Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, an eight-time Pro Bowler, did something Sunday he hadn’t done in his 171 previous NFL regular-season games. He caught three touchdown passes.
Fitzgerald finished with eight catches for 112 yards and his three scores, helping power the Cardinals’ 48-23 romp over the Bears at Soldier Field.
Fitzgerald, whose father grew up in Chicago and played in a high school football game at Soldier Field, made himself right at home with TD catches in the second, third and fourth quarters.
“Every catch he made was such a great catch,” Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer said. “He didn’t have any easy catches. For him it is easy, every catch is a routine catch. He is so much more physical than anyone else who plays the game at that position. He’s physical in the running game when you ask him to block linebackers and sometimes safeties. And then you get him one-on-one.
“I started signaling touchdown right when I let the ball go (for a 9-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter). I knew he would get in.”
Said Fitzgerald: “What I am capable of doing, what I have done, it speaks for itself. At this point I’m just happy to be on a team that has a chance to do something special.”
Palmer’s connection with Fitzgerald was the key to his day as he completed 17 of 24 passes for 185 yards and four touchdowns.
Palmer said he noticed a couple of changes made by the Bears secondary, compared with what they showed against the Packers in the season opener.
“I saw a couple shots of Cover-2 that they typically don’t run,” Palmer said. “But we are very familiar with that style of defense, obviously (with Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio) coming from San Francisco and playing them a lot. “
Palmer and coach Bruce Arians credited the Cardinals’ effective running game (115 yards, 4.1-yards-per-carry average) for opening up the short passing game.
“It’s a really tough group to throw the ball effectively downfield (against),” Palmer said. “They don’t give you many shots. … But for the most part it is a bend-but-don’t-break style. We did a really good job of coming out and just being patient and running the ball when we needed to.”
Palmer, Fitzgerald and Co. had to be patient at the start of the game when rookie David Johnson returned the Bears’ opening kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown before all of the fans at Soldier Field could get settled into their seats.
The Cardinals offensive players had to mentally regroup on the sideline after being prepared to take the field right away.
“You have your first 15 (offensive) plays that are kind of scripted. And when David ran the kickoff back, you’re kind of like, ‘Dang, I was going to get a couple of balls thrown to me,'” Fitzgerald said with a laugh.
Palmer, too, had prepared to take the field immediately after Robbie Gould kicked off deep into the end zone.
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“Especially when you win the toss … you get a chance and you look forward to that. Then you have to grab a water and go sit back down, put a hat on and watch,” Palmer said.
“(But) it was a great momentum-builder and it kind of shifts the crowd noise early,” Palmer said.
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