Arizona Cardinals: Finally put all three phases together in victory

The Arizona Cardinals came away from the Windy City with a convincing victory over the Chicago Bears

The Arizona Cardinals offense was pretty consistent all day, scoring in every quarter.  The defense was inconsistent but still had a score.  The special teams was inconsistent but go the game started on the right foot.

The Chicago Bears offense was good early but not so much as the game wore on.  They lost starting quarterback Jay Cutler just before halftime with a hamstring injury.

Cardinals special teams:

Running back David Johnson go things off on the right foot by running the opening kickoff back for a franchise-record 108-yards and it was 7-0 Cardinals before you could blink.  The Cardinals though really shot themselves in the foot at the end of the first half with a muffed punt by receiver J.J. Nelson.  Nelson appeared to be running before he caught the ball with so much field in front of him.  He’ll learn those types of mistakes will kill you.

It turned out the mistake only cost the Cardinals three points.  Against better teams though, that may not end up being the case.

Cardinals defense:

The defense had its issues early on.  Bears receiver Joshua Bellamy caught his first ever touchdown pass as he was left wide open.  It was also his first ever catch in the NFL.  However, he was quiet the rest of the day.  Bears running back Matt Forte played well in the first half and finished with 61 yards on 15 carries but most of that came in the first half.

Also playing well was Bears backup running back Jeremy Langford.  He had a nice offensive drive in the second quarter as well.  He carried six times for 21 yards, including a touchdown run.  You wonder why the Bear went away from him, even after Cutler left the game?  It was only a 28-20 game at halftime and they got to start the second half with the ball.

You won’t get any complaints from me though.  The Bears you could tell played it real conservative with Clausen at the helm.  The Cards defense got two sacks on Sunday, both against Clausen in the second half.  Josh Mauro had one sack and Markus Golden and Kareem Martin shared the other sack.

Then there were two interceptions.  The defense started turning it around right before the first half ended with the pick six by safety Tony Jefferson.  That play ended Cutler’s day.  The in the second half, cornerback Patrick Peterson picked off Clausen to set up another score.