The winless Chicago Bears hosted the 1-1 Arizona Cardinals this Saturday night at Soldier Field and after what many had hoped would be a “turn around” game for the Bears, lost 14-9. Was this the turnaround game that the Bears and their fans had hoped for or would this be the same kind of game that the Bears have been playing this preseason in a never ending show of potential regular season futility.
The scoring started when Cardinals quarterback Derek Anderson hit rookie wide receiver Stephen Williams on a 27 yard touchdown pass to put the Cardinals up by seven in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the Cardinals made it 14-0 when quarterback Matt Leinart hit wide receiver Steve Breaston on a 13 yard touchdown pass.

Chicago Bears kicker Robbie Gould would add a field goal (22 yards) in the fourth quarter to make it 14-3. Third string quarterback Dan LeFevour tossed a three yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias to make it 14-9 (the two point conversion failed). This is how the game would end.

Once again, we saw what happens when an offensive line can’t provide its quarterback with the proper pass protection. Not only did Cutler get sacked and get hit he also had to run for his life sometimes and wasn’t given a ton of time to be creative. This means that we still haven’t seen everything that the Bear’s new offense has to offer as it can’t even get off the ground, so to speak, to put something together.

The passing game needs the help of its offensive line in order to have any remote chance of success this coming season. Granted, there are a few things that the Bears have been doing that they wouldn’t normally do during the regular season. This includes not giving a tackle help with a premier pass rusher (in other words using a running back or a tight end to help with the blocking on that side of the offense). This has made a difference in how the offensive line, in particular Chris Williams, has been able to hold up.

The running game, when it was used, did go well and both Chester Taylor and Matt Forte had decent games. Forte didn’t play that much but Taylor shined and showed us that the Bears made the right move when they signed him this offseason.

Defensive end Julius Peppers even started to show his stuff in this game and even though it may not seem like it the Bears did get some decent pass pressure on the Cardinals quarterbacks if you go back and look at the tape of the game. There were several times where the Bears almost got to the quarterback, applying enough pass pressure to force him into not making the throw that he wanted to make. If the Bears can get a lot of pressure on opposing quarterbacks then they should be able to play much better on defense.

Special teams play was a bit better as long snapper Patrick Mannelly made it back and coverage teams played better. Hopefully the Bears will be able to find the right combination of players there and get things going for the regular season.
The Bears will travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns in the last preseason game of the year. This is generally the game that teams use to evaluate their second and third string talent and allow the coaching staff to evaluate anyone that might be on the bubble in terms of making the team.

While the Bears roster is pretty much set at the top there are still some positions that need to be decided upon with the reserves. Thursday’s game will be their chance to shine and get noticed and hopefully, for their sake, make the roster.