4th and Goal(s): Are the Bears Still in the Hunt or Just Prey for NFC's Top Seed?
Arizona comes to Chicago atop the conference while Bears have to play as good as ever to remain a contender
The overall NFC playoff picture still features a place for the 4-7 Chicago Bears, who are currently one game behind the last wildcard seed, the Washington Football Team.
While the Bears still have something going for them mathematically, realistically they won’t look like nothing other than roadkill for the real contenders on the road to the NFC postseason if they are not able to secure a victory this Sunday against the current top-seeded Cardinals (9-2).
There is nothing to really sugarcoat about this one — the Cardinals come in with the best record in the league and even with their Thanksgiving victory, the Bears still showed most of the issues in escaping Detroit that have defined their sub-par losing 2021 campaign so far.
Both the stakes and the competition rise exponentially this Sunday and that’ll be the case if the Cardinals are without some of their best players, including show-stopping quarterback Kyler Murray.
Let's go ahead and take a dive into the four goals the Bears should adhere to in order to steal a victory against the Cardinals at Soldier Field.
Slow down the track meet - Perhaps the expected poor weather conditions in Chicago Sunday will assist the Bears in slowing down this high-powered Cardinal offense. Even after Bears quarterback Andy Dalton — announced to start this game on Friday — put up 300 yards passing against the Lions it still just equaled only 16 points.
Think about that — the win-less, terrible Lions gave up 300 yards passing and the Bears still couldn’t break 20 points. These Cardinals score around 30 points a game even with their backup quarterback Colt McCoy, who will start if Kyler Murray is still unavailable. Defensively, the Bears need to find a way to keep the Cardinals to around 20 points for the Bears offense.
Keep the Cardinals off the field - Like clockwork, head coach Matt Nagy had his quarterback Dalton on Thanksgiving and surely Nagy was thankful because he was able to throw out all the stuff he’s not comfortable with and simply throw the ball beyond all excess. It’s amazing how Chicago’s coaches continue to ignore the best part of the offense, which is the run game.
Welp, the lesson better be learned after last week if the Bears are truly serious about winning this game. An imperative part to the game-plan has to be to aid the defense’s quest of keeping the Cardinals around 20 by controlling the clock offensively with the run game. Run the damn football, run it like ex-Bears coach Lovie Smith would say — “get off the bus running the ball.”
Survive as David did - In the NFL there are particular ways for a David to slay a Goliath on any given Sunday. In fact, such upset wins happen with regularity, but it usually goes down one way. The far less superior team has to execute at a high level then let/force Goliath into enough mistakes that they beat themselves.
Only issue with this plan for the Bears is that they routinely make enough self-inflicted mistakes like horrendous situational play calling or infuriating penalties or simply unable to execute when the team has to have it. Perhaps in a vacuum the Bears this week can be the team that executes and is opportunistic, if it doesn’t happen then playoff hopes die by Goliath.
Bear weather and luck - Its no question the Bears need to play a near-perfect game to beat the Cardinals, but they’ll need help beyond that as well.
Of course, the Bears can’t rely on the Cardinals to make mistakes but the team has to be ready if opportunity knocks. A lot of hoopla is made about “Bear weather” and memorable games such as when quarterback Rex Grossman replaced Kyle Orton after halftime against the Falcons, who were so cold on a Monday night by the lakefront they were just dying to get back to Georgia. Or when Jared Goff, perfectly comfortable in his mediocrity in Southern California, forgot how to play football in his first visit to Chicago for the L.A. Rams when placed opposite of the top-ranked 2018 Bears defense.
Will it be the environment or the attitude said environment brings its home team that will be enough to potentially kick-start another wild upset on the lake front?
Ryan Bukowiecki covers the Chicago Bears and professional football for WARR