PLAYER NOTES
–LB Leonard Floyd will take a long look at playing with a smaller cast on his broken hand this week. He said downsizing will help. The hand has been healing for about a month. “Most definitely wanna downsize, at least have something with my fingers free or some of my hand free,” Floyd said.
–G Kyle Long (ankle) practiced Wednesday and his situation isn’t as unpredictable as last week when he had soreness. Long missed two straight practices last week and then practiced Saturday before playing Monday. “He’s actually feeling better after this game than he was last week,” coach Matt Nagy said.
–DB DeAndre Houston-Carson (forearm) was the only Bears player on the injured list, and practiced on a limited basis on Wednesday.
–RB Jordan Howard has only 29 carries through the first two games but could be in line for more carries Sunday. “Those guys, just like quarterbacks, you want to try to get in a rhythm,” said coach Matt Nagy. “The offensive line, running backs, tight ends, they all realize how important it is to get that running game going.”
–LB Danny Trevathan collected a pair of sacks and eight tackles in Sunday’s win over Seattle to earn NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors. “Like I said, (the award) could happen to anyone: Prince (Amukamara), Akiem (Hicks), Khalil (Mack), those guys played their tails off, so I’m just happy it was me. And I’m just going to keep the guys ready,” Trevathan said.
PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: C Cody Whitehair has made a gradual improvement in his shotgun snapping since the middle of preseason, and last week easily had his best effort since changing techniques to grasp the ball near the end rather than toward the middle. Playing on the road has been a problem for him in the past with snaps, but some of this has to do with noise and the Bears can expect in Arizona they’ll have almost a 50-50 fan noise ratio because of the large number of former Chicagoans who always attend Bears games played there. Whitehair’s blocking hasn’t really been a problem, and the longer they can keep him at center without moving him to guard, the more effective he’ll be. A problem looming on the horizon is Kyle Long’s ankle. He was limping after last week’s game but did practice Wednesday. It’s a possibility he’ll have to battle this old injury problem all year. If they have to rest Long at some point, the Bears would have to weigh moving Whitehair to guard and putting rookie James Daniels at center. But the most effective scenario at this point would simply be Daniels at guard because he’s not yet familiar enough with all the duties of the center in this offense, which includes calling blocking changes at the line.
GAME PLAN: The Bears have yet to effectively let running back Jordan Howard tee off on an opponent as a battering ram, except for one drive near the end of their loss to Green Bay. This is the defense to do it against. For one, this offensive line personnel grouping has always been more effective blocking the 4-3 defenses than 3-4s. They did struggle last week against Seattle’s 4-3 when the Seahawks put a safety in the box and dared Mitchell Trubisky to beat them. Even if the Cardinals do this, the Bears have to anticipate they can be effective enough run blockers to get Howard the gaps he needs to exploit. It’s a dangerous tactic for a defense against the RPO offense, anyway. Howard can gash a team that blitzes too much. Howard has only had 29 carries in two games, and Trubisky will be better at getting the ball downfield out of play action, or at least with the threat of a run in the Cardinals’ minds. If Adrian Peterson could almost get 100 yards at his advanced age against the Cardinals in Week 1, Howard should be able to roll behind Chicago’s inside zone blocking.
For the first time, the Bears face a more conventional, less mobile passer. They have a league-high 10 sacks against two of the NFL’s toughest quarterbacks to sack. So they need to continue mixing and disguising coverages, to buy their pass rushers some hesitancy by Sam Bradford before he throws. Hesitancy against Chicago’s pass rush can mean a Khalil Mack sack. Another effective tool might be the A-gap blitz early in the game by Roquan Smith to get Bradford worrying about the possibility of blitzes later.
QUOTES TO NOTE: Matt Nagy on Mitchell Trubisky handling Cardinals blitzing defense: “They do a really good job in moving guys around and disguising when they’re coming and where they’re coming from. So for him, I think the biggest is with trying to keep his eyes downfield and maybe seeing any tendencies that we see, to use those as much as possible. And again, for us, it’s just really honing in and not trying to go too crazy worrying about them too much. Let’s just worry about — like I’ve said, with this offense, if you know where the ball should go and react to what they’re giving you, then you can feel comfortable in the offense.”
–Mitchell Trubisky on the Cardinals blitzing: “We’ve just gotta have great communication between me, the O-line, the receivers and have some good checks in place so when they bring the blitz, that hopefully we can make them pay and just continue to establish the run game and keep the pressure and stay on with the chains. We just don’t want to fall behind the chains and get into third and manageable situations to allow this offense to be successful.”
–Trubisky on short work week due to Monday game, overconfidence, etc.: “You’re a little less sore coming out to practice, everybody has more energy after a win, and we’re feeling good about ourselves right now, but it’s time to move on, go to work and get ready to stack another one. That’s just been the mindset to be 1-0 this week and stack these wins. So we’re just really focused and locked in on what we got to do now.”
–Nagy on using Jordan Howard more than 15 and 14 carries, like in first two games: “Those guys, just like quarterbacks, you want to try to get in a rhythm. I didn’t think that running back, there wasn’t a time where we got into multiple runs and he was really feeling into the groove and into a rhythm. Like anything you want to be able to have those opportunities. In that game we just didn’t have it. Those guys, the offensive line, running backs, tight ends, they all realize how important it is to get that running game going. He’s a guy that relies on that, but his vision was fine.”
–LB Danny Trevathan on whether there could be defensive resentment building after offense has scored 16 and 17 points in two games: “The offense is doing its thing. We already know they can get that rolling and it’s going to be fireworks. On the defensive side, we just know we’ve got to have our offense’s back and just go out here and be the best defense on the field.”
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
–Bears WR Allen Robinson II, who had 10 catches last week, vs. Cardinals CB Jamar Taylor, whose three career interceptions came in 2015. The Bears can move Robinson around quite a bit to get him in favorable matchups, and avoiding perennial Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson on the defense’s left side is a good idea. Taylor has enough height (5-foot-11) and athletic ability to battle the 6-3 Robinson on sideline jump balls, but the Bears haven’t really exploited this much. It’s difficult for a defender to get inside position on Robinson to prevent slants or the skinny post, and the Bears have exploited this well. Mitchell Trubisky seemed to establish that connection with a go-to receiver last week that the offense had lacked throughout preseason and Game 1.
–Bears LT Charles Leno Jr., who has allowed one sack this season, vs. Cardinals DE Chandler Jones, who led the NFL in sacks last year with 17 and has one in the first two weeks. Now the Bears get to know what it feels like to go against an elite pass rusher of Khalil Mack’s ilk. Jones has had to switch back to a 4-3 scheme and the end spot this year, the first time since he left New England. He had 28 sacks the last two years as a 3-4 outside linebacker. Leno has been more than adequate in pass protection so far, but the Bears have largely relied on the shorter passing game. They haven’t gone to the seven-step drop for extended periods, and when they did, Mitchell Trubisky was rolling out. They need to avoid putting Trubisky as a target in one place so Jones can pick apart Leno.
–Bears CB Prince Amukamara, who had his first interception since 2015 last week, vs. Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald, who has 10 catches. Even in his 15th season, Fitzgerald can turn the one-on-one battle into a mismatch, although his days of winning downfield consistently seem to be in the past. He hasn’t averaged more than 11.1 yards a catch since 2014. Fitzgerald’s strength and size make him effective when the Cardinals move him into the slot, and he would be matched up on Bryce Callahan then. It’s a situation the Bears have to expect Arizona to attempt to exploit.
