Rams need a win even more than Bears did
St. Louis coach Steve Spagnuolo stepped on the platform and readied himself to address the media following his football team's 17-9 loss to the Bears on Sunday at Soldier Field.
A 5-foot-7 man wasn't standing tall or relishing the opportunity to tower over an audience. A 1-11 record will make any man feel, well, small. Besides, the likable Spagnuolo isn't the condescending type.
"I hate these stages," he said, choking the flexible mic stand and adjusting it down to his level. "I'd rather be down below than standing up here."
"You can look down on us, Coach," a St. Louis newspaper man joked.
The gesture wasn't any consolation to Spagnuolo, who has had a tougher go this season than even the Bears' Lovie Smith.
"Nah, I'd never do that," Spagnuolo said.
The Rams played the Bears' version of offense. They failed to produce touchdowns in the red zone and settled for field goals, even though star Steven Jackson toughed it out and played with an achy back that kept him out of practice the entire week.
Jackson rushed 28 times for 112 yards (4.0 average), hiking his season total to 1,232 yards. He has gone over 1,000 rushing yards in each of the last five seasons.
He credited "a lot of prayer, a lot of preparation mentally and a lot of just gritting it out - gutting it," for being able to play Sunday.
"There's no shortcut to it," Jackson said.
Rams quarterback Kyle Boller wasn't surprised his teammate played and played well.
"He's just a really hard worker," Boller said. "He's one of a kind. He's a guy that's going to fight from start to finish and a guy you want on your team to run the ball."
One reason why the Bears were 4-7 heading into Sunday was their sluggish starts. They had been outscored 69-20 in the first quarter, but they led the Rams 10-0 after the opening 15 minutes.
The Rams failed to capitalize on great field position all day. They recovered a Matt Forte fumble at their 42 on the game's first series and came away with nothing.
Later in the first quarter, a 43-yard kickoff return by Danny Amendola set the Rams up at their own 47. Again, they couldn't produce points.
"You want to put pressure on the Chicago Bears," Jackson said. "You want to put them behind the eight ball. If we were able to jump up on them, I think it would have changed their whole mind-set."
The Rams still had a chance to force overtime with a touchdown and 2-point conversion on their final drive, but Boller threw high and incomplete on fourth-and-10 from the Bears' 41 with 17 seconds left.
"I do believe we're good enough to win those kind of games,"Spagnuolo said. "I want to credit Chicago. I know they were in a situation where they needed to come in and win a game. We know what this league's all about, and Lovie does a heck of a job."