RAMS 41, PACKERS 38 : Packers Find Rams’ Bell Hard to Stomach

Until Sunday, Greg Bell’s most memorable run came last week at his Anaheim home, when he sprinted from his dining room table to the medicine cabinet in search of a cure to foul fowl.

He guzzled Pepto-Bismol. He popped down Alka-Seltzers as if they were grapes. Nothing worked, including his stomach. A few hours later, in the wee hours of Wednesday, Bell made his way into the La Mirada emergency room.

Diagnosis: bad chicken in his Chinese food.

Bell was bed-ridden on Wednesday, queasy on Thursday, slightly stronger on Friday, better on Saturday and unstoppable on Sunday, as the Ram tailback rushed for a career-high 221 yards against the Green Bay Packers. And so what if the chicken was a bit undercooked; how about that fortune cookie?

Bell carried 28 of the 33 times the Rams ran the ball. He averaged nearly eight yards a carry. He had runs of 45, 46, 17, 22 and 10 yards, among others. So concerned were the Rams, that he was escorted off the field by several team officials shortly before the game concluded.

“Sure I was tired,” he said. “But if I had to go back out right now and carry the ball 10 more times, I would still be able to do it because that’s what I am, a competitor.”

Actually, Bell complained more about the smog than the Packers. Makes sense. Their defense wasn’t half as thick or biting as the dense, dirty air that settled over Anaheim Stadium Sunday.

“My chest is still hurting,” Bell said. “I’m not a California boy. Back in Ohio (Bell was born in Columbus), we had fresh air.”

And he probably had replacement help, too. But not Sunday. Regular understudy Gaston Green was sidelined because of a hamstring injury. First-round draft pick Cleveland Gary, who was supposed to see limited playing time at both tailback and fullback, was scratched from the lineup because of an auto accident earlier last week. That left Robert Delpino, a novice at tailback, to help ease Bell’s duties.

Delpino didn’t carry the ball. Buford McGee was handed the ball--once--and gained two yards. Ron Brown made a token appearance in the Ram backfield and didn’t get an inch. Quarterback Jim Everett contributed minus-six yards to the Ram rushing effort.

This was Bell’s game and he was more than happy to have it.

“It was just a situation where Greg Bell really wanted to play the best game he could play,” Bell said.

You could see this sort of thing coming. After last week’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, Coach John Robinson had grumbled openly about the absence of a Ram running game. It is the core of his offense and without it, he gets a little testy.

Sure enough, the Ram offensive linemen and running backs found themselves the center of attention during last week’s preparation for the Packers.

“We went back to the drawing board,” offensive tackle Jackie Slater said.

And what they found was a disturbing picture, full of blown assignments and an unusual lack of physical dominance, a Ram trademark.

No more. Bell & Co. saw to that, a fact that didn’t escape Robinson.

“I thought he was pretty tired, but he just kept playing, just seemed to keep going and late in the game he seemed to have more energy. That’s part of the criteria I would use in getting a player from the good range to the really good or great range.

“That’s what I admire about him. He does not fumble the ball and he runs hard when we really had to have it.”

Bell’s most important run came with less than two minutes remaining in the game and the Rams clinging to a three-point lead. With the ball on the Ram 48, Bell took a pitch from Everett, darted past several Packers and then broke free for a 46-yard gain. It clinched the game as Everett spent the next three plays dropping to a knee to run out the clock.

“It was a situation where we just decided to run our old reliable, John’s Student Body Right,” Bell said. “It was going to be man on man, who wanted the yards, who’s going to stop who. At that point, we looked at each other and said, ‘We’re going to get this first down and continue to let the clock run.’ I don’t think that if they would have had 13 men on the field they were going to stop us that play because we were determined to get that first down.”

Bell has 417 yards after three games, which is only 40 yards less than he had after five games last year, his best as a pro. So if Bell still is upset about his off-season contract problems, he has an odd way of showing it.

“To be honest, at one point I had decided I wasn’t going to play this season,” he said. “But then I looked at it. I have a family to look at.”

He also had a good friend, Todd Bell, sit out an entire season because of a contract dispute with the Chicago Bears. The Bears won the Super Bowl that year. Bell doesn’t want to make the same mistake of poor timing.

“I can’t afford to sit out because this could be the year,” he said. “I’m at a peak age in my life. I’m stronger, I’m faster than probably I was as a rookie. I’ve got the explosion and the biggest part of it is that I’ve got the knowledge to play tailback in the National Football League.”

This isn’t to say Bell is pleased with his two-year, $450,000 deal. He isn’t.

“It’s not a great contract, by no matter,” he said. “But you know, there’s a lot of glory to come out of playing in the National Football League. And the things you take away from me now, you’ll never be able to take the memories away from me when I’m gone.”

If that’s the case, then Bell might want to tuck Sunday’s game away. It was one to remember.