QUARTERBACK
F
Rex Grossman’s overthrow of open Bernard Berrian on the game’s first play was a missed TD and his underthrow of Muhsin Muhammad was intercepted and returned 44 yards to set up an Arizona score. In the first half alone he had two passes intercepted and two interceptions dropped and lost two fumbles on sacks for a passer rating of 17.2. His fourth-down pass in the fourth quarter was batted and intercepted to end a scoring chance.
RUNNING BACKS
D+
Thomas Jones never had much chance on the ground, with just 28 yards on 10 carries through three quarters. Jones caught three passes for 14 yards, but he did not have a memorable return to the city of his NFL draft. Cedric Benson managed an 8-yard reception late in the third quarter.
RECEIVERS
D
Desmond Clark had four catches for 61 yards and Rashied Davis caught two for 31 yards. But all three Bears wide receivers were forced into drops by crushing hits from defensive backs and were never able to get loose in the secondary.
OFFENSIVE LINE
D+
Usually impervious LT John Tait allowed a sack of Grossman by Bertrand Berry, who forced and recovered a fumble. The line was unable to establish any control on those rare occasions when Grossman wasn’t turning the ball over.
DEFENSIVE LINE
C-
Mark Anderson made his first NFL start and collected a sack to force a fumble that was returned for a TD. But against an offensive line ridiculed by its own head coach, the Bears were pushed steadily backward in the first quarter and were unable to get consistent pressure on Matt Leinart through the first half, allowing him to break containment too often when the coverage forced him to hold the ball.
LINEBACKERS
C
Lance Briggs missed a tackle on the first Arizona TD pass and Brian Urlacher missed one on the second. The LBs recovered to do excellent gap filling and limit Edgerrin James to 1.5 yards per carry.
DEFENSIVE SECONDARY
C+
The Cardinals used short, high-percentage throws by Leinart to play safe. Ricky Manning Jr. posted a 6-yard tackle for loss of James and Danieal Manning broke up a third-down pass. Nathan Vasher defended a TD pass attempt and his open-field tackle prevented a third-down conversion. Todd Johnson broke up a third-down conversion with a big hit.
SPECIAL TEAMS
B-
Dante Wesley was flagged for roughing the punter in a costly, odd call. Devin Hester had punt returns of 14 and 22 that were wasted by turnovers by the offense, but he broke an 83-yarder for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Robbie Gould pushed his FG streak to 18 with a 23-yarder for the Bears’ first points.
COACHING
C
A Hail Mary-type heave on a fourth-and-2 in the first quarter was a surprise, but the turnovers in the first half rendered most scheming irrelevant. The Cardinals were playing on short fields on offense and were getting help on defense from the Bears’ ineptness.
