The Los Angeles Rams will be without two of their three starting wide receivers on Sunday night against the Bears. Brandin Cooks is out with a concussion, while Robert Woods is inactive and not at the Coliseum as he deals with a personal issue.
That leaves Cooper Kupp as the only starter who is active against Chicago, which complicates things dramatically for the Rams. He’ll start alongside Josh Reynolds, but the Rams utilize three wide receivers on the field at a time more than any other team in the league.
That creates some confusion with the game plan, because the only other receivers who could step up are Mike Thomas, JoJo Natson and the recently promoted Nsimba Webster. It’s hard to imagine any of those three players having a big impact on the game, though.
With Woods out, the Rams must get their running backs involved in the passing game – and that doesn’t just mean Todd Gurley.
Jared Goff has targeted his running backs on just 10% of the Rams’ passing plays, which is the second-lowest total in the NFL. That should change tonight. Sean McVay has to call screens and designed plays to go to the RBs in the passing game, which should help make up for Woods’ absence.
Obviously, the tight ends should be more involved, too, as both Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett are active after battling injuries during the week of practice. However, this should be the game where Gurley and Darrell Henderson break out as receivers.
Gurley’s hands haven’t been reliable, and Henderson has only been targeted six times (four catches), but they have a better chance of impacting this game than Natson, Webster and Thomas.
