Chicago Bears Score and Recap (Week 9): Cardinals 29, Bears 9 – Unprepared Bears Crushed by Cardinals
The Bears traveled to Arizona hoping to shake off their heartbreaking loss against the Commanders on a Hail Mary last week. Instead it was a complete coaching debacle, Chicago was completely unprepared and the Cardinals pounded them 29-9.
Arizona got into scoring position late in the first quarter after a long punt return by Greg Dortch. TE Trey McBride hauled in a short touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to put the home team on top 7-0. The Bears got a 29-yard field goal from Cairo Santos and then recovered a fumble from receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to set up a 55-yard kick.
The Cardinals put together a 12-play drive to set up a Trey Benson running touchdown with time running down in the second quarter. Chicago responded again with another 53-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14-9 with 26 seconds left before half.
Then, amazingly, the Bears had another breakdown on the final play of a half. Arizona ran a draw play with running back Emari Demercado from their own 48-yard line with about 10 seconds left. Demercado sprung free on the play and raced all the way to the end zone for a back-breaking TD that made the score 21-9.
Chicago’s offense totally ground to a halt after that and quarterback Caleb Williams was completely under siege for the entire second half. The Cardinals kicked a couple of field goals and picked up a safety as they cruised to a blowout victory. (Box score)
Why the Bears Lost
They were even less prepared for Sunday’s game than they had been for the one in Washington. The injuries to the o-line badly hindered the entire offensive unit.
Key Moment
It’s absolutely inexcusable to give up touchdowns two consecutive weeks on plays to end a half. The Cardinals were not even trying to score at the end of the first half and somehow the Bears were caught completely flat-footed. That mistake basically ended the game on Sunday.
Stats That Matter
- Williams was sacked six times and threw 41 times for 247 yards. Inexplicably they left him in the game with under two minutes left and he took several unnecessary hits.
- One bright spot Sunday was Rome Odunze, who had 104 yards on seven catches.
- Chicago ran for a not-so-nice 69 yards as a team in this game.
Bottom Line
There is no sugarcoating it, this was coaching malpractice by Matt Eberflus and company. The Bears were woefully unprepared yet again and the players seemed to be rebelling against the staff throughout the week. Even more troubling, things are moving in the wrong direction with the problem seemingly getting worse every game. Then at the end of the contest a completely baffling decision to leave Williams in when the outcome was well decided and compounding it by calling passing plays that left him exposed to additional punishment. Eberflus should be fired tomorrow but if not he cannot be the coach in 2025, this is just unacceptable.
Next Up
The Bears limp back home to Soldier Field on November 10 for a matchup against the New England Patriots starting at 12:00pm CT on FOX.
