Raising Zona
FanSided

Arizona Cardinals 28 Chicago Bears 20 Halftime

By Scott Allen

facebooktwitterreddit

The Arizona Cardinals are going to need to shore up the defense if they expect to defeat the Chicago Bears

Not a great start to the second quarter for the Arizona Cardinals.  They allowed the Chicago Bears to take six minutes off the play clock and drive 70 yards in 10 plays without much pressure whatsoever and come up with a game-tying score to make the game a 14-14 affair.  However after all said and done it is the Cardinals leading 28-20 at the half.

The troubling part of that drive was they did it without running back Matt Forte who took the series off.  The rushing was done by running back Jeremy Langford.  He carried the ball six times for 21 yards on the drive and scored from one-yard out.

The Cardinals offense came back out and found a first down immediately.  Quarterback Carson Palmer beat a Chicago blitz and found receiver John Brown in the slot.  Then Michael Floyd appeared to get a first down on the very next play only to be called for offensive pass interference.  Sloppy play like that stifles an offense.  Turning positives into negatives is not something you can have, especially on the road.

They recovered though and took the ball downfield.  Once again the Cardinals benefited from a long pass interference call on a pass from Palmer to John Brown.  Three plays later Palmer found receiver Larry Fitzgerald in the end zone for the touchdown.  It was Fitz’s first touchdown of the season.

Two plays after the Bears took the ball over again, Bears quarterback Jay Cutler threw an interception to safety Tony Jefferson.  Jefferson returned the ball 26-yards for the touchdown to make it a 28-14 game.

Bears backup quarterback Jimmy Clausen had to come into the game after the Cutler interception.  Cutler appeared to hurt his hand trying to make a tackle on the interception return.  He immediately headed for the locker room after the play.

Clausen was put into the position of running the two-minute offense, which can be difficult coming into the game cold.  It didn’t work out but punt returner J.J. Nelson muffed the ball and gave the Bears life.  However, given a second chance, Clausen didn’t look much better.  He had balls batted down by defensive linemen Josh Mauro and Calais Campbell. The on third down threw one out of bounds.  However thanks to the field position, the Bears were able to add a Robbie Gould field goal.

On the ensuing Cardinals offensive drive, Palmer had a pass tipped and intercepted by Jared Allen.  It was a fantastic play by the defensive lineman.  It was a third chance for Clausen to score in the final two minutes.  He did find Forte out on the left end for seven yards to give them a shot inside the five-yard line.  It gave them a third and three.  Another Cardinals mental mistake gave the Bears a third and one after half the distance to the goal line.

The Cardinals defense pulled the bend but don’t break though and forced the Bears into a field goal attempt after Jefferson made a great tackle on Forte.  The Bears field goal made the game 28-20 at halftime.

More from Raising Zona

Home/Cardinals News