Imagine a world where the Arizona Cardinals are 6-4 heading into the bye week with two weeks to prepare for an important divisional game at Seattle.
It’s easy if you try.
The Cardinals (5-4) are all alone in first place in the NFC West. The Cardinals have won three straight games. The offense is finding different ways to succeed. The special teams are consistently elite, and an injury-riddled, much-maligned defense that has not allowed a touchdown in the past two home games may get some reinforcements soon if GM Monti Ossenfort makes a move before Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline or Darius Robinson returns to the lineup in the Pacific Northwest.
Not that the defense is complaining about its plight.
“People keep writing us off,” lineman LJ Collier said Thursday, “but these boys in this corner over here gonna grind.”
On Sunday, Arizona did just that, punctuating its recent surge with a dominant 29-9 win against the Chicago Bears despite a decided advantage of Bears fans in the stands at State Farm Stadium.
Kyler Murray only threw for 154 yards and Arizona’s receivers combined for just two catches (both by Marvin Harrison Jr.). It didn’t matter.
The running game topped 200 yards (213) for the second time this season, the special teams were elite in every aspect, and the defense registered a season-high six sacks, sending each coordinator home with something to be proud of.
Let’s start with defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, who welcomed his second child (Dominick Kyzir Rallis) on Sunday morning, leading to a brief moment of anxiety with his head coach.
“I talked to him on Monday morning and I said, ‘Somebody’s got to be ready to call the game if the baby comes at one or two o’clock’ and he says, ‘I’m calling the game,’ so that was cool,” coach Jonathan Gannon said.
“We had a little bit of back and forth [on] what to do vs. [Bears QB Caleb Williams] because he’s a hard player to defend and they’ve got good skill. I loved the plan by him and the defense, how we attacked those guys, attacked protection, cut some guys loose. Credit to the players. The players made plays.”
Then there was special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers, who ought to be in consideration for postseason honors. Punter Blake Gillikin was a weapon again, Chad Ryland was perfect in the kicking game, including a 55-yard field goal that would have been good from 70, Joey Blount downed a ball at the Bears 1-yard line and Greg Dortch’s 27-yard punt return to the Chicago 41 set up the Cardinals’ first TD.
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The coup de grâce was OC Drew Petzing’s play call at the end of the first half with the Cardinals leading 14-9. Facing a third-and-5 at their own 47-yard line with 12 seconds on the clock, the Cardinals were just hoping to tack on a field goal.
Instead, Emari Demercado took a hand off and cut right through a gaping hole, thanks to two perfectly executed blocks that sealed off Bears defenders on the edge. Demercado took it 53 yards to the house and what had been a tight game was suddenly a comfortable 21-9 lead — a lead that felt bigger given the fragile emotional state of the Bears, who lost the week before on a Hail Mary.
“Once I cut up there was a lot of space so I’m like, ‘If you don’t score, you’re gonna be disappointed,'” Demercado said. “Before the play, Kyler told us, ‘Let’s make this one pop’ so that was just our mindset.
“I think they were kind of deflated after that moment.”
So were Bears fans, who left the stadium midway through the quarter with downcast faces.
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Think back to three weeks ago when the Cardinals were limping home after an embarrassing 34-13 loss in Green Bay. They were 2-4, the defense was losing bodies every week, the offense couldn’t get untracked, Petzing was under fire and the rebuild looked poised to stretch into Year 3.
Man were we wrong about these Cardinals. We were wrong about their resolve and we were wrong about their resilience.
The 3-6 Jets are up next in Glendale. A win there would put Arizona in great position heading into the bye week.
That game is all that Gannon will allow his team to discuss despite the growing buzz around his team and its possibilities. Even so, he did finally acknowledge some form of belief in momentum.
“The confidence of executing at a high level and making a bunch of plays within the team, that does carry over,” he said. “They’ve always known this but they’re doing it. They’re playing. They’re making plays. They’re connected.”
Top photo via Image Images: The Cardinals’ Emari Demercado runs for a touchdown against the Bears at State Farm Stadium
