Miller, Langford Lead Big-Play Bears In 37-13 Win Over Rams [VIDEO]
STAN McNEAL, Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Chicago Bears have been looking for playmakers. They might have found an unlikely one in tight end Zach Miller.
Miller caught two touchdown passes, including an 87-yarder, and Jeremy Langford also had two scores to lead the Bears to a 37-13 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday.
After missing the past three seasons with injuries, Miller has made up for lost time in the past two weeks. He made a one-handed grab for the winning touchdown against the San Diego Chargers last Monday and opened the Bears' scoring against the Rams with Chicago's longest TD since 2010.
Miller doubled his season total of catches to 10 with five receptions for 107 yards against St. Louis.
The Rams had taken a 7-0 lead on the opening possession when Miller struck on the Bears' second play. He caught a short pass from Jay Cutler and after one defender slipped, he ran past two Rams and — after checking himself on the end zone video board — put a move on cornerback Trumaine Johnson.
"It's a good thing it was in the end zone and not on the side," Miller said. "I was able to see him and timed it up well enough where I was able to escape. I'd be getting clowned by everybody if I got caught."
The Bears (4-5) improved to 3-1 on the road with their highest-scoring game, which also was the most the Rams (4-5) have allowed. Chicago brought thousands of fans to the Edward Jones Dome, which had a season-best 58,663 tickets distributed, about 8,000 shy of capacity.
Injuries kept Miller out all of 2012-13 as he bounced from Jacksonville to Tampa Bay before signing with the Bears prior to the 2014 season. However, he missed last season because of an ankle injury. The 31-year-old is now finding a home in the Bears' offense.
"Since the first day he got with us, you could tell this guy knows how to play. He's a friendly target," Cutler said. "He's battled through injuries, he's still battling through some stuff. It couldn't happen to a better guy the last two weeks."
Langford, a fourth-round pick out of Michigan State, found some wide-open spaces, too. He raced untouched on an 83-yard TD on a screen and also had a 6-yard scoring run. The running back, filling in for the injured Matt Forte, had seven catches for 109 yards and 73 yards on 20 carries.
Cutler contributed a highlight play, too, with a 26-yard run that was his longest since 2010.
"I was in top gear there," said Cutler, who slid when he saw Mark Barron coming. "I thought about maybe giving him a stiff arm and keep moving but figured I'm going to run out of gas pretty soon so I just got down."
Some other things to know from the Bears' big win over the Rams:
MONSTERS OF THE MIDWAY: Aside from the opening drive, the Bears' defense held the Rams' offense in check. Rookie Todd Gurley was held to 45 yards on 12 carries, with a long run of nin, all of which are career lows as a starter. Gurley was held to under 100 yards rushing for a second consecutive week after running for more than 125 yards in each of his first four career starts.
ALL ABOUT THE YAC: Cutler didn't have to show off his arm strength on the Bears' two long touchdown passes. Cutler's pass to Miller traveled 2 yards past the line of scrimmage and his pass to Langford was caught 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Cutler has thrown multiple touchdown passes in four of Chicago's eight games and has at least one touchdown pass in every game this season.
LAYING DOWN SOME PADDING: The Edward Jones Dome installed a thick rubberized surface near the stands on both sides of the field after two players slipped on bare concrete the previous two home games. San Francisco running back Reggie Bush injured his left knee when he slipped at the end of a punt return on Nov. 1 and is out for the season. Cleveland quarterback Josh McCown was driven out of bounds and banged his left shoulder when he slid into the wall on Oct. 25, but didn't come out of the game.
INJURIES: Rams rookie G Jamon Brown (broken right foot) was carted off after Willie Young's interception late in the fourth and is likely out for the season. Fellow rookie OL Rob Havenstein (calf) was sidelined in the third quarter. Havenstein, the right tackle, was out last week with an Achilles injury.
NOTES: Rams LT Greg Robinson was whistled for holding three times. Robinson was the second overall pick in 2014. ... An extremely risky fake punt by the Rams at the St. Louis 23 fizzled in the fourth, turning it over to the Bears and setting up Robbie Gould's third field goal.
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