Preview: How Cardinals Defeat Bears

The Arizona Cardinals need to do these three things.

Oct 27, 2024; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (1) throws the football against the Miami Dolphins during the second quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

The 4-4 Arizona Cardinals have won back-to-back games and maintain a tie for first-place in the NFC West.

Arizona is back in the desert this weekend for a battle with the Chicago Bears, who are also exceeding expectations and are currently in the hunt for a playoff spot. It may not be a battle of titans, but it is an enticing game to keep an eye on.

With the Cards' hoping to extend their winning streak to three-games, they have to have a good game plan heading into their showdown with the Bears. Thankfully for them, I have constructed a three-step plan to take down Chicago.

It starts with a very obvious step and one that has proven success more often than not this year...

Step one: Pound the rock with James Conner

The Bears' run defense is fine, allowing 120 YPG. However, they're surrendering a disgusting 4.7 YPC, which is far more important than the yards allowed. Run heavy teams like the Colts and Commanders found good success against Chicago and a team like the Cardinals can find an equal amount of production.

It starts with James Conner, who continues to be the workhorse for the Cards' offense. When Arizona wins football games, more often than not it's attributed to good performances from the Pro Bowl running back and it's likely they'll lean on him once again to beat Chicago.

It doesn't help any that the Bears have a terrific pass defense and will likely eliminate Marvin Harrison Jr. from the game plan thanks to ace corner Jaylon Johnson. To move the ball on offense, Arizona has to commit to the run game and Conner will likely be the main source of their production.

Step two: Sell out on D'Andre Swift

After a slow start to the year, Swift has exploded the last four games for nearly 400 rushing yards and four touchdowns. His 5.4 YPC also demonstrates how great he's been. Chicago is also 3-1 in those four games and would be a perfect 4-0 if not for a crazy Hail Mary last week against Washington.

With Swift running the ball as well as he has, it stands to reason that the Bears will give him the keys to the offense and ask him to lead the way. This is where the Cardinals' defense has to step up the most and find a way to slow down the bowling ball in Swift.

Although Arizona is one of the worst defenses against the run, surrendering 140.9 YPG, they dug deep to shut down JK Dobbins of the Chargers in a Monday Night Football win a couple of weeks back, so it's perfectly reasonable they can do it again. Right now, the Bears offense goes as far as Swift goes, so if AZ can sell out and hold Swift in check they have a great chance to get the win.

Step three: Make Caleb Williams uncomfortable

Williams has had plenty of highs and lows as a rookie and as of late he's been backed by Swift to literally carry the offense while the number one overall pick goes through some growing pains. The Cardinals need to put that to a halt this weekend.

Like we just talked about, selling out on Swift is a top priority. If they manage to do that, the next step will be to make Williams as uncomfortable as possible. Williams has had to play behind arguably the worst offensive line in the league and has been sacked 23 times in seven games. When Williams is uncomfortable, the Bears' offense becomes predictable.

The Cardinals have struggled heavily to rush the passer this season, but they have found ways to dial up creative blitz packages to at least make up for their poor pass rush. AZ will again be without Darius Robinson and the defensive line is beat up, but Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis have shown the willingness to get creative to dial up pressure.

Do that against the Bears and watch the offense crumble. Even with a bad pass rush, they face an equally bad if not worse offensive line. Someone has to win that battle and I believe in the Cardinals to do it.