The Arizona Cardinals path to finding a victory may find another obstacle this Sunday against the Chicago Bears
When the Arizona Cardinals schedule first came out, it was easy to think in either direction. Either it could be a great schedule in September because they have three of the first four games at home. It could also be a disaster because of who they are playing.
It like like so far the latter has taken hold with the Cardinals at 0-2 and not looking good at all. However on the flip side, you have a Chicago Bears team that is 1-1 and one play from being 2-0.
What: Chicago Bears at Arizona Cardinals
Where: State Farm Stadium, Glendale, AZ
When: 1:05 p.m. Sunday
TV: FOX 10 (Dick Stockton, Mark Schlereth)
Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (Dave Pasch, Ron Wolfley, Paul Calvisi)
When everyone talks about the Bears, they talk about two things for the most part these days, linebacker Khalil Mack and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Mack has made an immediate impact with his new team.
After being traded by the Oakland Raiders just before the season started, Mack already has two sacks, an interception returned for touchdown, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. That’s domination in just two games.
For the Bears offense, it has been alright. Trubisky has been much better than Cardinals quarterback Sam Bradford for sure. He has thrown two touchdown passes and two interceptions, both in a week two victory over the Seattle Seahawks.
Bradford has the two interceptions for the Cardinals but does not have a touchdown pass yet. Hopefully that changes this week. If it doesn’t, he may be looking at the game from the sidelines in week four and beyond.
He will also need to stay upright. For the most part he has been, that hasn’t been the big issue. Accuracy has. Mack and company will make you throw the ball quicker than you want, not exactly a good formula for a Cardinals win this week.
Don’t count anyone out, not even the Cardinals. They’ve been embarrassed two weeks in a row, on both offense and defense.
Two guys they were counting on, linebackers Haason Riddick and Deone Bucannon have been missing in action for the most part. They haven’t played many snaps.
The secondary needs to close the gap on the wide open holes they are leaving for opponent receivers. More importantly up front, the Cardinals need to stop the run.
The Cardinals will have their hands full with Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen. They can’t let them get seven, eight, nine yards per run or it will be another long afternoon.
In the end, will scaling the playbook back as Cardinals head coach Steve Wilks said would happen, help the cause? If it doesn’t next week should be replacing players, not plays.
It is hard to see a victory come in week three. At home, anything can happen but unless some magically changed in practice this week or they’ve magically come up with a new offensive coordinator, we should see a lot of the same. Bears 27 Cardinals 10