GLENDALE, Ariz. — A rough week for the Chicago Bears got considerably worse Sunday evening in the desert as the Arizona Cardinals looked superior in all phases in a 29-9 victory.
A Bears defense that was missing three starters — defensive end Montez Sweat (shin), safety Jaquan Brisker (concussion) and nickel back Kyler Gordon (hamstring) — became worn down by the Cardinals running game.
James Conner rushed for 107 yards on 18 carries, Trey Benson added 37 yards and a touchdown and Emari Demercado broke off a 53-yard touchdown with four seconds to play before halftime to stake the Cardinals to a 21-9 lead.
The Cardinals finished with 213 rushing yards, while quarterback Kyler Murray threw for 154 yards on 13-of-20 passing.
Meanwhile, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams spent too much time scrambling for his safety behind a banged-up offensive line missing left tackle Braxton Jones. Right tackle Darnell Wright also went out with a knee injury in the fourth quarter.
The Cardinals (5-4) recorded a season-high six sacks of Williams, who at one point was sacked on three straight plays over two drives in the fourth quarter.
The Bears offense started slowly again and never really warmed up. Williams completed 22 of 41 passes for 216 yards. D’Andre Swift led the running game with 51 yards on 16 carries.
The Bears (4-4) never found the end zone, settling for three Cairo Santos field goals and getting shut out in the second half. They were 3 of 14 on third down.
The Bears had a tumultuous week leading up to the game — at least from a public perception standpoint — as players openly questioned coach Matt Eberflus’ in-game decisions in Week 8 and the team dealt with cornerback Tyrique Stevenson’s viral lapse in focus on the Washington Commanders’ winning Hail Mary.
Week 9 photos: Chicago Bears at Arizona Cardinals
More Top Picks Best Clip On Blue Light Glasses
Eberflus said Friday he thought the players put together a strong week of practice while bouncing back from the ugly loss. But not much went right for the Bears.
After the Cardinals went into halftime up 21-9, Chad Ryland pushed them further ahead with a 29-yard field goal on a 13-play, 69-yard drive that took 7:54 off the clock.
On the Bears’ next drive, Williams completed a 6-yard pass to Keenan Allen on fourth-and-4. But he was off the mark on the next two throws to DJ Moore and then took two sacks, including for a 16-yard loss on fourth-and-11. That gave the Cardinals the ball at the Bears 40.
They went up 27-9 on Ryland’s 55-yard field goal, then got a safety on Swift’s chop block in the end zone for the final margin.
The Bears lost cornerback Terell Smith to an ankle injury in the first half and defensive tackle Andrew Billings to a chest injury in the third quarter.
Smith started in place of Stevenson, who was benched for his actions on the Hail Mary last week. Stevenson rotated in on the Bears’ third defensive series.
Here’s how the game unfolded.
- Arizona Cardinals’ 53-yard TD run was a gut punch to the Chicago Bears. Matt Eberflus: ‘I can make a better play call’
- Column: Matt Eberflus and the Chicago Bears find themselves reeling after another embarrassing loss
- Tyrique Stevenson says he was ‘a little hurt’ by benching but accepts the decision; Caleb Williams says he’s OK after ankle issue
Tyrique Stevenson benched vs. Cardinals
Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson won’t start Sunday as part of the consequences for his actions during the Week 8 loss to the Washington Commanders.
Stevenson was interacting with the crowd rather than paying attention to the start of the final play, on which Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels threw a 52-yard Hail Mary for the winning touchdown to beat the Bears 18-15. Stevenson was several seconds late to the play and then out of position from where he was supposed to be.
Coach Matt Eberflus declined to say during the week whether Stevenson would face disciplinary measures, but ESPN and NFL Network first reported Stevenson will not start against the Cardinals and instead will rotate in with cornerback Terell Smith. Both outlets said it is a short-term demotion from the starting lineup.
Stevenson apologized to fans on social media last Sunday night and to teammates during a team meeting Monday.
Bears coaches said they still support Stevenson despite the lapse in focus.
“He’s had a really good week of practice,” Eberflus said Friday. “He’s done well with refocusing in. And I appreciate his efforts moving into the next phase, which is Arizona.”
General manager Ryan Poles said on the Bears pregame show on WMVP-AM 1000 that the team had some “powerful conversations” with Stevenson this week.
“The biggest thing is this is a moment for a young player where there’s potential for growth through adversity,” Poles said. “He’s a strong-minded person that I think is going to learn from this and become a better player because of it.
“There’s an accountability part of things, but there’s also the understanding that Tyrique is part of this family. He’s a Chicago Bear, and we’re going to build him back up so that he’s playing good football for us. He’s played good football for us in the past. We’re not going to let a situation like this break him. We take a lot of pride in that.”
Inactives: Montez Sweat among 4 Bears starters out
Bears defensive end Montez Sweat won’t play Sunday against the Cardinals as he deals with a shin injury he suffered in Week 8.
Sweat didn’t practice Wednesday or Friday and was limited Thursday. It will be the first game Sweat has missed for the Bears since he joined them via trade last October. He is second on the team with 3½ sacks behind Gervon Dexter’s four.
Sweat will be one of four starters to miss the game.
The Bears previously declared out left tackle Braxton Jones, who is dealing with a knee injury. They brought offensive tackle Larry Borom off injured reserve Saturday, and he is likely to start in Jones’ place. Rookie offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie is also out with a calf injury.
Safety Jaquan Brisker will miss his third straight game as he recovers from a concussion he suffered nearly a month ago. Nickel back Kyler Gordon returned to practice Friday in a limited fashion but remains out with a hamstring injury.
Running back Khalil Herbert and defensive tackle Byron Cowart are also inactive for the Bears.
The Cardinals previously declared out defensive lineman Darius Robinson and offensive lineman Jonah Williams. Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting, offensive lineman Christian Jones, tight end Travis Vokolek, wide receiver Xavier Weaver and defensive lineman Naquan Jones are also inactive.
Halftime: Bears fail to reach the end zone, trail 21-9
Cairo Santos made three field goals, but that was all the scoring for the Bears in the first half Sunday as the Cardinals took a 21-9 lead.
James Conner rushed for 73 of the Cardinals’ 148 yards on the ground in the half to spark the Arizona offense. The Bears looked like they would go into halftime down five, but Emari Demercado broke for a 53-yard touchdown with four seconds to play in the second quarter to make it a 12-point game.
Meanwhile, Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had another slow start, completing 11 of 24 passes for 137 yards. Running back D’Andre Swift had 10 carries for 34 yards. The Bears finished the half with five penalties for 32 yards, several of them costly.
The Cardinals took a 7-0 lead with 46 seconds to play in the first quarter on tight end Trey McBride’s 2-yard touchdown run.
They started the drive in good field position after Greg Dortch’s 27-yard punt return to the Bears 41-yard line. Conner had a 15-yard run, and Murray hit McBride for a 15-yard pass on the five-play drive.
Santos made a 29-yard field goal with 11:51 to play in the second quarter to cut the Cardinals lead to 7-3.
The Bears had first down at the 11, but Williams threw three straight incompletions: a throwaway, an overthrow to Rome Odunze in the back of the end zone and a missed connection with Keenan Allen in the end zone.
The Bears got the ball back quickly when undrafted rookie cornerback Reddy Steward forced wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. to fumble. Safety Elijah Hicks recovered and returned the ball 9 yards to the Cardinals 46.
The ensuing drive started right as a heavy rain poured down on the field, and the Bears settled for Santos’ 53-yard field goal to cut the Cardinals lead to 7-6.
The Bears defense came up with a red-zone stop on the next Cardinals drive. But on a 32-yard field-goal attempt, defensive tackle Gervon Dexter was called for leverage, a 7-yard penalty that gave the Cardinals a new set of downs.
Trey Benson scored on a 1-yard run for a 14-6 lead. Santos made another 53-yarder late in the second quarter to cut it to 14-9.
The Bears’ first-quarter woes continued as they went scoreless again despite a promising first drive.
They had two costly penalties on the drive: an offensive pass interference call on Allen and an illegal formation penalty on Larry Borom. The latter set the Bears back to third-and-8 at the 37, and Williams was sacked on the next play to push the Bears beyond field-goal range.
They went three-and-out on their second drive with two missed connections between Williams and Odunze and Allen.
Catch up on the rest of our coverage.
More Top Picks Best Mini Itx Graphics Cards
What to watch for in Week 9 — plus our predictions
Left tackle Braxton Jones already has been ruled out after suffering a knee injury against the Commanders. The Bears are likely to replace Jones with Larry Borom, who suffered an ankle injury in the preseason finale against the Chiefs and spent the first eight weeks on injured reserve.
“It always sucks seeing guys go down,” Borom said. “I’m just thankful I’m able to come back and be able to help.”
Borom returned to practice last week and said he doesn’t have any more physical hurdles to clear to be ready to play. Though it has been awhile since the 2021 fifth-round pick has played, he has started 23 games over three seasons in his career, and offensive line coach Chris Morgan said he has stayed prepared.
Left guard Teven Jenkins was limited Wednesday and Friday with a knee injury and sat out Thursday. But coach Matt Eberflus said Jenkins looked good, indicating that he could start Sunday.
Beyond Jones sitting out, safety Jaquan Brisker will miss his third straight game while recovering from a concussion, and offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (calf) also will be out. Read more here.
‘I let the moment get too big’
Less than 24 hours after his viral lapse in focus on the Commanders’ winning Hail Mary, Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson stood up in a full team meeting and attempted to take accountability.
It was a play, he said, that the Bears practiced so often they could “handle on any day with our eyes closed.” But he confirmed he was out of place.
“The brief message is I apologize to the boys for letting them down,” Stevenson said. “I let the moment get too big, and it’s something that can never happen again and won’t ever happen again.” Read more here.
- Column: Tyrique Stevenson’s total obliviousness will be part of his Bears story for years. You can’t go un-viral.
- What just happened? Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on Bears’ stunning Week 8 loss.
- Column: ‘Heartbreaking.’ How 17 seconds turned into a devastating Hail Mary loss for the Bears.
‘It’s just got to stay in-house next time’
When Matt Eberflus held his weekly meeting with the Bears leadership council Wednesday, the coach and players had a lot to address as they picked up the pieces from the 18-15, last-second loss. Two days earlier, several of the Bears’ eight captains publicly voiced questions or concerns about coaching decisions that were made in the fourth quarter.
Quarterback Caleb Williams called the session a “grown-man talk,” during which players and Eberflus voiced their thoughts about what went wrong. Read more here.
- Column: Is Matt Eberflus feeling the heat after the Bears’ crushing loss? And why does this all feel so familiar?
- ‘Sunday comes fast.’ As criticism of Matt Eberflus heightens, the Bears work to purge last weekend’s crushing loss.
‘I had trust in it’
Offensive coordinator Shane Waldron said “there’s always valid criticism when things don’t work out’”— but repeatedly noted he was confident in the third-and-goal handoff to Doug Kramer.
Waldron’s call to hand the ball off to Kramer, an offensive lineman, on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line in the fourth quarter has been a major storyline this week. Kramer, who had never had an NFL carry, didn’t control the handoff from quarterback Caleb Williams, and the Commanders recovered the fumble.
Waldron stopped short of saying he shouldn’t have made such a risky call when the Bears were in position to take the lead with 6 minutes, 21 seconds to play. And when he was asked whether he would make the call again, he said yes. Read more here.
- The Caleb Williams File: Assessing a slow start — and a flash-filled finish — in the latest Bears loss
- Tracking Caleb Williams: How the Bears QB is performing in his rookie season
‘We deserve to be seen’
Things starting changing in Illinois three years ago, when the Chicago Public League partnered with the Bears and others to launch a girls high school flag football league. Twenty-two teams participated that first season in 2021. Last year, it expanded to include more than 100 schools across the state.
This February, the IHSA board of directors added flag football to its roster of sanctioned sports. Six months later, baiduhai photojournalist Eileen T. Meslar and reporter Jonathan Bullington began shadowing the Lane Tech team to document its triumphs and setbacks as it tried to remove that asterisk and claim the state’s first girls flag football championship title. Read more here.