Effort not an issue after loss to Bears

~ St. Louis suffered its seventh defeat in its last eight games.

ST. LOUIS -- None of the St. Louis Rams complained about a lack of commitment this week. That's one of few positives from the latest setback in a season gone sour.

After a 4-1 start under new coach Scott Linehan, the Rams have lost seven of eight after falling 42-27 to the Chicago Bears on Monday night. Playoff talk has evaporated with the Rams (5-8), even in the muddled NFC.

"If anyone brings up playoffs I try to correct them," running back Steven Jackson said after another nice day with 139 yards rushing and receiving was wasted. "I'd trade it all if we were 10-2 or whatever the record should be."

Last week, quarterback Marc Bulger criticized unnamed offensive players for not caring enough about their jobs. The Bears sacked Bulger three times but he was satisfied, reasoning it an acceptable ratio given he was 34-for-55 for 332 yards.

"Our guys played hard," he said. "I really didn't get touched much until the end of the game.

"When you're throwing the ball every down it makes the job for the defensive line a lot easier, but our guys up front did great."

Guard Adam Timmerman agreed that the effort was good.

"I think everybody was fired up, more than last week," he said. "I think we came out of the box pretty well, we just didn't finish strong."

He can say that again. The Rams trailed 14-13 at the half, but were outgained 191-31 and outscored 14-0 in the third quarter.

"We had really no offense," Linehan said. "That was the difference in the game."

The biggest problem was special teams that allowed two kickoff returns for touchdown by Bears rookie Devin Hester. That was enough, even this late in the season, to drop the Rams from 16th on kickoff coverage to 28th.

"That was a will killer for them against us," Linehan said. "Certainly, one is way too many, but to have two where the guy is virtually untouched on both returns. ..."

Yet Linehan saw enough positives to give him a good feeling about the finishing stretch that begins on Sunday at Oakland. There was only one pre-snap penalty, a false start on offensive tackle Alex Barron mitigated by the fact the Rams went to a silent count in the middle of a drive due to crowd noise from the visiting fans.

Chicago played without cornerback Nathan Vasher and safety Todd Johnson, due to injuries, but Linehan noted his team has injuries, too.

"They were short a couple of players but we're short a couple of players, that has nothing to do with it," Linehan said. "I was very happy to see them fighting all the way to the end."

Linehan said he'll approach the Raiders game as if it's the season opener, while using the last three overall to assess the roster.

"We're finding out a lot about ourselves, and we're still finding out a lot about the players and the people within this organization, how we're handling things and handling these tough times," Linehan said. "We see brighter days ahead, and playing well and reacting after this tough game is something we can build on."

But he knows there's plenty of building ahead. Linehan found it somewhat understandable that Bears fans took over the Edward Jones Dome.

"I wouldn't call it disturbing," he said. "I understand that's where we are, and that's the state of the Rams.

"Generally, society is going to be more encouraged by a team that's on a roll and winning. I would think that if our record was 7-5 going into the game there would tend to be less Bears fans there."

Bulger said players with pride will try to finish strong.

"Some young guys will probably have to learn that it's never over, this is your profession, and there's no reason to quit," Bulger said. "Like we always say, you're always on film in the NFL.

"No one should know if you're 12-0 or you're struggling as a team."