Cardinals scrape the Bears

Photo by: Bill Smith 

After a tough week 1 loss, the Bears hoped to bounce back in week 2 as the Arizona Cardinals came to town, but sadly that wasn't the case for the 'Monsters of the Midway'. The Bears defense was nowhere to be found in a 48-23 loss to the Cardinals Sunday at Soldier Field. The Bears allowed four touchdowns on five possessions during one span of the game. Not only did the defense give up touchdowns, but the offense and special teams also gave up crucial touchdowns on Sunday. 

The Bears knew they were in for a long day when they gave up a score on the very first game as the Cardinals David Johnson returned the opening kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. The Bears would answer back though as Jay Cutler tossed a 48-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Josh Bellamy to tie the game 7-7 in the first quarter. On the Cardinals first offensive possession they marched down the field and Carson Palmer would eventually connect with Jaron Brown for a 6-yard touchdown giving them a 14-7 lead. The Bears would answer once again though as the Bears put together a drive  themselves and handed the rock to running back Jeremy Langford who punched it in from 1-yard out as the Bears tied the game 14-14. Arizona would react fast and took control as they scored two touchdowns in a span of 52 seconds to make it a 28-14 game. The Bears wouldn't fold when faced with adversity. They generated two turnovers in the second quarter of the game, but weren't able to capitalize with touchdowns as they had to settle for two field goals from Robbie Gould to make the score 28-20 at halftime. 

The Cardinals put an end to the game real quick in the beginning of the second half as they scored touchdowns on their first two possessions of the third quarter making it a 42-20 score. The Bears would eventually add another field goal to their score and the Cardinals would find the end zone one more time to make it a final 48-23 score favoring the Cardinals. The Bears defense could not stop Carson Palmer and the Cardinals offense. Carson Palmer threw for 185 yards and four touchdowns and Larry Fitzgerald caught three of those four touchdowns. The Bears shot themselves in the foot all day, committing 14 penalties for 170 yards.

On the offensive side of the ball for Chicago, Cutler looked good completing 8 of 8 passes for 120 yards and one touchdown before leaving the game with an hamstring injury early in the first half. Cutler will be looked at more later in the week to determine the severity of the injury. 

After this loss, The Bears dropped to 0-2 for the first time since the 2003 season. The 48 point put up by the Cardinals were the most points the Bears have ever allowed at home in franchise history. The Bears are on the road at Seattle next Sunday! 

Bear down!