On Saturday night, the Arizona Cardinals and the Chicago Bears dueled it out in a battle of two of the NFLs oldest Franchises. Unfortunately, the Arizona Cardinals were bested by the Chicago Bears 24-23. Except for the effort of Safety Tyrann Mathieu and Quarterback Carson Palmer there wasn’t much for Cards fans to be pleased about, as the team was very inconsistent and left a lot of fans scratching their heads – worried about what the season may hold. Although, some might say it is only preseason and not to think too much of a loss, but this game didn’t reassure fans that the 2016 season was just a fluke season.
Offense:
- The one huge positive for the Arizona Cardinal offense on Saturday Night was Quarterback Carson Palmer. The 37-year old NFL veteran looked very promising when he wasn’t getting knocked around. Carson was 9 for 14 on his passes with 1 touchdown and a passer rating of 99.4 against a very solid Chicago defense. For a lot of Cardinal fans the eye popping moment for Palmer came in the middle of the 2nd quarter were he made a beautiful read and throw for a touchdown on 4th and goal. This left a lot of Cardinal fans – such as myself – very hopeful that Carson is back to his old ways.
- I’ll say it, the Cardinal offensive line was awful and couldn’t hold a block against an above average Chicago Bears pass rush. During the few series that the Cardinal offense played it seemed like Quarterback Carson Palmer was on his back or on the run every other play. However, this is the very first game all 5 starting offensive linemen were on the field together so maybe it could be just chemistry issues for now. If the starting offensive linemen have continuous troubles protecting Carson Palmer then don’t expect much from the Arizona Cardinals in 2017.
Defense:
- Safety Tyrann Mathieu seems to have reclaimed his honeybadger mojo against the Chicago Bears. Throughout training camp Cardinal fans have waited patiently for Mathieu to make a play to reassure that his swagger is back and thankfully it seems to be. This play came early in the 2nd quarter were the Chicago Bears offense was threating to put 7 on the scoreboard, but before they had a chance to strike Tyrann Mathieu jumped in front of an out route and intercepted a ball thrown by Bears starting Quarterback Mike Glenon. If the Cardinals get a healthy Tyrann Mathieu for the 2017 season then they are prime to dominate opposing offenses.
- It seemed like – with Bears star running back Jordan Howard injured – this could be a chance for the Cards defense to flex their collective muscles against the Bears defensively. Unfortunately, the Cardinals were absolutely pushed around versus a very average rookie running back Tarik Cohen who had 11 rushes for 77 yards. Overall, the Cardinals defense gave up 102 yards against the Bears and have many worried that this could become a problem for the Cardinals in 2017 if they cannot stop opposing offenses running backs.
Special Teams:
- Almost a year and half later and we are still worried about the Cardinals Special Teams. On Saturday Night, the Chicago Bears returned a missed 62-yard field goal by Phil Dawson and took it all the way for 6 points. For the most part, the Cardinal Special Teams has been fairly consistent throughout preseason but when any Special Team mishaps do come into play, hold your breath because you never know what could happen.
Outlook
- The Arizona Cardinals look to continue their preseason against the Atlanta Falcons this weekend. The Cardinals will treat this game as a dress rehearsal for the 2017 season as the Starters will play most of the game to shake any rust that might be left. Still, after a poor preseason game against the Bears we’ll see if the Cardinals can ease fans minds this week against the Falcons.
