The built-in qualifier is that these were the Rams, who are close to perfecting a new attack called the “purported offense.”
With that out of the way, so what?
The Bears’ besieged defense took a few steps Sunday — baby steps, perhaps — but steps nevertheless in a 27-3 victory. Yes, the Rams are deadly awful — really, it’s impossible to overstate the awfulness — but the Bears showed an energy on defense that had been missing most of the season.
“Everybody out there watching: Did we look like we wanted it?” linebacker Lance Briggs said.
It was Briggs who had said the Bears would become a great defense when they decided they wanted to be one. Why it took them 10 games to come to a decision is something only they can answer. Surely the promise of St. Louis’ ineptitude put a skip in the Bears’ step, but from the start they were more active than at any other time this season.
The Rams ran 12 offensive plays in the first quarter, and eight of them went for losses. The Bears stopped the Rams for a loss on four of the first five plays, including a sack by Adewale Ogunleye that knocked quarterback Marc Bulger out of the game with a concussion.
Tommie Harris and Ogunleye each had two sacks. Briggs had two interceptions. Brian Urlacher and Charles Tillman had one each. The Bears totaled 13 tackles for loss.
It was reminiscent of 2006. For two years now, Bears defenders have talked about that year as if they were still living it. They were deluding themselves. Before Sunday’s game, they decided to take something from that season and move ahead.
“We talked about having fun, about getting that back, whatever that is,” coach Lovie Smith said.
If you’re looking for fun, you go looking for the Rams. This was one of those feel-good games. In college basketball, you put an NAIA team on the schedule to get the season off to a rousing start. This was sort of like that. This was Duke-Dakota State.
After last week’s 37-3 loss in Green Bay, the Bears decided they needed to plug in to some alternate energy source.
“It’s going to be critical, if we want to win the next five games, to bring the right kind of energy,” Briggs said. “We’re going to have to be aggressive, be physical, and we have to take the ball away.”
The question is whether all the good things that happened Sunday can translate into future success. When the Bears line up next week in Minnesota, will the beat-down on the Rams have meaning? This game might have carried negligible nutritional value, but it had to have some emotional value.
“We can take a little confidence from this, but we’ve got to understand that the team we’re going to play next week is much better,” Alex Brown said.
The Vikings’ 30-12 victory over the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday? Now that’s a victory.
After the embarrassment in Green Bay last week, Smith started talking about the rest of the season being a six-game affair. So his schedule says they’re now 1-0. They’re actually 6-5, but don’t tell Lovie that. They’re tied for first place in the NFC North with the Vikings. The Packers can rejoin the group with a victory Monday night over the Saints.
“We needed a game like this,” Briggs said.
They did. They needed a laugher. They needed to laugh and remember what it feels like to dominate another team. See, they could tell themselves. This is how we used to do it.
Did we mention that the Rams are dreadful? St. Louis coach Jim Haslett should be Jim Hazmat. What coach in his right mind would want to be exposed to this team?
We can kid here about degree of difficulty all we want, but the Bears shouldn’t have to apologize for beating the Rams, not after last week’s loss to the Packers. Not with a two-game losing streak coming into the game.
There were plenty of Bears fans here, drawn by the prospect of available tickets at the Edward Jones Dome. They saw Matt Forte run for 132 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown. They saw Kyle Orton play smart and not get hurt. They saw Danieal Manning pick up where Devin Hester left off last year on kickoffs, and they saw some razzle-dazzle on offense.
But this was a day for the defense, which had been starring in “Lost” all season. The Rams finished with 14 yards rushing. There were a few injuries, but they couldn’t take the smile off the Bears’ faces.
Playing football was fun again. Even if it was against the Rams.
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rmorrissey@tribune.com
