Outcoached?

[Montanaramfan]

After watching last night's debacle in Chicago, I will admit McVay was outcoached by Nagy. McVay has been regarded as a creative genius but in the last two months have we seen anything new that we haven't seen before? Where has the jet sweep gone? The screens to Gurley, or Gurley up the seam? Where is our red zone creativity?

Last week on this forum I suggested McVay use Donald and/or Brockers in the red zone like the Bears had done last week vs the Giants. Instead, the Bears are the ones who pull it off while we do what we always do in the red zone...one run to Gurley, two forced passes and a field goal. How many times have we seen that this season? Do you know how affective a halfback pass from Gurley could be from the 10-yard line?

One thing I keep hearing on every Ram broadcast recently is how we run out of a 3-receiver set over 90% (I forgot the exact number) of the time. Maybe it's time we mix it up a bit, go double tight or put an extra lineman in and pound Gurley. Maybe throw a fullback or H-back in to help him out. It seems like our offensive line has regressed in the last month or so. Maybe it's the fact that they're pass-blocking on nearly every play and haven't been able to get in a rhythm. Have defenses caught on?

Last night McVay admitted he was very humbled and I think he just had so much confidence in his system that he couldn't see anyone shutting it down. Hopefully, this loss will be a wakeup call and force him to tweak things a bit. If not, I don't see us going as far as we want in the playoffs.

 

[Flint]

Part of the “genius” of mcvay’s offense is it all looks like the zone stretch, “the illusion of complexity”, well the bears figured out how to stop it so now what? It seemed like they did the same thing over and over and hoped for a different result.
Goff seemed a little shook up, in some of those throws I was like “throw it already”, I remember 1 that was a rollout and TG was there for a little dumpoff, Goff waited and waited and finally turned up and got the first. But I was like give him the ball. It was a tough night to throw the ball on both sides, seems like McVay wanted to be too aggressive instead of playing a grind it out game.
Seemed like a lot of mental errors, guys totally unblocked, Hekker spinning the laces the wrong way, Reynolds trying to make a big play instead of turning upfield to to get a first.

 

[I like Rams]

Last year McVay sat our starters the last game of the season. I'm going to speculate this year his plan is to play vanilla offense since our hardest game is over, we already clinched a bye and the conference. At least that makes me sleep better at night. Haha

 

[96GS#007]

I am surprised that given all the pressure from the Bears, I don’t recall one Heavy formation.

Basically we tried to man up and got bitch slapped

 

[hotanez]

Last year McVay sat our starters the last game of the season. I'm going to speculate this year his plan is to play vanilla offense since our hardest game is over, we already clinched a bye and the conference. At least that makes me sleep better at night. Haha

If he thinks he can win games playing vanilla we are going to lose more games. I highly doubt that is the plan.

 

[UKram]

11-2 ...we needed a game like this was it fun to watch? Nope .. what annoys me the most the narrative will be the rams are done .. we are one and done in the playoffs

Yet the same thing happened to the saints (who almost also lost yesterday ) and you’ll hear how great they are

Yes yesterday sucked and yeah go punched in the mouth.. goff has looked rattled it’s good for this team to handle some adversity it’ll prepare em better for the playoffs

 

[RamWoodie]

McVay had a "Martz-itus" attack. He wouldn't run Gurley or shorten up his pass game to take what the Bears were giving.

Goff was not taking his check downs either and he was not sharp at all. His body language was bad too.

I'm not sure why McVay couldn't see the TE was the key. The middle of the Bears defense was sovopen...it was disgusting.

The Rams live to fight another day!

 

[I like Rams]

If he thinks he can win games playing vanilla we are going to lose more games. I highly doubt that is the plan.

I think we can win the rest of the season by being somewhat conservative. Prob not his thinking, but hey, noone knows anything except McVay himself so...

 

[hotanez]

I think we can win the rest of the season by being somewhat conservative. Prob not his thinking, but hey, noone knows anything except McVay himself so...

very true but when teams get motivated to play you because of the hype and you bring a vanilla game plan you are going to lose.

 

[Rambitious1]

Last year McVay sat our starters the last game of the season. I'm going to speculate this year his plan is to play vanilla offense since our hardest game is over, we already clinched a bye and the conference. At least that makes me sleep better at night. Haha

We have not clinched a bye.

 

[I like Rams]

We have not clinched a bye.

You're right, i thought it was the lions game where if we won it was a bye.

 

[jrry32]

I have a few thoughts:
1. McVay was definitely outcoached.
2. We did try a couple of screens. Both could have gone for big yardage, but Gurley got held up in traffic and the pressure got on Goff too quickly.
3. The crowd noise was a huge factor. It forced our offense to play slow.
4. McVay wasn't very creative in this game. I don't know why.
5. McVay seems to obsess over losses. If we play the Bears again, I think we'll see a very different result. Remember that Seattle beat us 16-10 and Minnesota beat us 24-7 last year. The next time we played those teams we put up 42 points on Seattle and 38 points on Minnesota. I don't see McVay being made the fool twice.

 

[thirteen28]

Maybe it's time we mix it up a bit, go double tight or put an extra lineman in and pound Gurley.

That's what I'd like to see more of. First, there is very little film on us in of 2 TE sets, so DC's will have to think more about how to stop it. Second, it puts more beef on the field. Third, since the TE's have come on somewhat (and I give them a pass last night because of the poor OL play and Goff being off), we still have passing weapons on the field while also having the extra blockers in the run game if needed. Plus, you can still put your two best wideouts on the outside, which means the D has to respect the deep and intermediate passing game. In short, tt would give McVay a chance to be creative and throw some stuff at defenses that they haven't seen.

The 3-WR sets have been very good for us, and I certainly like the Rams running them when Kupp is around. But you've gotta adapt, especially when one of the guys who made them work so well isn't there.

 

[Kevin]

Kromer is the offensive line coach, correct? I think he was outcoached. The line looked like they could backpedal almost as fast as the Bears line could rush. Goff did not have room in the pocket or time to throw very often. McVay could have tried some roll outs, but otherwise the offensive line did not give the rest of the team a chance to win.

And FWIW, Carson Wentz sucks at play action. He is incredibly slow and fools no one.

 

[James Otto]

Every team we play uses a short passing game to slow down our pass rush. We appear incapable of using the short pass game. Short-middle was open all night, and I don't understand why we cannot call more drag routes to TE's and RB's. Slant routes? Anything short and quick - we just don't have it in the playbook. McVay wants everything attacking the intermediate zones of the field, all the time.

 

[tklongball]

If the OL Protects a touch better, Goff doesn't miss a ton of throws, and we don''t have a bunch of drops, we win that game. Prime time games on the road in weather are tough. Not the end of the world, just one of those games where everything went wrong.

 

[tklongball]

On a positive note, our D looked MUCH better the last 2 games. Remember, all you have to do is get hot at the right time. Better to struggle now, then a month from now.

 

[Flint]

McVay had a "Martz-itus" attack. He wouldn't run Gurley or shorten up his pass game to take what the Bears were giving.

Goff was not taking his check downs either and he was not sharp at all. His body language was bad too.

I'm not sure why McVay couldn't see the TE was the key. The middle of the Bears defense was sovopen...it was disgusting.

The Rams live to fight another day!

Sure seemed like a stubborn Martz performance, I thought the TE was going to have a big impact, that and the shorter routes. They showed the bears giving Cooks a 10 td cushion. I think Kupp might be more important to this team and harder to replace than we think.
I don’t know why Goff seemed reluctant to check down to TG it looked like he would’ve had some more room than he was getting. At least there won’t be any more cold weather games.

 

[Curt760]

Yes I agree we should have used more short quick passes. Bears defense played like the Broncos did to us and protect the pass by playing deeper even lb'ers were dropping back. Gurley got off against the broncos but the Bears were better still the pressure came from outside and more run plays should have been up the middle. Even if Gurley doesn't get a lot of yards this will bring the lb'ers closer to line of scrimage thus more lanes to pass to. Plus no turnovers, no safety.
Learning curve. Better to have this game now than in the playoffs.

 

[tomas]

Seemed like a lot of mental errors, guys totally unblocked, Hekker spinning the laces the wrong way, Reynolds trying to make a big play instead of turning upfield to to get a first.

Reynolds (having little knowledge or experience ) ain't no cooper kupp.