) and (Bears OLB) Kahlil (Mack) is there's a relentless motor that they play with. They don't take plays off. You see a lot of these flash players, sometimes if you really watch him snap in and snap out, you're saying, ‘Are you really just digging deep when you've got a chance to accumulate some stats? Are you playing dirty on some of the early downs as well?’ And both these guys do that. Just the overall athleticism, he can come off the edge, he can rush with his hand in the ground. He can drop into coverage. He can drop down inside and play a, you know, a C-gap, six technique. I mean, this guy, there's nothing he can't do. But I think what I've been most impressed with is just the overall strength, balance, power, the arsenal of moves that he has in his pass-rush repertoire. You just see guys that when you look at Aaron and Khalil Mack. I don't know Khalil personally, but hearing about him from (Defensive Coordinator) Brandon (Staley) and then you just watch the tape. These guys love football, they love competing and they bring it every single snap. I think that's what makes them really great.”

(On pass protection and how complicated that would be for a young running back)
"I think we have a lot of different protections that our backs are utilized in and it's really predicated on the situation. Certain times they're involved in play-action protection, where they have responsibility and we might have more bodies committed to the protection, so they can really isolate on, 'All right, I've got one of these few defenders,' but then once you get into some of those known-passing, dependent upon how complex and how many different personnel groupings that defensive structure activates, that's where it can get really complicated. Because there's a variety of tools that we can utilize that get certain guys targeted on the right match-ups we want and then the back ends up being a cleanup after where the linemen fit, if you will, and so it depends on who you're playing. The complexity of the blitzes and the different things that they're activating. But, I mean, it's not something that typically rookie backs and those younger backs can come in and easily get. I think that's probably the last phase of their transition, where a lot of stuff that they're doing with the ball in their hands is the most natural, but both from a protection fundamentals and techniques, and then an above-the-neck approach, that usually ends up representing kind of the last step of guys maturing to play on every single down, if you will. Some get it faster than others. I think it's like some guys just have a great feel and instincts and awareness for understanding it, and then others, it becomes a little bit more of a challenge. So, I don't know if that really answers your question, but it is a complex thing, but the answer is specific to, 'All right, what type of opponent are you playing and what type of blitzes do you need to be ready for in the given situations that we're asking our backs to protect."

(On what to look for when evaluating players to ensure they can handle the types of pass protection he uses)
"I think that's a hard projection. I don't necessarily look for that. I think number one – you want to see, is there a toughness that exists where there's a willingness to say, ‘Will they stick their face on people in pass protection?’ Number one. In a lot of instances, you don't ever want to punish, or misevaluate a guy, because they're only doing what they're being asked to do in that offense and sometimes that ends up being easy evaluations, because there are things that translate and then some guys are not being asked to do the same things that maybe we would ask. So, you're just looking for a toughness and then you really do a deep dive. (General Manager) Les (Snead) and his group do a really nice job in terms of the overall intelligence, the ability to process, handle stressful situations and that's kind of how we end up saying, 'All right, does this guy have a feel?' Then when you talk to him, but as far as actually utilizing the tape to evaluate, is this guy going to be a good pass protector or not? I think that gets really challenging, especially at the collegiate level, because there are a lot of differences. It's really similar to evaluating a quarterback playing in a spread where he might be lighting it up, but a lot of the things that he's doing that you might have had success with, might be different than what you're asking him to do based on how you want to operate offensively. So, I think you're looking for the traits that typically result in guys having success in that phase. To me, it's a big picture understanding and awareness and a toughness. Just a willingness to go stick your face on people on protection. That's what I'm looking for and that's what we look for."

(On if he knew Defensive Coordinator Brandon Staley in 2018)
"Yeah, so I did not know Brandon. I had heard of him. This coaching thing, it's a small circle of people. Really through (Outside Linebackers Coach) Chris Shula, because they had both worked together at John Carroll, or really, when Chris ended up becoming the defensive coordinator, it was after Brandon had left there and they kept in touch and I've been really close with Chris for a long time. So, I knew of him really through Chris Shula. But other than that, you kind of start to hear things, just in the little circle, about what an impressive guy he is and then when you meet with him, it kind of spoke for itself."