Arizona Cardinals: Grades vs Chicago Bears

Sep 20, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Arizona Cardinals running back David Johnson (31) runs for a touchdown during the second half against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Arizona won 48-23. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

Defense:

If you asked me to base Sunday’s grade just on the first one and three-fourths quarters, I would say give them a “D”.  They had a blown coverage for touchdown and allowed Bears running backs Matt Forte and Jeremy Langford to run pretty much where they wanted.

The Cardinals were tied with the Bears at 14 until 3:51 remaining in the first half.  Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was 8-8 until the defense finally started coming around late in the first half.

Cutler’s last pass of the day due to a hamstring injury was picked off by safety Tony Jefferson.  Jefferson returned the ball 26-yards for a touchdown to make the game 28-14 with the extra point.  Jefferson also lead the team with nine tackles including one for a loss.

They managed only two sacks as a team but honestly when you are up 15, 22, 25 points, the pressure is going to let up a bit.  Both sacks though came in the second half when the Cardinals were trying to pull away.

Also getting in on the interception fun was cornerback Patrick Peterson.  Peterson by the way was apparently the culprit in the blown coverage I referred to earlier, this according to Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians.

The defense though needs to put a full 60 minutes together.  Arians knows there is improvement needed but right now they are doing what they need to do to win.  They make a mistake and it doesn’t happen again.

Also busy on Sunday afternoon was safety Rashad Johnson who had seven tackles including one for a loss.  Defensive end Josh Mauro, who had a very good preseason, had a nice day on Sunday as well.  He had four tackles.  He also had one of the two sacks, a tackle for loss, and a pass defensed.

Grade: B+