I have noticed a lot of references from various posters including myself in reference to both of these teams poor offenses and the quick transition the Rams were able to make in just one year with a couple personnel and coaching changes.
Let's have a quick snapshot of the numbers behind both offenses -
Points per game: LA - 14.0 CHI - 15.9
Passing yards per game: LA - 184.4 (6.2 YPA) CHI - 160.3 (6.4 YPA)
Rushing yards per game: LA - 78.3 (3.3 YPA) CHI - 115.5 (4.3 YPA)
Both offenses rank last in yards. The Rams also ranked last in points. The Bears surprisingly, rank 29th in points per game. Pretty similar in regards to ineptness but I must say that the Bears are pretty much better in every facet and the fact that they have been able to run the ball as effective as they have is actually quite impressive.
Now let's have a look at the personnel -
QB:
Jared Goff vs Mitch Trubisky - PUSH
RB:
Todd Gurley vs Jordan Howard/Tarik Cohen
WR:
Tavon Austin, Kenny Britt, Brian Quick and Pharoh Cooper vs Dontrelle Inman, Markus Wheaton, Kendall Wright and Josh Bellamy
TE:
Lance Kendricks and Tyler Higbee vs Zach Miller and Dion Sims
OL:
LT - Greg Robinson vs Charles Leno JR
LG - Roger Saffold vs Kyle Long
C - Tim Barnes vs Cody Whitehair
RG - Cody Wichmann vs Josh Sitton
RT - Rob HAvenstein vs Bobbie Massie
To me, the Bears have an advantage at all of the bolded positions. QB is a push as I liked both guys coming out of the draft but you could probably give the edge to Trubisky when you look at just how bad Goff was last year. I like the combination of Howard and Cohen just a little more than I like Gurley but you could make an argument either way. There is a massive difference in the offensive line play and I think that's the difference here. The Bears have 3 very solid starters in Leno, Whitehair (even though he has struggled) and Sitton and another in Long if he can get his shit together.
So as bad as the you think the Bears offense is now, this is far from a lost cause nor does it show that its going to take years to rebuild like I have seen some posters outline.
Now let's look at the additions the Rams made tot ransform the offense -
Coaching - Obviously, the biggest transformation was Sean McVay who looks like he could be the next great coach in this league. It's unlikely the Bears are going to be able to find a guy this good, but he doesn't have to be as long as he puts together a solid all-around staff.
Personnel -
- Andrew Whitworth
- John Sullivan
- Robert Woods
- Sammy Watkins (via trade)
- Cooper Kupp (3rd round pick)
Now to me, that's not a heck of a lot of assets sunk into the offense. Whitworth was their marquee signing and many thought he was going into decline slowly. John Sullivan is more of a veteran presence. Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp are solid but unspectacular and Sammy Watkins was acquired via trade and off the top of my head I am pretty sure the Rams offense was already chugging along pretty well before he started to get accustomed and produce.
Coaching and offensive line play to me, were the biggest differences in the Rams transformation and the Bears already some talent on the O-line. I do not think sinking money into some overpriced wide receiver free agent will be the answer but rather a solid coaching change and multiple, modest investments into improving the receivers. Making sure the O-line is fortified with Sitton getting older, Massie being underwhelming and Long always injured should be the main focus to protect Trubisky and open holes for our talented runners.