CHICAGO (AP) — Playing without their best two receivers, the Los Angeles Rams made four trips to the red zone. Kyren Williams scored their only touchdown.
That wasn't enough. Not for Williams or the rest of the Rams.
Williams had another solid performance Sunday, finishing with 94 yards on 19 carries. But the Rams were left lamenting their missed opportunities after Joshua Karty kicked four field goals in a 24-18 loss to the Chicago Bears.
“I think there was little things in the game, even for myself, that we could have been better on," Williams said, "to allow the execution to be better on the offensive side of the ball and be able to put more points on the board.”
The Rams (1-3) were once again without star receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. Kupp missed his second straight game with an ankle injury. Nacua was placed on injured reserve after he aggravated a sprained ligament in his right knee during a season-opening loss at Detroit on Sept. 8.
Williams, a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft out of Notre Dame, has helped fill the offensive void with Kupp and Nacua out. He has 73 carries for 258 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, and 13 receptions for 68 yards and a TD out of the backfield.
He scored three times in last weekend's 27-24 victory over San Francisco. He had a 3-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter against Chicago, trimming the Bears' lead to 17-15.
“I thought he did a really good job,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “I thought he impacted the game in a positive way. Ultimately we've got to be able to consistently do that if we expect to be a quality offense.”
After Williams scored on the Rams' last trip to the red zone at Chicago, Matthew Stafford threw an incomplete pass on the conversion attempt. The Bears responded with D'Andre Swift's 36-yard touchdown run, finishing a five-play, 70-yard drive.
Karty made a 52-yarder to make it 24-18 with 8:47 to go, but that was it for Los Angeles. The Rams were pinned back on each of their last two possessions, and Stafford threw a late interception on the team's final opportunity.
“It's tough, man. It's hard,” Williams said, “because the person I am, the competitor I am, I expect to come out on top. ... Knowing who these guys are and knowing who we are as an offense, I know everybody's feeling the same way that I am and I just know that this week of work is going to be something that we need a lot.”
Los Angeles made its first trip to the red zone on its second possession. But Stafford was nearly intercepted by Jaquan Brisker on third-and-3 from the 18, and Karty kicked a 37-yarder for a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter.
The Rams drove to the Bears 15 late in the first half. Then Tutu Atwell was called for offensive pass interference and Karty missed a 43-yard attempt.
“It felt like just some negative plays at inopportune times,” Stafford said. “Just a little bit of lack of execution at some certain points, and give them credit for obviously doing a nice job in the red zone.”
Los Angeles marched the second-half kickoff all the way down to first-and-goal on the Chicago 9. Stafford threw an incomplete pass on third down that was intended for Atwell, and Karty hit from 25 yards to get the Rams within one.
“For us to only have six points after the way that the guys were able to move the football, we have to do a better job once we get into striking distance of finishing drives with touchdowns,” McVay said.
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