Bear Digest

Bears and Cardinals Week 9 In-Game Blog: Cardinals 29, Bears 9 FINAL

Reporting and analysis on the Chicago Bears game against the Arizona Cardinals in game, as Caleb Williams and Co. try to rebound from a terrible loss in Washington.

Gene Chamberlain

Trey McBride beats Kevin Byard to the goal line for Arizona's first-quarter touchdown on a tight end-around run.
Trey McBride beats Kevin Byard to the goal line for Arizona's first-quarter touchdown on a tight end-around run. / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
In this story:

Fourth Quarter

  • If the Bears think the media was in a frenzy last week, wait until they see it this week. Game over.
  • Drive ends on incompletion to Allen at the sideline with 4:35 left and Clayton Tune replaces Murray.
  • Gerald Everett makes an appearance on the stat sheet with a quick, short catch. Nice to see yah. So far that was a really big free agent signing for Ryan Poles.
  • Bears now in throw underneath mode to Swift as time is running down. below seven minutes.
  • Bears right tackle Darnell Wright out of the game with a knee injury.
  • Kevin Byard receovers a fourth-and-1 fumble by DeMercado and even if the Cardinals recovered the ball was coming back to where he fumbled from because it was fourth down.
  • Tory Taylor tries to punt sky high to force a fumble on the free kick. He executed it but they actually caught it.
  • Safety via penalty in the end zone and the Cardinals up their lead. Another questionable call but at this point no one really cares. Cardinals 29, Bears 9
  • Tyrique Stevenson's PBU against Harrison and the Cardinals punt. It's downed on the 1 even though it looked like his head was in the end zone. Officials have decided to give the Cardinals every call so expect it will be at the 1 and not the 20. Can't blame them. It's easy to kick someone when they're down.
  • With Eberflus' team playing so poorly on the road at 3-18 now, it's easily the kind of thing that can lead to a firing. Even if you give him the win in London, when the Bears technically were home team, 4-17 isn't something to go do handstands over or build a case for being retained.
  • A third-and-18 dumpoff to Johnson for 4 yards ends the drive. A 64-yard punt and Tory Taylor has to be feeling at home. The Bears offense is about as good as Iowa's was last year.
  • Another sack. Larry Borom took the edge rusher but there was no one to handle Budda Baker blitzing.
  • This is the kind thing that happens when you decided not to practice on Wednesday. Everyone made a big deal about how Stevenson walked off the practice field on Wednesday when he found out he was being benched this week. They didn't even have practice on Wednesday.
  • Bears stop the Cardinals from getting a first down and Ryland hits a 55-yard field goal. Cardinals 27, Bears 9
  • Who does Carl Williams blame this defeat on? He's already blamed the coaches.
  • Everybody but the trainer is blitzing Williams and he doesn't have a chance with a sack in Bears territory which pretty much finishes it. When they came out at halftime, the CBS sideline people caught Matt Eberflus and asked how they overcome their poor start and he said the do it because they have each other. Well, they better go get someone else. They need more.
  • Wild throw and it's third-and-10. Williams tries to scramble out and gets sacked. He didn't have a chance on that one as there were pass rushers everywhere, and the Bears will go for it on fourth-and-11. Quarter ends.
  • Perfect out throw to Allen for the first down extends the drive at Arizona's 44. Then he follows it with a side-armed throw to avoid the pas rush. Incomplete and nearly an interception.
  • A third-and-long sweep by Johnson doesn't catch anyone by surprise and Bears face fourth-and-4 at the Cardinals 49 so they'll go for it.
  • Nice first down pickup to Odunze on a play Williams extended with his feet to the right. They had every receiver running 20 to 25 yards downfield except Odunze. Have to question that play design.
  • Caleb Williams has to throw a block to prevent a big loss by Swift. A pretty good job. Almost, no, definitely better than his passing today. They still lose 2 on it.
  • With that field goal, we can stop talking about the Bears defense owning a streak of holding teams to 21 or lower. Thankfully. It's a stupid streak to keep track of anyway. Keep them to 17 points, that's something to track. Not 18, 19, 20, 21.
  • Talk about no respect, the Cardinals try to run it around left end on third-and-12, thinking they can do what they've been doing. This time the Bears stop it. Ryland makes a field goal but there is a flag. Maybe the refs saw another nosehair coming off of Dexter's head and landing on top of the helmet of the center. Cardinals 24, Bears 9
  • Jacob Martin with a wrap around sack, reached around the blocker to throw Murray to the ground and leaves Arizona in third-and-12.
  • Now the injuries start. Andrew Billings is hurt and walks off. Seems OK but he's pointing at his left upper chest which might be a pec injury. We'll see.
  • They had the pass stopped but DeMercado outraces Tremaine Edmunds around to the outside for the first down. Terrible defense by Edmunds on the play. All he had to do was get outside of DeMarcado and they would have been kicking a field goal because he had inside help.
  • The Cardinals join the list of teams to have fired coaches and rebuilt since after the Bears started their rebuild. This 4-4 start for the Bears is going to go down real hard because they needed a strong start to get past the late part of the schedule. That's all gone now.
  • McBride hurdles Jaylon Johnson in the open field on a bootleg catch and Arizona gets it to the Bears 25.
  • Murray a zone read for the first down was the only thing they haven't shown. And now have.
  • Defense starting to collapse. A 15-yard Conner run and a short pass for another first down and Arizona gets to midfield, then across on a Conner run off right tackle. When you can't stop the run, you can't stop the opponent. Looks like the pre-Montez Sweat Bears when they couldn't stop the run or the pass.
  • The pass blocking hasn't been that bad considering Braxton Jones is out but as this game goes along and they're down by 12 or even more, it's going to become far more difficult to get it to a receiver. By the way, is Cole Kmet on this team still?
  • Completion to Allen but well short of the sticks and they punt it away.
  • Sack of Williams as he holds the ball too long on second down and Bears face third-and-long.

Second Quarter

  • Caleb Williams 11 of 24 for 137 yards in the first half. Looks jumpy and is playing like he usually does on the road when he's facing pressure. Came in with a 45 passer rating on the road when pressured. His passer rating is 64.1.
  • Bears left with four seconds to go. Half ends. The Bears have given up 148 yards rushing. Montez Sweat effect in this one is the lack of a run stopper on the right side. DeMercado broke his run out right past where Sweat normally would be.
  • The Bears commit the unthinkable stupid mistake and forget the run. DeMercado runs it 53 yards for a touchdown. Virtually untouched. Cardinals 21, Bears 9
  • They dump it off for 12 on first and on second down and the Bears give them the sidelines. They're almost at midfield.
  • Cardinals have 26 seconds to try to move it and two timeouts.
  • Santos tries it from 53 squeezes in just over crossbar and inside the upright. Cardinals 14, Bears 9
  • Swift takes a short pass for 9 but loses it out of boundsand on third-and-6 Allen is wide open for the first down and drops it. No excuse or anything about the throw. Just dropped a third-down pass.
  • They rush up to the line but they have plenty of time. And Williams gets sacked with 49 seconds left. He had room to run and waited, then tried to escape the pocket and a pass rusher from behind got him. Should have run it or thrown it away. Now they're out of field goal range.
  • Another one over the middle to Odunze for a first down at the Cardinals 38.
  • Another false start. But they overcome it with a slant to DJ Moore for 16 to the Cardinals 48. Perfect timing.
  • Williams changed something and took a shot downfield to Moore and overthrew him but there's a Cardinals injury timeout. Moore was not open and it would have taken a needle to threat that one along the sidelines.
  • Bears just aren't physical enough to match up against the Cardinals and the great equalizer is Sweat but he's not playing.
  • Bears at the 30 and Swift on a toss right for 4, then he takes it for 8 on a checkdown from Williams and the first down. Swift made that play with an open-field cut to dodge the tackle. 2-MINUTE WARNING!!!
  • People don't give Montez Sweat enough credit for his run-stopping ability because of his pass rushing. He leads the team in tackles for loss and they're getting beat on the ground right now.
  • Benson with a 1-yard TD run and Bears were called for offsides on Noah Sewell, in for the goal line defense. Cardinals 14, Bears 6
  • On second-and-inches they try to get tricky and Murray is nearly sacked, he overthrows wide-open receiver in a panic.
  • Conner pounds his way to the 1 and gets slammed down out of bounds. Fourth tackler got him.
  • Dexter with an illegal leveraging call for putting his arm on a player's back and leaping. First down Cardinals. Pretty anal retentive ref.
  • Chris Williams with the sack and the Bears red zone defense does it again, forces a Chad Ryland 32-yard field goal. But a flag was thrown on it.
  • Murray with a terrible pass that hits Stevenson's back for an incompletion.
  • Conner up the middle for 4 on first down and they're at the 6.
  • Gervon Dexter came in way too far and left his gap wide open on the Conner run to the 20. On second-and-6 from the 16, Conner makes a jump cut and goes off left tackle to the 10 for a first down.
  • So much for the Terell Smith-Tyrique Stevenson alternating. Smith is out now with an ankle injury. They don't need to worry about pass coverage as Benson breaks one up the middle to the Cardinals 48 and then Conner breaks one to the Bears 36.
  • They a closing the roof. Been through the desert on a horse with no name. Felt good to be out of the rain.
  • Santos in the rain and it actually had hail coming down just before the kick but he hit a 53-yard field goal. Cardinals 7, Bears 6
  • An incompletion and no gain on a run and Williams looking at third-and-10. He throws behind Moore incomplete, his sixth straight incompletion.
  • They opened the roof and it's raining in the desert. It isn't slowing the Bears. Swift gets the first down at the 35. It's raining hard.
  • Bears at Arizona 46 and Swift takes it behind Darnell Wright for 9.
  • Reddy Steward comes through. Strips Marvin Harrison of the ball and Elijah Hicks follow up on the Peanut Punch type play with a recovery for the Bears. The undrafted rookie from Troy was brought up from the practice squad today because of Kyler Gordon's injury situation.
  • The Bears can't give up rushing yards like they did on the TD drive and they stop Trey Benson after a 2-yard gain.
  • Looked like interference on Starling Thomas V, incomplete to Allen but overthrown anyway. So the Bears' Cairo Santos from 29 yards. Cardinals 7, Bears 3
  • One-timer at the pylon to Odunze and nothing doing so it's third-and-10.
  • Dante Stills lined up offsides. First down Bears at the 11. They try another bootleg pass and Williams won't throw it to Keenan Allen so he throws it away. The Bears face second-and-10.
  • After an incompletion on a short throw with no one open, Williams on third-and-4 hits Allen for 2 yards near the sideline but flags flew.
  • No huddle and Roschon Johnson in with a punishing 6-yard run off left guard.
  • Odunze wide open downfield against blown coverae at the Cardinals 23.
  • Bootleg pass to Moore at the 32 and it's second-and-9
  • Still don't understand what they were looking at. Marcedes Lewis wasn't moving at the snap and nothing that happened should have been a penalty.

First Quarter

  • Swift busts one for 10 and the first down. Right behind Teven Jenkins. Quarter ends with another presnap call against the Bears. They said Marcedes Lewis moved but if he did, it was one of his nose hairs.
  • Williams throws it away with Budda Baker blitzing.
  • They run McBride on tight end-around left for a TD. It's debatable whether he got in but replay can't show that angle at the pylon very well and if he didn't make it then it would be an inch away. So TD. Cardinals 7, Bears 0
  • On third-and-1 at the 18, Murray hits his tight end McBride for 15 yards against the zone at the 3.
  • Stevenson comes up for a tackle on a short completion. Cardinals at the Bears 22.
  • Cardinals at the Bears 41 and Stevenson is in but that doesn't matter. Conner runs right out of Tremaine Edmunds' tackle attempt after 6 yards and gets 15 yards.
  • A 39-yard punt reutrn by Greg Dortch burns the Bears and sets the Cardinals up in Bears territory. A major weakness of special teams has been covering punts.
  • Williams overthrows Allen, who was open against the zone in a crack between safety and cornerback.
  • Bears start at their 16 and get 2 on first down from Swift but an incompletion doesn't hold a nice rocket thrown to the sideline. Third-and-8.
  • First Bears drive was promising even without points. Maybe on the second drive they get that elusive first-quarter TD. Only had one so far this year.
  • Tyrique still on the bench on second drive and his replacement, Smith, makes a big hit on second down after a short 4-yard completion. Cardinals face third-and-6.
  • Trey Benson catches a pass from Murray on the run on first down and takes it upfield for a first down at the 34.
  • Williams sacked on third down and long after the penalty. Once again, penalties rear their ugly heads at the worst time. Another inside-the-20 punt for Tory Taylor. Cardinals start at their 16.
  • Moore catches a first-down pass with what looked like simultaneous possession but the Bears were in an illegal formation. Larry Borom needed to line up different. He has a good excuse for not knowing the rule. He's just off of IR.
  • A run by Swift and pass to him and it's third-and-8 at the 37 of Arizona.
  • The drive hits a key point after a pass to Odunze to the Cardinals 43. Third-and-2. DJ Moore in the slot for the first down.
  • Williams tries the same thing again and the result is an incompletion and Allen called for shoving off. second-and-16.
  • Williams waits way too long to throw over the middle to Keenan Allen on the post and is lucky it didn't get picked. But after the incompletion he pulls off a bit of magic on the run as he will do, throwing to Rome Oduze at the Bears 49 for a first down. Rolling right and almost out of bounds he found Odunze.
  • Bears start at the 20 and go no huddle after a 7-yard pass to DJ Moore over the middle and they get the first down with a D'Andre Swift run
  • Terell Smith and Kevin Byard gang up in zone on Harrison to stop third down pass incomplete and the Bears have a three-and-out with their revamped defense.
  • Dominique Robinson with a big stop on second down for a yard. First time he's played this year.
  • Cardinals with the ball first and they try to beat up the Bears inside to James Conner, a particularly phyiscal yet fast runner. He gets 3.

Pregame

The Tyrique Stevenson situation and Bears leadership thoughts about their cornerback is apparently far worse of a situation than previously believed. According to Jay Glazer of Fox, on Wednesday Stevenson found out he wasn't starting and his reaction probably won him no friends in the locker room.

"On Wednesday when he found out he wasn't starting, he actually pulled himself out of practice," Glazer reported on Fox. "That didn't exactly go over great inside of that locker room."

With the Bears shorthanded in the secondary due to Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon and now Stevenson being out when the game starts, it won't be shocking if Stevenson eventually gets in quickly. With no Montez Sweat, their pass rush is sure to suffer. With 60% of their starting secondary out, their coverage is sure to suffer.

If the Bears aren't down two touchdowns at some point early, it will be amazing.

During the week, Caleb Williams was asked if he thinks of just becoming "Superman" and taking over a game. He has the Superman logo on his Twitter page. It might be time for Superman to do something with Sweat and three-fifths of the secondary out on defense. They might need to outscore the Cardinals.

"I don't think the thought of 'it's time to be Superman' kind of pops in my head," Williams said. "I think there are times where you go out there and make plays and everyone calls it a Superman play. But, without the small things of the details that go into it–whether it's a broken play or it's just a routine play while going through your reads, there's no sense of one Superman person on the team.


"I think the trust and belief comes from the teammates and going out there and executing at a high level."

It's a team sport.

Still, they could use Superman or some other superhero with all of this adversity hitting the team.

Rather than be Superman, maybe Williams might be better off asking family members not to be on social media. His father started an uproar last week. As if the Bears needed another controversy.

Twitter: BearsOnSI

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

BearDigest.com publisher Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.