Rams’ Johnny Hekker has team excited about punts in win over Bears

INGLEWOOD — A big game for the punter is often a bad game for his team.

Not for Johnny Hekker and the Rams on Monday night in their 24-10 victory against the Chicago Bears.

“I’m usually not getting off the bench for a punt,” Rams quarterback Jared Goff joked, but there he’d been, joining in the sideline mob scene after one of Hekker’s long punts.

All five times he was called on, the four-time All-Pro made the most of it. He put every kick inside the Bears’ 10-yard line, including a 57-yarder to the 1 and a 63-yarder to the 6, both downed by Nsimba Webster. After his first three punts, the Rams’ defense quickly got the ball back in good field position and the offense drove to two touchdowns and a field goal.

“Johnny is the best punter in the league, and he showed it tonight,” Goff said. “He really was a weapon for us.”

Hekker called it part of the Rams playing “complementary football,” the special teams helping out the offense and defense.

“Sometimes you get (bounces), sometimes you don’t. When they come in bunches like that, it’s fun,” Hekker said while praising the teammates who downed his punts, Webster, Terrell Burgess and Samson Ebukam.

Mundt’s moment

Tight end Johnny Mundt, filling in with Tyler Higbee declared out before the game because of a hand injury, had his best receiving night in the NFL.

Coming in with six catches for 36 yards since being signed in 2017 as an undrafted free agent out of Oregon, Mundt caught three passes from Goff for 47 yards.

He spun away from a tackler on what became a 34-yard pickup in the second quarter.

“That was supposed to be a stiff-arm. It didn’t really connect the way I wanted to. He went a little lower than I expected him to,” Mundt said.

“I’m getting used to the NFL with the ball in my hands.”

Not yet for Forbath

The Rams debuts of Kai Forbath and A’Shawn Robinson would have to wait a little longer.

Forbath, the ex-UCLA kicker signed Tuesday as an alternative to struggling rookie Samuel Sloman, is on the 53-man roster but was listed among the Rams’ five inactive players before Monday night’s game.

Robinson, the defensive tackle who practiced with the team Thursday for the first time since  a pre-training camp physical found what was reported to be a cardiovascular condition, was not activated from the non-football injury list.

Forbath practiced on the SoFi Stadium field during early warmups, but Sloman kicked in the game, making a 22-yard field goal but getting a 48-yard attempt blocked.

Fearsome foursome

The Rams’ NFC West competition looked tougher after the Arizona Cardinals (4-3) handed the Seattle Seahawks (5-1) their first loss and the San Francisco 49ers (4-3) won big at New England on Sunday.

The Rams (5-2) stayed in second place by beating the Bears.

Next

The Rams will complete the first half of the season on the road against the Miami Dolphins (3-3) on Sunday (10 a.m.), their fourth game on the East Coast.

That’s followed by the Rams’ week off.

Their 10 remaining opponents going into the Bears game had a .600 winning percentage, giving the Rams the third-hardest upcoming schedule behind Jacksonville (.661) and San Francisco (.638).

Irregular schedule

As always, a long week of preparation before Monday’s game will be followed by a short week before next Sunday’s game.

In Sean McVay’s first three seasons as coach, the Rams did at least as well with six or fewer days of prep as with eight or more: 4-2 straight up and 1-3-2 against the point spread in long weeks, 4-2 straight up and 4-2 against the spread in short weeks. (That doesn’t count results in Week 1 or following byes.)

McVay said Saturday that some of the Rams staff would start analyzing the Dolphins this week.

“I know for me, I definitely never can do that,” McVay said. “It’s one game at a time, solely focused on the Bears.”

Ex-Ram watch

Todd Gurley is better statistically for Atlanta than he was last year for the Rams, ranking sixth in the league in rushing yards (485) and tied for first in rushing touchdowns (seven), but he’d probably prefer to have one less touchdown.

Gurley tried to stop short of the goal line on his second touchdown Sunday and keep the clock running, but failed and wound up allowing Detroit to come back and win 23-22.

Wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught seven passes for 60 yards for Houston on Sunday, and his 427 yards and two touchdowns on a team-high 34 catches are ahead of his 2019 pace with the Rams.

Solid footing

This was the first time SoFi Stadium hosted two games in the week, the Chargers beating Jacksonville on Sunday afternoon and the Rams hosting the Bears on Monday.

It’s an artificial field — Matrix Turf with Helix, made by Hellas Construction in Alabama and Georgia — unlikely to show wear and tear the way the Coliseum’s grass did when the Rams played the day after a USC game.

Speaking Tuesday, Rams (and former USC) wide receiver Robert Woods praised the SoFi Stadium surface.

“We’ve been playing really well on that field, being able to make some guys (tacklers) miss. We’ve been able to put our foot in the ground and get vertical,” Woods said.

“I think we’ve done well from an offensive standpoint, been able to run our routes, make quick cuts — and run fast, obviously.”