ARIZONA CARDINALS (3-11) AT CHICAGO BEARS (5-9) When: 3:25 p.m., Sunday Where: Soldier Field, Chicago TV: Fox (Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez, Laura Okmin) Streaming:fubo TV (free trial) Radio: ESPN AM-1000, FM-100.3 (Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, Jason McKie), SiriusXM (Channel 119 or 232) Spanish Radio: Latino Mix 93.5 (Omar Ramos, Miguel Esparza) The Line: Bears by 4 1/2 (Over/under 44 1/2) BearDigest Pick: Bears 33, Cardinals 23
The Matchup: The Bears try to rebound from a third blown double-digit lead in a fourth quarter against the struggling Cardinals, who are in the first year of a rebuild under coach Jonathan Gannon, a former defensive backs coach under Matt Eberflus with the Colts and Eagles defensive coordinator. Justin Fields and the Bears have a small chance for a wild-card berth but must beat the Cardinals, Falcons and Packers and have more than a dozen other things all fall their way to make it. Arizona remains in competition with the Patriots and Bears (through the Panthers) for the first pick in the 2024 draft, trailing by a game plus a tiebreaker. QB Kyler Murray has won two of his five starts since returning from the ACL injury suffered last season. The Series: The 93rd game in a series that started in 1920 when the Cardinals were the Racine Cardinals and Bears the Decatur Staleys. The Bears lead the series 57-29-6 and the Cardinals won the last game in 2021 at Soldier Field. The teams have split the last six games, with the road team winning each time. The Coaches: Gannon is 3-11 in his first Cardinals season and hasn’t faced the Bears.
Eberflus is 8-23 in his second Bears season and has not faced the Cardinals. Last Week: Arizona went up against San Francisco after knocking off Pittsburgh 23-10 on the road, and was thoroughly beaten 45-29 as Brock Purdy threw four touchdown passes. The Bears were winning 17-7 in the fourth quarter at Cleveland and Justin Fields’ fourth-down run was stopped inches short, as the Browns seized the opportunity and ran off 13 unanswered fourth-quarter points to win, despite giving up three interceptions.
Matching Up: The Cardinals are 24th on offense, 29th passing and seventh rushing. Bears are 21st on offense, 26th passing and fourth in rushing. They are 25th in scoring. Arizona is 25th on defense, 13th passing and 25th at rushing. The Cardinals are 31st in points allowed. The Bears are 22nd on offense, 27 passing and fifth at rushing. They are 22nd in scoring. Chicago is 13th on defense, 26th against the pass and No. 1 at rushing. They are 22nd in scoring defense. Stat Leaders: Murray has 105 completions in 169 attempts (62.1%) for 1,075 yards and four TDs with four interceptions in five games since returning from knee surgery. … RB James Conner has team highs of 717 rushing yards on 143 attempts and five TDs. … TE Trey McBride leads the Cardinals in receptions with 66 and receiving yards with 712. He and WR Michael Wilson have the most TD catches of active Cardinals Sunday with two. …
LB Kyzir White owns the Cardinals tackles lead with 90 and also in tackles for loss with nine. Edge LB Dennis Gardeck is the sacks leader with five while S Jalen Thompson leads in interceptions with three. S Joey Blount is the leader in forced fumbles with two. CB Antonio Hamilton leads in pass defenses with eight. Bears QB Justin Fields is completing 61.4% (181 of 295) for 1,976 yards with 14 TDs and eight interceptions.
He has a passer rating of 85.6. Fields also leads the Bears in rushing with 488 yards on 96 carries. … RB D’Onta Foreman leads in rushing touchdowns with four. … WR DJ Moore has 1,123 yards, 80 receptions and seven TDs to lead the Bears in all receiving categories. …
The defense is led in tackles by T.J. Edwards with 137 and by DT Justin Jones in tackles for loss with nine. DE Montez Sweat leads the Bears with six sacks and has 12 1/2 on the year including his 6 1/2 with Washington. … CB Jaylon Johnson and LB Tremaine Edmunds share the lead in interceptions with four while Johnson and CB Tyrique Stevenson have 10 pass defenses apiece. Jaquan Brisker leads the Bears with two forced fumbles.
Injury Report: For the Cardinals, WR Marquise Brown (heel), DB Bobby Price (quad), DB Garrett Williams (knee) are out. CB Andre Chachere (shoulder), DE Victor Dimukeje (foot), WR Greg Dortch (shoulder) and CB Antonio Hamilton (calf) are questionable.
For the Bears, G Teven Jenkins (concussion), LB Noah Sewell (knee) and WR Equanimeous St. Brown (pectoral) are out. RB D’Onta Foreman (personal), RB Travis Homer (hamstring) and TE Cole Kmet (quad) are questionable.
Notable: Cardinals RB Conner is attempting to gain 1,000 yards for the first time despite missing four games due to injury. … Since Murray returned the Cardinals average 5.0 more points per game. … Bears DE Sweat is trying to become the first player to lead two teams in sacks in the same season. His 6 1/2 sacks in Washington is still one better than Jonathan Allen’s total of 5 1/2. … S Jaquan Brisker has six pass breakups in the past six games. … LB Edmunds’ total of four interceptions is tied for the league lead among linebackers and is a career high. … Arizona is 4-1 in its last five Christmas Eve games. … McBride’s 66 receptions is a franchise record for tight ends. … The Bears totals of 14 takeaways and 12 interceptions total since Week 11 lead the NFL. Their 23 total takeaways is tied for sixth. … The Bears’ total of 60 runs 10 yards or longer is third in the league.
KEY INDIVIDUAL MATCHUPS
Bears DE Montez Sweat vs. Cardinals RT Paris Johnson
The first-round rookie tackle from Ohio State will get tested and has had some troubles so far with eight sacks allowed and 11 penalties. Sweat has six sacks in six games and is sure to command double teams in this one. Johnson is graded 62nd among 83 tackles by Pro Football Focus and has good footspeed and size, but Sweat is both strong and lightning fast for a pass rusher. Johnson is 6-6, 313 and faces the 6-6, 262-pound pass rusher.
Bears S Jaquan Brisker vs. Cardinals TE Trey
McBride McBride is more of a U-tight end who will get downfield much like David Njoku did last week against the Bears. McBride is coming off his best overall game in the NFL with 10 catches for 102 yards against San Francisco. Brisker has broken up six passes the last six games but his passer rating against when targeted is 108.5 according to Sportradar. He has trouble in preventing scores with five TDs allowed.
Bears LB T.J. Edwards vs. Cardinals RB James Conners
Edwards is a tackling machine but he’ll need to be in this one because Conners is the one consistent factor in the Arizona offense at 5.0 yards a rush, plus he’ll hurt defenses in the passing game as a receiver but this Arizona coaching staff hasn’t really used him this way much. Edwards started out a bit shaky against the pass in this new scheme but has lowered his passer rating against to 95.8 and a pair of his pass breakups led to takeaways by teammate Tremaine Edmunds.
Bears WR DJ Moore vs. Cardinals CB Antonio Hamilton
Moore is amazingly consistent, with his fourth season of at least 1,157 yards receiving and fifth season in six years with 63 receptions or more. And it doesn’t seem to matter who he has for quarterback. It’s the first time Moore has ever faced Arizona. Hamilton, the former 49ers cornerback, is the steadiest of Cardinals cornerbacks with a 90.0 passer rating against and 62.2% completions allowed, according to Sportradar. He has allowed more TDs than any other season, but it’s only two. He has a one-inch height advantage on Moore.
Bears RT Darnell Wright vs. Cardinals OLB Dennis
Gardeck Gardeck is a 230-pound edge rusher who is vastly undersized but is athletic enough to be in pass coverage. The Cardinals can’t feel comfortable about his chances to stop zone run blocking scheme aimed his way or screen passes, but he has five sacks to lead the team and has a quickness edge. Wright initially was in the top quarter of the league among PFF blocking grades but the long season has gotten to him and he’s graded 55th of 83 tackles, one behind the Cardinals’ highest-ranked tackle, D.J. Humphries. For once, Wright isn’t matched up on one of the league’s better edge rushers.
Bears C Lucas Patrick vs. Cardinals NT Roy Lopez
Normally the center is a help blocker for the guards, but in this matchup against a 3-4 scheme he has a chance to make a huge impact in double team blocks with Cody Whitehair or right guard Nate Davis. That’s because the Cardinals run defense has been very soft up the middle. They’re giving up 4.76 yards a rush in the middle, 30th ranked in the league. Everyonekeeps trying to go there because they have had to defend the most runs up the middle in the league. Lopez’s PFF grades don’t reflect the poor Cardinals directional statistics at defending the run, though, as he’s 34th among 130 interior defenders.
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