The Chicago Bears win on Sunday night over the Los Angeles Rams was as big of a statement game as you’re likely to see this year. They didn’t do it the way everybody likes either. They did it their way. Suffocating defense and a strong running game still have a place in the modern NFL. Mitch Trubisky was off, but he did enough.
What’s crazy about this win is the numbers involved. There were so many positives for Chicago in the math department that it almost defies description. Jordan Howard had his first 100-yard game since last season. Roquan Smith had his first interception as a Bear. Sherrick McManis led the team with seven tackles. Khalil Mack became the first defender with 10 sacks in four years.
Yet that’s just the beginning. Here are a few other wild number nuggets from the thrilling victory.
Chicago Bears win came with Sean McVay’s lowest point total with Rams
Sean McVay is considered one of the best offensive minds in the NFL, and for good reason. His offense with the Rams has been nearly unstoppable with a ton of star power including Todd Gurley, Jared Goff, Robert Woods, and Brandin Cooks. It’s a unit that knows how to score points. Except that wasn’t the case on Sunday night.
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How significant was the performance by the Bears defense holding L.A. to just six points? It’s the lowest point total McVay has had to date as head coach. It beats out the seven his team managed against Minnesota last season. To find a score lower than that, one would have to go all the way back to 2014 when McVay was in his first year as an offensive coordinator. His team was shut out 24-0 by, ironically? The St. Louis Rams.
Matt Nagy achieved a huge coaching milestone
Think about this. The Bears are one of the oldest franchises in the NFL. In that time they’ve employed several head coaches. Never at a greater rate than during the Super Bowl era. From 1968 to last year, they’d employed a total of 10 different head coaches. While some of them had success in their careers like Mike Ditka and Lovie Smith, they all shared a common trait. None of them had a winning season in their first year with the team.
#Bears coach Matt Nagy was pretty madpic.twitter.com/Xq7SJ6iaYe
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 10, 2018
That streak is now over. With this win, Matt Nagy now sits 9-4 on the season. That assures him a winning record in 2018 and the honor of being the first head coach in modern Bears history to achieve that distinction. He’ll also be the first to ever make the playoffs in his first season if things go as expected the next couple of weeks. What a job he’s done.
Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson have more INTs than the entire 2017 Bears D
Two guys who are going to end up in the Pro Bowl at the end of the year are Kyle Fuller and Eddie Jackson. The front seven gets a lot of love but this amazing performance doesn’t happen without them. Each came out of the game with an interception. Fuller had his seventh of the season. Jackson had his fifth.
What makes that even more amazing is the Bears defense as an entire unit had eight in 2017. Eight. Those two players by themselves have 12 with three games still to play. As a unit the Bears have 25 on the season, which is a rate the city hasn’t seen in a long time.
