Bears dominated by Cardinals |
GLENDALE - It's not too often when you can say the Chicago Bears (4-4) are beaten with their own strengths. That was exactly the case at the University of Phoenix Stadium on Sunday as the Arizona Cardinals (5-4) not only took it to the Bears but dominated them from start to finish for the 29-9 win.
Not only did the Cardinals play stifling defense, which hasn't been the case most of the season, but it was the ground attack of the Cardinals that showed up in a big way as Arizona topped 200 yards rushing on the day with James Connor breaking the century mark with 107 yards which isn't easy to do. Consider the Bears were missing Montez Sweat, Kyler Gordon, and Jaquon Brisker. The defense was down some big names, but no one expected the Cardinals to gash the Bears on the ground the way they did. Despite this game taking place in the desert, it felt and looked more like Soldier Field as both teams dealt with rain, hail, and some adverse and surprise weather, which is a big reason the Cardinals relied on the rushing game as much as they did. Anytime you have conditions like that, you would like to think it would favor the Bears, but with D'Andre Swift being held to 51 yards on 3.2 YPC, the pressure fell on Caleb Williams, as has been the case a lot this season. Despite his struggles early in the season, Williams has bounced back and looks like a franchise QB. However, as a rookie, you're still going to go through your struggles and with completion percentage around 50% and being held below 200 yards passing most of the game things were ugly for Chicago in this one. You got a sense of how things would go for Chicago right from the start as a 10-play drive on their opening possession resulted in just 30 yards and two punts on two possessions. The Cardinals had much better luck. They responded from a punt on their first possession by picking up the game's first score. A first-down run from Connor was just the start; he touched the ball two more times on that possession. Then, it was time for Kyler Murray to find Trey McBride for another first down before McBride took it upon himself for the two-yard TD run, and the Cardinals never looked back. Chicago did their best to keep things close in the early going. Williams found Rome Odunze for a massive gain, which set up the first of three Cairo Santos field goals. Two plays later, Murray hooked up with Marvin Harrison Jr. for a big first down, only to have Reddy Stewart come away with a huge forced fumble to give the ball back to Chicago. Arizona did a great job defensively to limit the overall yardage after that fumble as Santos connected on another field goal to pull the Bears within 7-6. That was as close as things would get for Chicago as the Cardinals used a 12-play 70-yard drive on their next possession to extend their lead to 14-6. Trey Benson and Connor played a massive role as both picked up a pair of big first-down runs before Benson closed things out from one yard out. Chicago continued to keep things close in the first half, with Williams finding Odunze again, but as was the case throughout the first half, the Bears couldn't finish the job as a third field goal pulled the Bears within 14-9. You could make a case that the final possession of the first half was the game-breaker in this one. Arizona needed just four plays to go 70 yards, with E Demercado getting loose for a 53-yard touchdown run to put the Cardinals in front 21-9 at the half. It was more of the same for the Bears throughout the second half as their defense allowed a pair of field goals to open the half while Chicago turned it over on downs on their first possession to put them in a 27-9 hole. Then came an offensive breakdown, as Williams found Mercedes Lewis for what appeared to be a short gain. However, a penalty in the end zone nullified the play, resulting in a safety for the game's final points, 29-9. By this point in the game, the Cardinals had things locked up, but they wanted to send a message only to have Kevin Byard recover the Bears second fumble of the game to give Chicago a little bit of late life. Needing to capitalize on that fumble to have a chance, Chicago picked up a few first downs, with Swift having the biggest play of the drive with a 13-yard gain. Apart from that, things went South in a hurry as the Bears turned it over on downs later on that drive as the Cardinals handed the Bears their second straight loss while also holding on to first place in the NFC West. Final. pic.twitter.com/0eTDNJKN7c “I want to be able to help this team win. I want to be able to help the Chicago Bears reach their goals at the end of the season.” “We’ve got a home game against the New England Patriots. We've got to get a win for sure, it’s a must win.” “There’s no quit in anybody here, no one’s just gonna sit here and take this. We’re gonna get back to work and figure it out.” “It was up to the coaches … If I didn’t play or if I did, I was still gonna respect their decision.” “He put his best foot forward, and his teammates and his coaches and all of us in that circle got his back.”
Caleb Williams’ mindset stays the same after today’s loss. pic.twitter.com/LolOjNu2p6
Kevin Byard III on needing to bounce back next week. pic.twitter.com/r5Qd1DkLvw
T.J. Edwards on how the Bears will respond to today’s loss. pic.twitter.com/U32ODFOIlH
Tyrique Stevenson on not starting today’s game. pic.twitter.com/4gQNe8m0lK
Matt Eberflus on Tyrique Stevenson. pic.twitter.com/kMOq1VWQpl
