Bears and Cardinals In-Game Blog

A live in-game blog from Soldier Field by BearDigest's Gene Chamberlain as the 4-7 Chicago Bears host the 9-2 Arizona Cardinals, looking to build on a Thanksgiving Day win over Detroit.

Fourth Quarter 

• Bears are 4-8, Cardinals 10-2.

• Cardinals have it at the Bears 47. Conner finally has some running room in the middle for 6. Third-and-1 and Bears use second timeout.

• Onside kick fails and Bears use first timeout after a first-down Conner run of 4.

• Dalton beats the blitz with an 8-yard TD to Grant. A beautifully executed play under pressure. If they hadn't made so many turnovers earlier, it might have meant something. Dalton hits Graham for the 2-point try. A 12-play drive in 3:38. Cardinals 33, Bears 22

• Cardinals doing a poor job of prevent defense and Bears quickly get downfield to the 8-yard line, facing fourth-and-4.

• Bears in fourth-and-5 at their own 30. Cardinals show all-out blitz and just bring partial blitz, but Dalton makes them pay with deep ball for 24 yards in middle to Kmet.

• Dalton's four interceptions matches a career high.

• Surprisingly, little chanting about Nagy going on but I think it's because no one is left. The stands are about one-third full now. Who cares. Season's over.

• Murray a 3-yard TD run and they botch the snap on the extra points. Cardinals 33, Bears 14.

• Lineman Zach Allen picks off Dalton screen to Montgomery and that's the ball game. Returns it to the Bears 12.

• Threads a needle to Kmet but he's jolted and drops it. Cardinals secondary doesn't cover as well as Green Bay's but they do hit when they arrive.

• Dalton hits Kmet and Mooney and the Bears are at the 48. Clock down to 7 1/2 minutes. Then Sam Mustipher called for an illegal snap and they're marching backwards again.

• Quinn gets into the backfield on third-and-goal wildcat play and gets a TFL at the 7. Prater kicks a 25-yard field goal with 8:31 left in the game. Cardinals 27, Bears 14.

• Conner stuffed on second-and-goal a the 1.

• Heavier fog and rain coming in now, appropriately.

• Murray gets outside the pocket and finds AJ Green at the 10 for 14 yards. Then Conner out of the wildcat forges ahead to the 1.

• Dalton throws his third interception, this time right to Murphy with no one around. Ball appeared tipped by Chandler Jones.

• Arizona given a sideline warning for something. Herbert follows the blocking for 5 off left tackle. Then Dalton tries to force it into Mooney in a tight zone with three defenders around and it's nearly picked. On third down the blitz finally comes and gets there. Down goes Dalton for an 11-yard loss and Bears punting from their own 15 with the wind at O'Donnell's back.  They knock down O'Donnell trying for a block. A 15-yard penalty for Dennis Gardeck when he really didn't need to do it.

• Dalton and Byrd not quite on the same wave length on second down and Bears then convert on a slant to Mooney for 12 yards to the 21.

• Damiere Byrd with a short pas over the middle for breathing room to the 9. 

• Blunder by Grant not fielding a punt but in the drizzle and cold it's hard to blame him. Ball rolls dead at the 2.

• Bears sent a blitz and Murray threw it into the ground on a pass to Kirk with Crawford covering.

• Arizona third-and-3 at its own 49. A false start makes it third-and-5. Tackle Kelvin Beachum.

Third Quarter

• Murray scrambles right side for 5 and goes OB after beating Bilal Nichols to the edge. Quarter ends.

• Arizona from its 39, and Conner gets 2 tough yards, nearly has head taken off by Trevis Gipson.

• A third-down pass interference penalty on the Bears' Xavier Crawford ruins their chance for a three-and-out.

• Arizona at their 19 after a well-covered return by Moore.

• This is where the Bears really need their defense to do something. They rarely get turnovers these days but it's exactly what they need. With one interception this year by a cornerback so far, they could use one now. But Arizona is excellent at regaining momentum by going no-huddle and controlling tempo.

• Bears go from a power-I, shift out of it to shotgun and Mr. Red Zone Jimmy Graham is there for a 1-yard TD pass. It ends a 13-play, 7:03 drive over 73 yards. They needed three defensive penalties to finally get there. Cardinals 24, Bears 14.

• On second-and-goal inside the run, Dalton tries to sneak and fails to get in. 

• Cardinals called for defensive holding on an incompletion to the back of the end zone. Marco Wilson flagged on throw to Rodney Adams. Kind of a picky call. Montgomery barrels into the end zone off left guard. They may look at this as his knee could have hit just before the goal line. Review says he's inches short.

• Montgomery with a spinning, highlight-reel type of run for a first down to the 5 with 4:11 left in the third quarter. Thompson hurt for Cardinals but appears fine, and leaves the field running following a play stoppage. First-and-goal Bears.

• Dalton gets it to Montgomery but only for 2 at the Arizona 13.

• Now it's fourth-and-1 as they try to set up an ill-advised wide receiver screen and it's knocked down by Chandler Jones. As usually, they get no blocking surge but Montgomery sticks his nose in and gets the first down. They give him 2 yards.

• Perfectly timed throw to Montgomery leads him for an 11-yard gain. Third-and-1.

• Dalton on the run throws and is hit late on an incompletion. No call for that but they flag Larry Borom for being downfield illegally. Dalton was hit in the open field late, and low, which officials should flag.

• Finally some chunk yardage, a reverse and pass with Dalton lining outside and getting the chance to throw off the reverse to Grant for 34 yards. Bears at the Arizona 34.  

• Bears from their own 40.

• The drive goes straight backwards. A false start and they face third-and-12. Montgomery catches a late pass out of the backfield for 10 but a flag flew in the Arizona's secondary on the play. Arizona flagged for illegal hands to the face, and it's tacked on to the end of the play for a first down.

• The Bears have done exactly what you need to do against the Cardinals except they turned over the ball. They've run it, gone up the middle, thrown to the backs but you can't turn it over twice on tipped interceptions out of the receiver's hands.

• Dalton to Montgomery on the run, both of them. It goes for a first down on a 10-yard run.

• Herbert must have been told he was tip-toeing around because he hit the kick return in hard this time to the 27.

• Murray drives the Cardinals with short passes and the running game to the Bears 26 but it's third-and-17 and the Bears flush him out, forcing a scramble and fourth-and-7 from the 15. Matt Prater comes on for a 33-yard field goal.  A nine-play, 51-yard drive in 5:08. Cardinals 24, Bears 7

Second Quarter

• Incomplete to Moore and it's second-and-10 with 13 seconds left. The Cardinals just run out the clock. Bears with 74 rushing yards, only 59 passin

• Conner runs up the middle and the Bears can't stop a simple run for 11 yards and the first down. Arizona calls timeout with 17 seconds left as they reset the clock, which seems generous. That slow-developing run took at least 10 seconds.

• Conner loses 4 on an RPO run. Cardinals let clock run. Run up the middle and Bears call timeout. After a 5-yard run it's third-and-9 at the 17. Both teams with a timeout left but there are just 23 seconds.

• Some isolated "fire Nagy" chants can be heard, but nothing en masse.

• Tried drawing Cardinals offsides and then just took a delay-of-game penalty with 1:21 remaining. Now they will punt.

• Bears are 28th in the league converting 4th down.

• A 2-yard run up the middle by Montgomery and the clock runs, then Byrd can't snatch a low outside throw.  On third-and-8 from the 45, Kmet catches it but is dragged down after a 6-yard gain. Bears face fourth-and-2 at Arizona 49.

• Andy Dalton with a much better first half than his stats will say. The two interceptions were the fault of the receivers entirely.

• Murray tries to scramble past Roquan Smith. That's no slow Round 4 linebacker. Smith tracks him down and knocks him out of bounds short of the first down. Cardinals must punt. Grant with a nifty return of 8 when cornered and Bears at their own 43. TWO-MINUTE WARNING!!!!! (actually 1:51)
• Wow, Arizona then gets a delay-of-game penalty. Looks like what the Bears usually do coming out of a timeout. Must be contagious and they've caught it.

• Cardinals let the clock run down to 2:39 and call timeout. Obviously trying to limit the Bears' time with the ball if they fail on third-and-3 but they need to get real. The Bears aren't scoring in the final two minutes of the half and all they've done is make it tougher for themselves.

• Burns then follows a good play with a bad one. On a WR screen to Moore, he just stands there instead of attacking and Moore gets 7 yards.

• Artie Burns yanks the throw over the middle to Ertz away and it's second-and-10 as it falls to the ground.

• Arizona gets the ball at its 28 after a holding call on the return. The Cardinals have 3:25 left in the half. Officials made a mistake. They are starting at their 19 and move it back another 9 yards.

• Throw is short of Mooney and incomplete, very nearly went for another pick. First booing noted.

• Mooney takes a short pass for 8 but doesn't get the first down and Kmet was penalized for holding. not sure why they took the penalty but it won't hurt them. 

• Dalton sacked by Murphy. Well, that's actually a good thing. They lost only a yard. Usually they get a penalty coming out of a timeout for a delay of game or false start.

• Bears starting on the 25 and go back to the run. Montgomery gets a couple.  Then they take an awful long time in the huddle and get to the line with seven seconds left. Dalton has to call a timeout.  It's a frequent thing to happen for the Bears offense ... confusion.

• Bears defense had its head spinning on that drive. The no-huddle didn't let them catch their breath either.  The ball was moving one way and players another way. Just a mess. Looked like the season opener against the Rams. After Crawford missed the tackle, there was no one else down the sideline until the goal line.

• Eno Benjamin gets just 1 off right tackle and Cardinals on third-and-2 throw to Conner. He catches a short pass, breaks Xavier Crawford's poor tackle attempt and goes for the touchdown. That took only 3:10 to go seven plays and 74 yards. Cardinals 21, Bears 7

• At Bears 43 after a 2-yard pass to Conner, Christian Jones misses an open-field tackle on 12-yard pass. Then Cardinals go no-huddle out of wildcat and Rondale Moore gets 7 around right end to the 24.

• Conner off right tackle for 8. Defense looking closely at Murray on that one. Then Conner breaks an RPO run off right tackle for 21

• Cardinals to start from 26. Nice high kick by Cairo Santos but Bears didn't cover it well.

• A 13-play, 77-yard drive for the TD.

• Crossing route underneath to Damiere Byrd and Dalton underthrows it a bit but it goes for the first down to the 1 and Montgomery bursts in for the TD on first-and-goal from the 1 with 8:50 left in the quarter. Cardinals 14, Bears 7

• Montgomery dragged down for a 2-yard loss on second down as they become a bit too predictable.

• Bears running it as well as they ever have with a pocket passer not posing a threat as a runner, with 71 yards rushing so far. What have they got to show for it? Two interceptions and a 14-0 deficit.

• Zach Allen of Arizona injured on a run off left guard for 6 by Montgomery. 

• On fourth-and-8 Dalton steps up and delivers to Grant in the middle of a zone. A top-level catch by Grant, who you wouldn't think would be involved downfield. Bears at the Arizona 16.

• On third-and-11 Jakeem Grant on a WR screen right gets 4 and the call is booed but it was a good call. Cardlinals like to blitz on those downs and didn't.

• Cody Whitehair and Jordan Phillips going at it after the play but no call. First down nets nothing, then Byrd can't hold low toss by Dalton. 

• Huge run for 24 yards by Montgomery stiff-arming Baker with the same play they ran earlier off  right tackle.

• Arizona usually likes blitzing in its own territory or in plus red zone territory.

• Montgomery gets 5 on a toss to the flat and on third-and-5 Cardinals show blitz but back off. Dalton dumps it to Montgomery for 6 and a first down.

• Down 14-0 doesn't exactly let the Bears execute the kind of ball-control offense you need to beat Arizona, but they have to try. It's their only shot.

First Quarter

• Why the Bears let the first-quarter clock run out makes no sense. They're losing by two touchdowns, not winning. Time is precious.

• Montgomery stopped for no gain as the quarter ends. Cardinals 14, Bears 0

• O-Line blasts a big hole for Montgomery on first down for 13 off right tackle.

• Herbert doing some more tip-toeing and returns kick 22 yards. Not hitting in hard like he did early in the year.

• So far Arizona has taken the ball at the Bears 15 and at the Bears 28. The Bears defense is up against it and what do they get from the offense, two turnovers and really short fields for the Cardinals to score.  Someone needs to start the Nagy chant.

• Murray scrambles around right end for the TD when no one was open. Cardinals 14, Bears 0 

• False start gives the Bears a break, Ertz moved on the edge. Third-and-goal at the 9.

• Murray fumbles again and falls on it for a 2-yard loss on first down and overthrows Christian Kirk on second down in the corner of the end zone, covered by Xavier Crawford.

• Murray for 8 off left edge on zone read. Then a 5-yard run by James Conner. First and goal for the Cardinals at the 2.

• Budda Baker intercepts ball Kmet didn't handle and returns it 77 yards.  Kmet had the first down and somehow couldn't handle a ball that was right to him. Dalton helped tackle Baker or it was a TD. Baker should be in the Pro Bowl this year.

• Dalton in the flat to Montgomery for 3 and Bears face third-and-6 at the 20.

• Herbert tip-toes into the middle and gets only 1.

• Herbert given another carry and sticks with the blocking for 3 and a first down just inside the 24.

• Khalil herbert cuts back and breaks two tackles for 7 yards. 

• Dalton scrambles on first down for zero gain, goes for a sack at the 34.

• Nice dump-off pass to Montgomery from Dalton and he was wide open for 12. That's how Carolina and Green Bay hurt the Cardinals

• Bears have yardage on the cutbacks but the point of attack isn't opening. 

• Bears at the Arizona 49 after the penalty and Montgomery goes off right guard for 4.

• Mooney with a short catch and illegal blow to the head by Byron Murphy Jr.

• Montgomery for 9 straight up the middle, where Cardinals are most vulnerable. Then he gets the first down on a 2-yard run to the 36.

• Going for fourth-and-3 from the 21 is the kind of thing you can do when you are 9-2 and you're facing a 4-7 team that can't score.

• It was very obvious Hopkins had the TD. Officials deliberated for a long time and initially one signaled out of bounds but then they finally said touchdown. Replay confirmed this. Can't understand what the problem was. Just 4:05 into the game after Andy Dalton threw the INT.

• Jaylon Johnson beaten by DeAndre Hopkins for the 21-yard TD pass on fourth-and-3. Cardinals 7, Bears 0

• Murray finds Ertz on third down but not  for the first down. Cards get 9 and will go for it on fourth-and-3.

• Offsetting penalties on second down so on the replay, Cardinals get 1 on a run up the middle by Conner.

• Kyler Murray fumbles first play and recovers. It's the ninth time he's fumbled this year and recovered all of them. Robert Quinn awarded his 12th sack, a cheap sack on the play.

• Jalen Thompson with the interception on third-and-6 on ball tipped. CCardinals at the Bears 28.

• Huge hole on second down up the middle for Montgomery and he stumbles making the cut. 

• Bears start with Alex Bars as an extra blocker and get nothing. It's stopped working few games ago.

• Bears receiving after losing kickoff and they will start at 25 after touchback.

Pregame

• 10:40 a.m. No one chanting "fire Nagy" yet.
• Roquan Smith going to test it. He ran well in the pregame but that was more of a long sprint, not stopping and starting and going backwards. We'll see if his hamstring holds up on wet field.

INACTIVES

Cardinals

CB Jace Whittaker

WR Andy Isabella

QB Trace McSorley

OL Justin Pugh

Bears

QB Justin Fields

WR Allen Robinson

WR Marquise Goodwin

DE Akiem Hicks

S Teez Tabor

RB Damien Williams

Extremely windy, 42 degrees and slight rain 2 1/2 hours before kickoff at Soldier Field.

 

Bears will be facing the A team this week.

That sounds more like an escape then leaving New Jersey to go away for practices in warmer weather.

The Bears have one interception by all their cornerbacks combined (Jaylon Johnson) this season. Diggs has nine this season.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven