All eyes in Bears secondary are on Rams star Puka Nacua ahead of playoff duel – The Athletic

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — From his team’s practice facility in Woodland Hills, Calif., on Thursday afternoon, Rams All-Pro receiver Puka Nacua offered a glowing assessment of a Chicago Bears secondary that has pieced together quite a season, a run Nacua said has clearly been built with cohesiveness.

“In this game of football, trust is required,” Nacua said. “Especially on that other side of the ball, knowing where people are and understanding where you are on the football field. They have great trust in each other.”

The Rams offense doesn’t need extra motivation this week to prepare for a playoff showdown against an opponent that led the NFL in interceptions this season with 23. Bears All-Pro safety Kevin Byard was the league leader with seven picks. Cornerback Nahshon Wright added five. Nickelback Kyler Gordon is now back in the mix for the Bears after three injury interruptions to his season cost him 14 games. Cornerback Jaylon Johnson has persevered in his return from core muscle surgery. And now C.J. Gardner-Johnson has been cleared from concussion protocol after missing the team’s playoff win last weekend over Green Bay.

So, yes, the Bears’ defensive backfield is feeling frisky and confident ahead of Sunday’s divisional round game at Soldier Field. And Nacua respects their chemistry. But if the Bears have Nacua’s attention, the feeling of respect is mutual.

Nacua, after all, is as dangerous as any playmaker left in these playoffs. And the Bears’ hopes of surviving beyond Sunday night will hinge heavily on how well they’re able to contain a dynamic receiver who totaled 129 catches, 1,715 yards and 10 touchdowns during the regular season. There’s a reason the praise out of Halas Hall this week has been plentiful for Nacua, the most electric playmaker on the league’s most explosive offense.

Gordon, a teammate of Nacua’s at the University of Washington in 2019 and 2020, identifies the receiver’s most special trait as “his grit.”

“He’s just a really tough player overall,” Gordon said. “Really a do-it-all type player.”

Byard has taken note of the volume and variety of Nacua’s production and the trust he has from quarterback Matthew Stafford and play caller Sean McVay.

“He’s one of those guys, like a running back, where they get better and better the more touches they get,” Byard said. “So I expect them to feed him as much as possible.”

Diamond in the rough

In a loaded 2023 receiver draft class that featured, among others, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Zay Flowers, Jordan Addison, Rashee Rice and Jayden Reed, Nacua was the 20th receiver selected, scooped up with the final pick of the fifth round.

To take that a layer deeper — and to a painful place for fans in Chicago — Nacua was drafted by the Rams just about two hours and exactly 33 picks after the Bears selected fellow receiver Tyler Scott.

While vibes were high at Halas Hall for Scott that April Saturday afternoon — with the Bears lauding his top-end speed and convinced they had found a dangerous new deep threat for quarterback Justin Fields — the Rams brain trust was busy inside their SoFi Draft Lab, talking through the follow-through with their attraction to Nacua.

In a behind-the-scenes video that later surfaced from the team, general manager Les Snead lauded Nacua’s play speed and noted how his tenacity and toughness could be further enhanced through added technique. Coach Sean McVay was on board, drawn to a receiver with strong hands, proven willingness as a run blocker and assignment reliability.

“This guy can be a functional piece of an offensive operation,” McVay said

As the Rams readied their final decision, Snead added: “We’re going to nail that pick.”

Man, did they ever.

Longest “PUUUUUKA” ever 🗣️

More highlights on https://t.co/bPpSS6yWau 🎥 pic.twitter.com/2wO6RJ1c7D

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 11, 2026

Numbers game

Sure, there are tales similar to that in every draft. But Nacua’s emergence over the last three seasons has been remarkable and has created an encyclopedic log of statistical achievements that fills the Rams’ game notes.

• Only one other receiver in history (Marques Colston) topped 1,000 yards as a rookie after being drafted outside the top 100.
• Since Nacua’s arrival, no NFL receiver has had more 100-yard receiving games than his 18.
• Nacua’s 129 receptions this season led the league and gave him the second-highest single-season total in franchise history.
• No player in NFL history reached 300 career catches faster (43 games).
• This season, Nacua led the league with 402 receiving yards after contact while forcing an NFL-most 28 forced missed tackles.

“He’s strong,” Gardner-Johnson said Thursday. “Like strong strong. I know he’s a great receiver. But he’s strong. And he don’t tap out. No matter how hard you hit him, no matter what the score is either way, he doesn’t tap out. He’s a scrappy receiver who is great at what he does. He’s got my respect.”

‘All about ball’

Nacua missed the Rams’ Week 7 game against Jacksonville with an ankle injury. Even still, only three players in the league — Ja’Marr Chase, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Trey McBride — had more footballs thrown their way during the regular season than the 166 targets Nacua totaled.

In last week’s playoff triumph over Carolina: 10 grabs, 111 yards, a 14-yard touchdown catch, a 5-yard TD run and, yes, a season-saving pass breakup on what seemed like a gimme end zone interception for Panthers safety Nick Scott.

The Bears have a deep library of video to study, a catalog that can inform them on all the ways the Rams like to use their No. 1 receiver and how dangerous he can be in so many ways. It’s impossible not to notice the versatility in Nacua’s game. But the Bears are also guided by firsthand experience.

Two years ago, during a playoff game in Detroit, Bears coach Ben Johnson witnessed a nine-catch, 181-yard night from Nacua in a 24-23 Lions win. That came just 24 days after Dennis Allen’s Saints were on the wrong end of a Nacua torching — 9-164-1 — an experience Allen was reminded of Thursday.

The Bears’ defensive coordinator responded with sarcastic thanks before adding his entry to the Nacua testimonial pile, lauding his route-running polish and savvy.

“You come away thoroughly impressed,” Allen said. “He runs as fast as he needs to to get the job done. He’s big. He’s physical. He catches everything that’s remotely close to him. And he’s tremendous with the run after the catch. And so I just think he does everything that you want a receiver to be able to do.”

Two weeks after gushing with admiration for the overall skill set and competitive toughness of Lions receiver St. Brown, Ben Johnson likened Nacua to St. Brown.

Physical. Tough. Dependable.

“This guy is a football player,” Johnson said. “Take (his) position out of it. He clearly loves the game. He clearly is all about ball. … He’s not just excellent at catching the football and route running, but he does everything.”

Gardner-Johnson competed against Nacua twice last season while with the Eagles, games in which the Rams’ bottle rocket totaled 15 receptions and 214 yards and caught the cornerback’s attention.

“He’s an athlete,” Gardner-Johnson said. “And as an athlete with the football, he not only can change the game. He can win the game. It’s no surprise — with what he can do — how they’re using him. So we have to home in on him and do what we need to do as a defense.”