The Chicago Bears got thumped last week and they have lost two games in a row but playing the Rams usually gets teams back on track.  The Rams have lost their last three games by a combined 116-32!  The Bears will likely keep it simple in this game and pound rookie RB Matt Forte against a soft Rams’ defense which allows 158.4 yards rushing per game and 4.7 ypc.  After the run is established then look for Kyle Orton to take some deep shots off play action as the Rams are allowing 233.7 yards passing per game and opposing QBs have a 101.8 rating against them.

The Rams should throw caution to the wind and attack the Bears with the passing game.  For that to happen the Rams will need to protect Marc Bulger better as Rams’ QBs have been sacked 32 times already this season.  The Bears are allowing 249.3 yards passing per game so this could be the week that Torry Holt gets his game going again.  Rookie WRs Donnie Avery and Derek Stanley also could notch some big plays in this game.  With Steven Jackson out again it will be up to Antonio Pittman to step up against a Bears’ defense that is allowing only 87.4 yards rushing per game and 3.4 ypc.

PREDICTION:  CHICAGO BEARS 31, ST. LOUIS RAMS 20

Steven Jackson missed today’s game against the Jets and he won’t likely to be ready to play next week either as he is fighting a quadriceps injury.  Jackson has played in 7 games for the Rams this season and he has carried the ball 128 times for 525 yards (4.1 ypc) with 4 TD runs.  He has also caught 25 passes for 259 yards (10.4 avg) this season.  Expect Antonio Pittman to see an increased workload with Jackson out.  Pittman has played in 5 games for the Rams this season and he has carried the ball 30 times for 101 yards (3.4 ypc).  He has also caught 8 passes for 38 yards (4.8 avg) this season.  The Rams can only hope that they get some kind of a running game while Jackson is out or they will be in big time trouble.

The Rams have signed Samkon Gado and Darius Walker.  The 25-year old Gado has played in 25 games (8 starts) in his NFL career and he has carried the ball 252 times for 942 yards (3.7 ypc) with 11 TD runs.  He also has caught 40 passes for 267 yards (6.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Gado will likely get some playing time immediately with Steven Jackson still hurting.  The Rams have added Darius Walker to their practice squad.  The 23-year old Walker played in 4 games (2 starts) as a rookie last season for the Texans and he carried the ball 58 times for 264 yards (4.6 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 13 passes for 81 yards (6.2 avg).  The Rams were smart to sign both Gado and Walker as they both have decent upsides.

The Rams have placed veteran WR Drew Bennett on the Injured Reserve List with a injured foot.  Bennett played in 1 game for the Rams this season and he only caught 1 pass for 4 yards.  The silver lining for the Rams about Bennett’s injury is that it opened the door up for rookie WR Donnie Avery.  Avery has caught 23 passes for 363 yards (15.8 avg) with 2 TD grabs this season.  He has also carried the ball 5 times for 48 yards (9.6 ypc) with 1 TD run. 

The Rams have lost special teams ace/wide receiver Dante Hall for the season due to a high ankle sprain.  Hall’s main role for the Rams is as a kick returner.  He returned 37 kickoffs for 763 yards (20.6 avg) and 9 punts for 93 yards (10.3 avg).  Hall also helped out some on offense as he carried the ball 4 times for 9 yards (2.3 ypc) and he also caught 12 passes for 105 yards (8.8 avg).  Hall will be replaced by Derek Stanley as the return man.  He has returned 2 kickoffs for 41 yards (20.5 avg) and 2 punts for 26 yards (13.0 avg).  Stanley could make this his job if he does well the rest of the season.