Big plays propel Bears over Rams

ST. LOUIS - It was an unprecedented day of big plays by the Chicago Bears' offense, including another big day for backup tight end Zach Miller and for rookie running back Jeremy Langford.

Miller and Langford each had TD receptions of more than 80 yards in the 37-13 rout of the Rams, as the 4-5 Bears won for the fourth time in six games after an 0-3 start.

The offensive attack was made possible by a patchwork offensive line that more than held its own against the much more highly regarded St. Louis Rams defensive line, led by four first-round draft picks.

The Bears' O-line featured a sixth-round pick (center Matt Slauson), a seventh-rounder (left tackle Charles Leno) and right guard Patrick Omameh, who was undrafted.

Slauson was asked if he grew tired throughout the week of hearing about the lofty pedigree of the Rams' D-line.

"More than anything," Slauson said.

The Rams, who fell to 4-5, came in with the No. 2 defense in sack percentage, and it got to Jay Cutler twice. But the Bears' quarterback posted a 151.0 passer rating, the highest of his career, as he completed 19 of 24 passes for 258 yards, 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

"They have a speed-demon front," Slauson said. "But we were confident in ourselves that if we could get our hands on them, they were small enough that we could move them or they were going to take themselves out of their gaps.

"Against teams like that, you're (sometimes) going to get stopped, but you have to stay poised, you have to stay patient and everything will be fine."

After the Rams went 80 yards with the game-opening possession it was almost all Bears, as they scored 37 of the next 43 points.

Miller's one-handed, game-winning TD catch was the difference in last Monday night's victory over the San Diego Chargers, and he got the Bears going Sunday.

On their second play from scrimmage, Miller caught a short pass from Cutler and outran the Rams' defense for an 87-yard TD to tie the score at 7-7.

"After I made the initial guy miss," Miller said, "Alshon (Jeffery) threw a great block and then it was just, 'Don't get caught.' I was looking up at the Jumbotron. I saw them closing and I gave one swerve over to the right, and I was lucky to get to the end zone."

The Bears' previous longest pass play of the season was a 50-yard Cutler-to-Josh Bellamy completion in the season opener.

Miller's 2-yard touchdown grab put the Bears ahead for good, 17-10 midway through the second quarter and gave him 3 TD catches in less than two quarters of play, going back to the Chargers game.

The 6-foot-5, 236-pound Miller had just 4 TD catches in his five previous NFL seasons, much of which was spent on injured reserve, including all of 2012 with the Jacksonville Jaguars (calf) and all of 2014 (foot) with the Bears.

"He's one of those easy guys, where you always know where he's going to be," Cutler said of Miller, who had 5 catches for 107 yards Sunday.

"He's a friendly target and a smart player. He used to be a quarterback (at Nebraska-Omaha), so he knows tempo things. I've never really second-guessed throwing him the ball."

The Bears' second long pass play in the first half, an 83-yarder to Langford, gave them a 24-10 advantage five minutes before halftime.

Langford took Jay Cutler's screen pass just beyond the line of scrimmage and outran the Rams' secondary all the way to the end zone.

"When I saw the linebacker starting to blitz," Langford said, "I knew if the ball got to me there would be a lot of green grass back there, which there was."

Langford, who caught 7 passes for 109 yards in his second game as the fill-in for injured Matt Forte (knee) also had 6-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to cap the scoring.

The fourth-round pick from Michigan State also had 73 yards on 20 carries as the Bears outrushed the Rams and rookie-of-the-year candidate Todd Gurley 153-94. Gurley was held to 45 yards on 12 carries.

"This was a pretty stingy defense we played," Bears coach John Fox said of the Rams, who were the NFL's No. 5 defense in yards allowed and No. 6 in points allowed. "Our guys played a pretty good football game, especially on that side of the ball."

But it's not just the offense that has Fox encouraged of late.

"The whole football team is growing," he said. "The way we're trending, I like the way the guys are going about their business."