The St Louis Rams earned their fifth victory of the season as they dominated the Chicago Bears in their NFL clash at Edward Jones Dome.
The Rams had the perfect start to the game when they took the lead as quarterback Kellen Clemens handed the ball off to Tavon Austin on an expected end-around, but the receiver immediately turned, reversed the play and sprinted unopposed to the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown.
Jeff Fisher's side were able to double their lead when they forced Bears running back Matt Forte to fumble on his own five-yard line as Trumaine Johnson knocked the ball loose and James Laurinaitis gathered it among a crowd of players.
The Rams offense took over and Clemens handed the ball off again to allow Zac Stacy to go in for the one-yard score.
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However, the Bears responded with a good drive led by quarterback Josh McCown as he moved them into the red zone before firing a touchdown pass to tight end Martellus Bennett on an out route for a seven-yard score.
The Rams extended their advantage, though, minutes later just before the end of the first quarter when Clemens moved them downfield and hit his tight end Jared Cook in the end zone for a six-yard touchdown.
Chicago reduced the deficit again when McCown found Brandon Marshall for a three-yard score on a fade route, but a late field goal in the second quarter from Greg Zuerlein made sure that the Rams had a 10-point advantage at half time.
After the break, the Bears pressed to get back into the game and got to the one-yard line but could not punch the ball into the end zone on three attempts. They opted to go for it on fourth down by Rams linebacker Alec Ogletree made a crucial tackle to stop Michael Bush crossing the goalline.
Zuerlein put the home side 13 points ahead in third but the Bears rallied to drag themselves within six after a bizarre run of plays on the one-yard line where both teams thought that they had scored, but both were ruled out by the officials. Eventually, Bush ran in for the one-yard score.
However, the Rams put the game out of sight when Benjamin Cunningham ran in from nine yards out after Clemens had calmly led the offense downfield and they got the two-point conversion when the quarterback picked out Isaiah Pead in the end zone.
Robert Quinn put the icing on the cake for the Rams when he sacked McCown at the Chicago 32 and picked up the ball and ran in for the score himself to secure the victory.
Simon Sinclair
