Rams ahead: 3 things Bears are watching

Odds are, the Bears’ game Sunday in St. Louis will come down to the final drive.

Their last five games this season have.

“We’ve lost games in the fourth quarter and we’ve won a few in the fourth quarter, so that’s what the NFL is about,” quarterback Jay Cutler said. “It’s good that it happened (Monday), but we’ve got to do it again.”

As they prepare to do so, on a short week, here are three Rams things they’re watching:

• The Gurley Man. Rookie running back Todd Gurley has been a revelation since beginning his season late after recovering from a torn ACL suffered last year.

In the last five games, he’s averaged 22 rushes for 131 yards. Until Sunday, he had gallops of at least 48 yards in each of the previous four contests.

• Healthier defenders. The Rams played Sunday without stars Robert Quinn and Chris Long, both of whom are struggling with knee injuries.

Coach Jeff Fisher told reporters Quinn “should be OK this week,” while Kyle Long’s brother hyper-extended his in Week 5.

Without them, the Rams had one sack Sunday and watched as seven different defenders were flagged.

• A struggling quarterback. This isn’t a misprint: Nick Foles’ last game of more than 200 passing yards was the season opener. The Rams don’t ask him to do much — He has only seven touchdowns and five interceptions — but he needs to improve upon his 18-for-33 day Sunday, when he totaled a mere 168 passing yards.

Follow me on Twitter @patrickfinley

Email: pfinley@suntimes.com

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