The Rams and the refs gave the bears a game that was very winnable for the Rams. Let’s see what happened:
1. The Rams stopped the bears on their first drive, but roughed the punter well after he punted, resulting in a gift bear field goal.
2. A first-down run stalled the Rams’ first drive.
3. The Rams dropped an easy interception, but did intercept later on the drive.
4. The Rams dropped a pass at the bear 8, resulting in a punt.
5. The Rams hit Cutler well after he threw the ball, and the roughing penalty gave the bears a first down at the Ram 30 and a gift touchdown, making all 10 points gifts.
6. The Rams spiked the ball on first down with 36 seconds left in the half while they had two timeouts, costing them a play and resulting in the Rams having to kick a field goal. They could have called two plays prior to the play that got them the first down.
7. The Rams, down 10-3 at halftime and needing to get momentum to start the second half, threw on first down and got a first down, then ran on first down and turned the ball over on downs.
8. A first-down run stalled another Ram drive.
9. The Rams, via their offensive gameplan and other mistakes, let the bears hang around even though the bear offense was doing nothing. A smart offensive gameplan, and not giving the bears 10 of their 13 points on gifts, would have made this a much different game.
10. The bears “intercepted” and returned it for a touchdown, turning a one-score game at 13-6 into a two-score game at 20-6. However, on the play, the defender hit the receiver with his shoulder prior to the ball reaching the receiver, and the ball went off the receiver’s hands to another defender. If pass interference was correctly called, this would have sustained the Ram drive to try to tie the game, instead of basically ending the game.
11. With 7:50 left, the Rams had a third-and-two, ran for a loss, and punted.
12. With 2:18 left, the bears kicked off. The Rams were down 3 scores and had a little over 2 minutes left in the game, so they needed big plays. You have to run the kick back and not down it in the endzone as your only chance is to score quickly, but the Rams downed the ball.