Rams could emerge from hole Monday night against Bears

ST. LOUIS -- When the St. Louis Rams fell into that 0-5 hole, some players had a hard time believing they would ever dig their way out.

"Definitely," wide receiver Ricky Proehl said. "It was going to be one of those years."

One game at a time, they erased that notion with impressive victories over the Raiders and Seahawks, a solid win at Arizona and a stirring fourth-quarter comeback over the Chargers. Now, with a victory over the Chicago Bears (2-7) on Monday night, the defending NFC champions can make it back to the break-even point.

The Rams (4-5) hunger to be the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs after an 0-5 start. With a victory over the Bears they can follow last year's Redskins as the only teams to win their next five after losing the first five.

"It seems like we've been winning for so long, and we're still not .500," quarterback Marc Bulger said. "But we felt when we were 0-5 that we could turn it around. If there was one team in the NFL that could do it, it was us."

They might have to get to break-even without both of their MVPs, however. Kurt Warner will miss his fifth and final game with a broken pinkie, although he'll dress as the backup behind Bulger. Marshall Faulk is questionable with a strained tendon on the bottom of his right foot.

Rookie Lamar Gordon would start ahead of Trung Canidate, a first-round pick in 2000, if Faulk can't go.

It's just another hurdle to clear for the Rams.

"I don't like it, but we have two capable guys behind him and Lamar came in and showed a lot in the fourth quarter," Bulger said. "We can win with him, definitely."

Coach Mike Martz credits veteran leadership that concentrated on the task at hand instead of becoming overwhelmed by the big picture in getting the Rams to this point. Martz had a large hand in it, too, constantly cautioning players to use baby steps.

"The mindset we got into is, 'Nothing yesterday is going to help us today, and don't worry about tomorrow,"' Martz said. "Anything that happened in the past has no bearing on the Chicago game.

"We've got an awful long ways to go before you realistically start talking about postseason play."

Rams sit better than Bears

They're a lot closer than the Bears, a playoff team last year. The Rams won the first three games of their streak with Faulk carrying the offensive burden for Bulger and the defense suddenly turning stingy. They won without Faulk last week, rallying while the running back nursed foot and ankle injuries on the sideline and with the defense making a determined last stand.

"They're playing awfully well," Bears coach Dick Jauron said. "They look like the team that was in the Super Bowl a year ago. They're hitting on all cylinders, and we'll have to play at the very top of our game."

The Bears (2-7) are getting the feeling that no matter what they do, they just can't win. Coming off a 13-3 season, they've lost several close games and enter Monday night on a seven-game losing streak.

Five of the losses were by six or fewer points, including a pair of overtime setbacks. They failed to convert on last-second drives against the Saints and Eagles and lost in the final seconds to the Patriots 33-30 last week.

"We've been angry for a long time," middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "We just can't do anything about it. We find a way to lose games, and it's frustrating."