Rams look to contain Bears’ QB Williams 

Woodland Hills, CA (News4usonline) – Putting pressure on the quarterback sounds like a simple concept. Executing that strategy is a lot harder than drawing a whole bunch of X’s and O’s on the chalkboard.

With that in mind, the defensive unit for the Los Angeles Rams have a unique challenge in front of them, and that’s to try to negate the ad-lib, playmaking skills of Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams. 

“For me, I feel like it presents a big challenge, you know, as far as him extending plays and being mobile, and being elusive in the pocket…I feel like that presents a big challenge for us this week,” Rams defensive lineman Poona Ford said during a midweek practice.  

Williams is in his second-year as the Bears’ leading man. During the 2025 NFL season, Williams has looked and played like the same player who won the Heisman Trophy while he starred at USC. 

The year before, Williams looked like an overhyped, busted rookie, a quarterback who didn’t know whether he was coming or going after being sacked 68 times. Williams flourished in 2025, throwing for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns.

 It’s no surprise that his sack totals went down with the successful season he had.

Williams was only sacked 24 times this past season, a remarkable drop. With that on field production, Williams was able to lead the Bears to the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Williams and the Bears are now standing in the way of the Rams, the conference’s sixth seed, of possibly advancing to the NFC title game. 

To achieve that goal, the Rams have to limit the explosive plays that Williams can create with both his feet and right arm. That all starts by applying pressure on Williams, Ford said. 

“We want to get him to run around, but that’s kind of like his strong game and why, you know, we’re not going to rush there or anything when it comes to like rushing him in the pass game,” remarked Ford. “But we’re going to try to do our best, you know, do our job to get to him and just keep him rattled all game.”  

To be able to cut down the number of explosive plays from Williams, Rams head coach Sean McVay said the key comes down to playing with controlled fury. In other words, playing with discipline. 

“I think it’s easier said than done,” McVay said during his weekly Zoom conference call with reporters. “It takes great rush integrity, great ability to be able to earn the right to rush and not allow him to have escape angles and understand what the things that he does when he’s at his best and try to be able to minimize those things. We’re going to dive into that. It takes all 11. These are collective efforts. You have to be willing to strain a little bit longer.” 

McVay goes on to say, “Normally you say those plays are four to six [seconds], not with this guy. We have to be able to dig a little bit deeper. We have to be able to play a little bit harder, play a little bit faster and play a little bit more connected so that you don’t allow him to have the opportunity to make plays in rhythm.”

The Green Bay Packers messed around and found out in an NFL Wild Card playoff game that once Williams does get into that rhythm that it’s hard to slow him down. 

The Packers had Williams and the Bears down by double digits for most of the game, and then saw their season come to an end after the Bears quarterback led his team to a 25-point scoring surge in the final quarter of an eventual 31-27 win in Chicago’s favor. 

“He has natural arm talent,” Curl said after a recent Rams practice. “He can throw the ball anywhere he wants to, when he wants to. He has good scrambling ability, you know. So, we have to be ready to plaster his receivers…Those are the top two things. He has a real good arm, and he can scramble real well.” 

The Rams got a taste of that dual-threat reality that Williams presents in their 34-31 Wild Card win against the Carolina Panthers. Carolina quarterback Bryce Young is another one of those young signal-callers who can scoot and throw well.  

Young displayed as much, passing for 264 yards and a score, and rushing for an additional 24 yards. 

“I feel like we left some plays out there, but, you know, we made enough plays to win the game,” Curl said. “We still has some stuff that we wanted to clean up, that we have to clean up this week for the matchup [versus Bears]. Just trying to get better every week and have a better week this week.”

Having a better week for the Rams and their defense is putting a lid on all the showcase theatrics that Williams is capable to bringing. That means bottling up the Bears quarterback to keep him from going wild, Rams linebacker Nick Hampton said. 

The key for the Rams’ defensive front seven is “to contain him, keep him in the pocket,” Hampton said. “You know, he likes to escape, be on the edges, run through the middle…so just making sure we keep him in the pocket.”