Chicago Bears Week 7 storylines: Kyle Fuller’s conundrum, the dizzying motion of the Los Angeles Rams offense and Akiem Hicks' upcoming infomercial

The Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams will meet for the third consecutive season in prime time, this time at brand new SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The Rams won last year’s meeting 17-7. Collectively, the last two games between the teams have featured far more turnovers (10) than touchdowns (four). As the Monday night reunion closes in, here’s the inside slant on three notable storylines.

1. ‘He’s a roughrider'

It seemingly is becoming an every-other-week occurrence — Kyle Fuller zeroing in on a receiver, taking aim and laying the boom. It’s attention-grabbing every time. Jarring for the receiver.

The biggest problem? Sometimes Fuller’s shots produce a game-changing defensive play. Other times they’re deemed illegal, a free first down for the opposing offense.

Take a look at Fuller’s shot last week on Carolina Panthers receiver Keith Kirkwood, a perfectly timed and absolutely nasty blow as the Bears cornerback peeled off his coverage assignment, found Kirkwood immediately after Teddy Bridgewater’s pass arrived and buried the receiver, causing an incompletion.

Out came a yellow hankie. Unnecessary roughness.

Fox Sports rules analyst Mike Pereira defended the penalty call on the broadcast, noting Kirkwood was a defenseless receiver and thus entitled to protection to his head and neck area. But as Pereira was explaining his reasoning, slow-motion video showed Fuller’s left shoulder connecting squarely with Kirkwood’s left shoulder. Truth be told, it appeared to be a clean hit and easily could have been ruled a Bears takeaway with fellow cornerback Jaylon Johnson quickly scooping up the loose football.

“It’s a bang-bang play,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said.

Ten days earlier, Fuller delivered a similar bang-bang shot on Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn. That play, too, initially was ruled an incomplete pass with a flag thrown. But officials discussed the hit and dismissed the penalty, and a subsequent replay review turned the incompletion into a fumble and a Bears recovery. That changed the complexion of the game. The Bears turned the takeaway into a short-field touchdown drive and a 14-13 lead in a game they eventually won 20-19.

When Bears defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend saw Fuller’s hit on Vaughn, he was thrilled.

“That was textbook,” Townsend said. “That’s the thing we talk about — lowering to your target, removing your head from the situation and hitting the strike zone. He did everything properly in that play. And that’s why they picked the flag up. That was a textbook proper way to physically play the game.”

In Charlotte, N.C., however, Fuller did the same thing and drew a personal foul.

“There is literally nothing you can do in his position,” Nagy said. “He’s just playing football. It’s unfortunate.”

In Week 1, Fuller’s apparently clean shot on Detroit Lions tight end T.J. Hockenson also produced a 15-yard penalty. A year ago against the Lions at Soldier Field, Fuller’s shoulder-to-shoulder shot on quarterback Jeff Driskel drew a flag even with it being a bit of a gray area on when Driskel’s slide began.

So with the accumulation of penalties — warranted or not — is there any increased fear at Halas Hall that Fuller might become hesitant to deliver such big hits with his aggressive edge eventually dulled?

“He won’t (become hesitant),” defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano said. “Because he’s doing everything by the letter of the law. They’re textbook (hits) when you slow them down. It’s impossible to officiate. It’s hard on them. It’s hard on us. It’s hard on the players. He’s just playing football.”

Besides, Johnson noted, even with the penalties, those hits send a message.

“You are what you put on film,” he said. "At the end of the day, I feel like that’s what Kyle’s been putting out there — that he’s going to hit you.

“People definitely think twice coming across the middle or coming across on his side when they can’t necessarily see him. It definitely puts a little thought into their minds.”

Added safety Tashaun Gipson: “It’s refreshing to know that your corner is not scared to tackle but is laying boom-sticks on people.”

Fuller’s aggression and willingness as a tackler has left an impression on Pagano for most of the last two seasons.

“We’ve all seen corners who make business decisions when it comes to tackling,” Pagano said. "Some are just (playing) cat coverage. ‘I’ve got that cat, and you guys handle the rest of the stuff.’ But Kyle’s a physical dude.

“The expectations in the (defensive) room and the expectations in Chicago for a long, long time are that when you come and be a part of this group, you understand what those expectations are. You’ve got to be a roughrider. He’s a roughrider.”

As luck would have it, the drive on which Fuller’s personal foul occurred ended with a Panthers field goal in big part because of the open-field tackle Fuller made on Bridgewater on a read-option run on second-and-goal from the 3.

Khalil Mack crashed down on the play and Bridgewater read it perfectly with an open lane toward the end zone. Fuller, however, read it even better, knifing in and upending the Panthers quarterback at the 2.

“That was a game-changer,” Pagano said.

It was another reminder of how special Fuller can be.

2. A dizzying challenge

The Rams offense isn’t producing at anywhere near the levels it was during the team’s Super Bowl run two years ago. That 2018 group averaged 421.1 yards and 32.9 points per game. Through six games this season, those averages are down to 388.2 yards and 25.3 points.

Still, when things click, it can get scary fast. Ask the Buffalo Bills, who in a Week 3 battle watched the Rams pile up 317 yards and 29 points — in the second half alone.

The Bills' 25-point lead evaporated in a blink and became a four-point deficit — in a matter of four possessions.

Touchdown, touchdown, touchdown, touchdown.

And while the Bills' final-minute score punctuated a 35-32 win that afternoon, the potency of the Rams offense was undeniable.

To that end, Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano is preparing his unit this week for their latest attempt to cancel the fireworks show. Folded within has been some behind-the-scenes schooling on all the various pre-snap motions and shifts the Rams use to stress opposing defenses.

It can become dizzying if you allow it to.

“It can get you sideways,” Pagano said. “It can get you cross-eyed. It’s ‘Vroom! Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!’ And they do as good a job as I’ve ever seen.”

Pagano has deep respect for the X’s and O’s Sean McVay utilizes and the way he coaches them too. “It’s precision,” Pagano said.

Safety Tashaun Gipson is aware of the ways in which the Rams' high-volume use of motion and misdirection will challenge the eye discipline of the Bears defense.

“You’re never able to just sit and play fast,” Gipson said. “Your mind is working faster than you can truly react half of the time.”

The various movements, Pagano noted, will also present a major challenge to the Bears' run defense, testing their discipline with run fits and gap responsibilities.

“All those guys have to be in concert and singing out of the same hymnal and flowing right,” Pagano said. “Because otherwise if one guy sees it this way and the other one goes that way, you’ve got a gaping hole in the middle of your defense. And then (sometimes) they don’t hand it off and it’s a play-action pass and now you’ve got routes running vertically up the field all over the place. And then it’s trying to match those up. So it’s going to be a huge challenge.”

Pagano understands that challenge begins with him.

“I’ve got to do a great job of putting these guys in position to where they can just get their cleats in the ground and get lined up, get their eyes right and keep this offense corralled,” he said.

3. Time to shine

Akiem Hicks hasn’t had the ideal week, forced to stay home from practice Thursday and Friday with a minor illness. For a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how he was feeling, the Bears' standout defensive end offered a GIF of Mr. Bean jamming a tissue into his nose.

Not to fear. Hicks returned to Halas Hall on Saturday and was able to fly with the team to Los Angeles for Monday night’s game against the Rams.

It’s a good thing too. Because ESPN “Monday Night Football” color analyst Louis Riddick has plans to let the national audience in on what Chicago has known for three or four years. Riddick hopes to use at least part of the broadcast to illuminate Hicks' value to one of the league’s nastiest defenses.

Riddick spoke with the Tribune at length this weekend to discuss the state of the Bears. But he also elaborated on his admiration for Hicks and his hopes for Monday night.

“I’m telling you, a guy that big, that long, that massive? There’s no guard or center in the league that he can’t just take and walk them back and drop them right in the quarterback’s lap,” Riddick said. "There’s nobody that can stop that when he dials it up.

“Akiem is a guy who, for as big as he is, he loves to run those twists and stunts that free him up. He’s so athletic and nimble in that way. For me, Aaron Donald is a different beast. He plays a different style. But of the big interior three-technique D-lineman (in the NFL), it’s Akiem and Fletcher Cox at the top. They’re the standard. And I know this much: The coaching staff in Chicago absolutely loves this guy and truly believes he is the heart and soul of this top-notch defense. That’s a message I really want to convey Monday night.

"And I’m hoping he puts on one of those shows. Because he deserves the recognition.”

———

©2020 the Chicago Tribune

Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.