MNF Liveblog: Bears vs. Cardinals

By Brett | Permalink | No Comments | October 16th, 2006 | Trackback

The Bears. Monday Night Football. Hi-Def. Consider us sufficiently stoked, and ready to liveblog the living hell out of tonight’s game.

Here are just a few of the many things that are giving us THO an hour before kick off:

Chicago’s Pass Rush vs. Matt Leinart
Chicago has one of the best D lines in the league, even if starting DE Adewale Ogunleye doesn’t play. Arizona’s offensive line is hideous. Matt Leinart is a rookie (although we anticipate hearing variations “he’s not your average rookie QB” all night long). That, friends, is a recipe for bloodsausage. We love bloodsausage. It’s one of our NFL Logue approved football snacks.

Chicago Style Pizza
Speaking of appropriate football snacks, there is perhaps no food that is more appropriate to eat whilst football spectating than pizza. Those of here at NFL Logue HQ will be dining this evening on LouMalnati’s deep dish, Chicago style, fuck off pizza, courtesy of this guy, who had the pies rush delivered from Chicago to the West Coast today. We admit, we’ve been known to bitch about the US from time to time, but c’mon….where else in the world can you have a pizza delivered from 2000 miles away in one business day, and have it arrive in time for kick-off? That’s freaking unbelievable, and makes me damn proud to be an American.

The arena that was almost named Pink Taco Stadium
We’re pretty bummed that this didn’t actually end up happening. Had that deal gone through, our perception of corporate stadium naming rights would’ve been forever altered.

Fantasy Implications
OK, so no one cares about our fantasy team or league, but, it tuurns out there are several match ups in the Yahoo MFHT league that hinge on how tonight’s game plays out. We like it when that happens. Nothing better than a good Monday Night skew in the old fantasy league. For those of you keeping score, we have two guys going tonight — Robbie Gould and the Bears defense– while our opponent has Anquan Boldin going on the other side. As luck would have it, we’re so far out in front of the unfortunate piss-ant that had to play us this week, there’s really no foreseeable scenario in which we could possibly lose. So we got that goin’ for us. Which is nice.

Alright, enough screwin’ around…MNF liveblog in 60 minutes.

CHI 24 — ARI 23

Pregame
5 dudes, 1 dog, 3 Pizzas…we got a serious sausage fest going here.

Pink Taco looks fuggin’ sweet…Orton’s neck hair, not so much.

Of course, we can’t into the game without a Ditka smoking a cigar and talking about ‘85. Ditka’s a total blowhard, but that was actually a pretty sweet intro.

Arizona is 1-4 for the 4th straight year? We knew they were bad, but jeebus….that’s consistency right there.

Kornheiser with a sweet intro on the Bears, Joe T counters with the predictable Matt Leinart love…ah, we’re not gonna hold it against him yet. If he’s still on his nutz when the guy 4-13 for 34 yards and a pick, then we’ll start bitching.

1st Quarter

Bears ball first, in good field position after a crappy Rackers kick off.

Bears 3rd and long after missing deep on the first play, Grossman almost picked….Bears go 3 and out. Grossman look antsy. Cards lucky it’s not 7-0 already, though, after the 1st play.

Cards Ball on their own22

Leinart completes on 3rd and 5 against the blitz. Nice play.

Cards work the play action on 1st down. Look like they’re in a nice flow early.

Edge James looking good so far. Horrible year so far. This would be a perfect time to get going.

Cards with the ball on the Bears 43. Leinart complete to Boldin for another 1st! WTF Chicago??? Nut up.

Edge up the gut again to the Bears 17. All we’ve heard so far is how bad their o line is…looking pretty good so far.

Leinart audibles, finds Bryant Johnson in the slot, horrible missed tackle by Lance Briggs. Cards TD!!!! Wow. Uh, we didn’t really see that coming. Cards 7-0.

Leinart 5-5 and a TD vs. the best defense in the league? We’re impressed right now. He’s making Denny Green look like a pretty smart guy right now, which, you know ain’t the easiest thing in the world to do.

Bears Ball on their own 21, 7:01 Q1

Cards have some ball players on defense…wonder why they’ve been so bad statistically this year? Berry, Dansby, Dockett, Wilson…those are some pro bowl caliber players right there.

Grossman goes deep on 3rd on 2 –why we have no idea….Grossman’s 2nd pass that should’ve been intercepted. So far, Grossman looking like the rookie, Leinart looking like the pro.

Cards ball on their own 23 5:32 Q1

Leinart goes to Boldin on the first two plays of the drive. They’re working the short passing game. Boldin looks so freakin’ strong.

Leinart shows a lot of maturity by wetting himself with Tommie Harris bearing down on him and throws a possible pick. Called a pick on the field, but it’s under review. Either way, the Bears are getting the ball back.

If the Bears can get in Leinart’s face, we guaran-freakin-tee Leinart will throw 2-3 picks tonight. If they let him sit back without pressure in his face, he’ll pick ‘em apart.

Cards dodge a bullett, pick overturned. We have a feeling the ref just went Naked Gun on that one, and just wanted to hear the crowd erupt after a call. Probably the right call.

Nice freaking face mask Scott Player. All players should have to wear that facemask. We hope he gets punched in the face.

Bears ball on their own 19, 3:59 Q1
Bears need to get the ground game going. Instead, they start off with a false start. This type of stuff killed them vs. Minnesota. Obviously, you’re gonna have more penalties on the road, but the Bears can’t shoot themselves in the foot like that.

Grossman 4/8 for 35 yards so far….not looking good, in part because the Bears aren’t running the ball on 1st down. This team HAS to run the ball on 1st down. Worst thing they can do is think they’re a passing-first team.

Grossman picked on a floater on 3rd down. Terrible pass, Muhammad was open. Grossman looking bad tonight. We’ll say it again…they need to run the ball on early downs. It’s pretty fuggin’ simple.

Cards ball on the Bears 30, 2:10 Q1
Leinart finds Boldin on 3rd and 11 fore the TD!!!!! Holy Schnikes. 14-0 Cards. Leinart looking like a freaking all-pro so far.

Bears ball on their own 20, :50 Q1

Bears look like they’re almost listening to me. They run the ball on 1st down, but they run a toss to the short side. Probably the worst play in football.

Cards defense is playing faaaaaaasssstt right now. Great pursuit.

1st quarter mercifully comes to an end. All Arizona so far. We’re a little stunned.

2nd Quarter
HUGE HIT on Bernard Berrian….4th down again for the Bears.

Cards ball on their own 32, 14:34 Q2

Cards 3rd and 12, Briggs come free, Leinart gets rid of it, but its deflected…first 3 and out for the Cards tonight and the first series where the Bears defense actually looked like itself.

Big series for Chicago right there.

Bears ball on their own 32,13:14 Q2

Grossman with a pick. Terrible decision. Throws it into triple coverage. This is what you get with Grossman. Bad throw. Bad play, though. Memo to Ron Turner….when your QB is struggling, and your offense needs to get going, and you need to take the home crowd out of the game….RUN THE FREAKING BALL!!!!

Cards ball on the Bears 35ish, Q2

Cards get false start penalties –fellas, you’re at home– put themselves in a 2nd and long situation.

3rd and 15, big play coming up. If they don’t pick up any additional yardage, they’d be looking at 51 yarder…you know Rackers has the leg, so it’s not a huge deal. If we were calling plays, we’d go real conservative right here…or run a flea ficker, one of the two.

Leinart deep to Boldin, good throw w/ a man in his face, but incomplete.

Rackers no good from 52! That’s huge right there….the Cards had the ball in great field position, and got no points out of it. If the Bears can manage to pull their heads out of their collective asses and make a game of this, that series will be huge.

Bears ball on their own 40, 11:11 Q2

Bears go 3 and out again. Thomas Jones should’ve picked up the first. Too much dancing. That’s why the Bears drafted Cedric Benson right there. He would’ve picked that one up.

Cards ball on their own 20, 9:27 Q2

Bears need a turnover right here. Cards need a nice drive, not necessarily points. If they can just move the ball, chow some clock, and gain some field position. That’s all they need right here.

3rd and long, ESPN showing a stat that the Cards and doubling up on time of possession. Complete pass, but short.

Bears ball on their own 40, 8:12 Q2

Good punt return by Devin Hester, gives the Bears their best field position of the night.

Grossman drops back, Bert Berry beats John Tait on the backside, KILLS Grossman….Cards recover the fumble in Bears territory.

Cards ball on the Bears 30, Q2

Leinart converts on 3rd and long, in the red zone again.

3rd down on the Bears 15, big play right here. Cards should go for the throat. Bears are on the ropes.

Rackers good from 40! Cards 17-0. Turnovers are the difference right now.

Bears need to return to the running game, and re-establish their presence in the trenches. So far, they’ve been too pass happy…and it’s led to 3 turnovers and 10 Arizona points.

Bears ball on their own 20, 4:00 Q2

Grossman almost throws his 3rd pick…had that one been picked, it would’ve gone for 6 the other way. Yikes, dude. Settle down.

Bears amazingly pick up a 1st down. That’s only their 2nd one of the game.

Now they’re starting to work the ground game. But it comes back on an illegal block on Muhammad…penalties, turnovers on the road. That shit will kill you, don’t mean a damn thing if you’re 5-0.

Grossman sacked and fumbles again, Arizona recovers again!!! That one was one’s on Grossman. The first wasn’t his fault. That time, he held the ball too long.

Cards ball, inside the Bears 20, 2:00 Q2

With a 17 point lead, less than 2:00 to go, we don’t see the Cards doing anything stupid here.

Go with Edge up the gut twice in a row. Leinart checks down on 3rd down. Barkley doesn’t like it, but that’s well played right there by Arizona. Get the points.

Rackers for the short FG on the last play of the half, it’s good!!! Cards go into halftime up 20-0. 4 turnovers for the Bears. That’s about all there is to it.

Halftime
We need to go pick our nose or something. Can’t listen to these nutsacks on the ESPN halftime show.

Alright, getting ready for the 2nd half. If the Bears want to get back in this one, they have to do 3 things: get some big plays on defense, stop turning the ball over, and not abandon the run. They have to keep running the ball, even though they’re down 20. The way Grossman is playing, they can’t afford to keep chuckin’ it up. Protect your QB a little bit.

3rd Quarter
Cards ball on their own 25, 14:30 Q3

3rd and 4 for the Cards, pass deflected…good thing too, cause there was no pass rush. Cards haven’t really moved the ball since the first possession. They’ve just really benefited from great field position. At the same time, though, they’re doing a great job of protecting Leinart and calling plays that allow him to get rid of the ball quickly.

Bears ball, somewhere near their next turnover
TJ with a good run, looked like it was going to go long…good close by the Cards DB.

3rd down, crowd making noise, Bears stay on the ground, but we don’t think he got it. Good plays call right there. TJ looks slow in the open field, and he’s not hitting the hole to save his life.

Barely picked it up…thought that was generous spot right there.

Grossman complete to Clark for the 1st down. First time they’ve picked up two and a row all game.

3rd and 10 for the Bears on the Cards 30…big play coming up. Grossman changes the play, hits Davis for the first right before he gets nailed by Adrian Wilson.

Bears first and goal, hand it off to the fullback? Seriously? What the hell kind of unimaginative play calling is that? They can’t screw around here. They need 7’s, not 3’s.

3rd and goal, ball inside the ball, nothing there, Grossman throws it out of the back of the end zone. That play call on 1st down killed them. Why not give it to TJ right there? Or Benson? Ron Turner’s been getting too cute all night.

Gould for the FG. 20-3 Cards. Good drive for the Bears, but that’s a victory for the Cards right there. Great goalline defense.

Cards ball on their own 40, 7:22 Q3
This is where the Bears D needs a turnover. Once again, the Cards find themselves in the luxurious position of just needed to move the ball a little bit, and eat the clock. They’re already in good field position, so odds are that even if the Bears hold ‘em here, they’re still going to get the ball deep in their own territory…and that’s close to a best case scenario.

Leinart with a dangerous throw over the middle, almost caught by Boldin.

3rd and 5, a conversion here is huge for the Cards. Leinart finds a guy open down the seam, MONSTER hit by Todd Johnson!!! Incomplete.

Roughing the kicker on the punt, Cards bailed out. Awful penalty for the Bears right there. Cards with the ball in Bears territory now.

Bears starting to come after Leinart a little more now. Haven’t seen the Bears blitz a ton this year, but that’s mostly because they’ve been playing with a lead. Now, they find themselves in the position where they need to make something happen. I like the defensive play calling right here…could bite them in the ass if they give up a big play, but they to get a big play.

Bears bring a late blitz, don’t get there, but Mike Brown breaks up a pass.

3rd and long, Urlacher blitzes, drills Leinart. He hits Boldin for the first. Huge freakin’ throw right there by Leinart.

Another 3rd and long, Bears have to get a stop here.

Cards pick it up again. Joe T is on Leinart’s nutz, and quite honestly, we can’t disagree…as much as we’d like to. The guy has played a fantastic game.

3rd and 11…can he convert again? They run a draw, almost pick it up…good play call right there. Arizona doing a fantastic job of working the clock right now.

Rackers for the FG, 29 yards…23-3 Cards. Yowza. That roughing the kicker penalty looms large right. But not that large. Even without it, they’d still be 17 down and pissing all over themselves.

Bears ball on their own 22, 1:41 Q3

OK, so we’ve been harping on the Bears sticking with the ground game. Too late. Down 20 with a quarter and change to go, time to give that up and start chuckin’ it. Not enough time left to do anything else.

Grossman could throw picks 3 and 4 before this one is through. He’s just off tonight.

Nice check down to Benson…Cards will give ‘em that one all game, though.

Grossman with a good 3rd down throw to Davis, who can’t hang on. Big hit, but Davis has to make that catch. Not the Bears night tonight.

Cards ball on their own 15, 45 seconds in Q3
Mark Anderson KILLS Leinart, fumble, Mike Brown picks it up for the score!!! Huge play, gives the Bears just a little bit of life in this one.

Wow, Oliver Ross blocks no one on that play. Mark Anderson gets his 6th sack of the season. That’s the Arizona line we’ve come to know and love.

Now the Bears just need two more defensive TDs….cuz it sure as hell doesn’t look like their offense is going to get in the end zone.

4th Quarter
Cards ball on their own 22, 15:00 Q4

Cards go back to the ground. Nothing doing, but that’s exactly what they need to do.

On the other side, the Bears HAVE to get a 3 and out. Their offense has looked so shaky all night, they need the ball back early in the 4th quarter and in good field position. they’re still down 2 TDs…if they’re going to make a game of this, they need to get one before the 4th quarter is halfway done. They do that, they’ve got a shot.

Leinart to Boldin for the 1st! Great pass, great grab. Damn, both of those guys have been so freakin’ impressive.

Mike Brown getting hauled off on the cart. Terrible news for the Bears, not just for tonight. He’s the heart and soul of this defense…they lose him for any length of time –which we’ve gotta think they will, given his injury history and the fact he’s going off on a cart– the Bears D is gonna look a helluva lot different.

Bears bring the blitz, get to Leinart on 3rd down, who gets rid of the ball before he gets drilled by Idonije and Urlacher.

Bears ball on their own 20, 12:00 Q4

Grossman throws a Favre-esque throw away to the right sideline….and that’s not a compliment. Rex, throw that shit to Row Q.., not in bounds.

Muhammad can’t hang on after the big hit. Have to punt it away. That was the series where the Bears needed to make something happen.

Cards ball on their own 20, 11:00 left in the game.

Charles Tillman deflects a pass, hangs up in the air for about a year….and falls to the ground. That would’ve been huge.

Urlacher deflects on another one on 3rd and 11, and the Cards go 3 and out…that’s the Bears defense we’ve been looking for all night.

Bears ball on the Cards 43, 10:01 Q4

Grossman stares down Berrian, then throws incomplete.

Jones picks up a first down on the ground. Bears inside the 30. 2 offside penalties for Arizona on this drive.

Grossman throws to the back of the end zone, WR broke off his route. Lucky that wasn’t picked off.

3rd and 10, Grossman incomplete. Very good coverage.

Bears going for it on 4th and 10. Pass deflected, Darnell Dockett picks it off at the line!!! Bears make the tackle, but it looks like Dockett never goes down, just lays on top of the Bear tackler. Takes it all the way back to the house, but on review, looks like his knee is down.

Either way, the Bears are now officially fucked, and either way, we love seeing fat guys pack the rock.

Cards ball on their own 26, 9:18 Q4
Commentators talking like the Bears still have a shot at this one…we might think so if the offense didn’t have 5 turnovers tonight.

Cards just working the clock right now. Tony and Joe talking like it matters. It doesn’t. This game is over.

Bears ball on their own 29, 7:20 Q4
So, we recognize we’ve been a little overly focused on the Bears tonight, and they’ve definitely shot themselves in the foot more than a little bit tonight. That said, though, Arizona’s D has played a great game. They’ve been getting pressure, they’ve created turnovers, and they’ve absolutely ravaged Chicago’s WRs.

Grossman evades the blitz, throws a big time out route for the 1st on 3rd and 6.

Robert Griffith with the pick!!!! Great jump on the out route, which Grossman stared down. What did we say about Grossman’s 3rd and 4th pick?

Cards Ball
Urlacher rips the ball from Edge James, Tillman picks it up and takes it back to the house!!! 2nd defensive TD for the Bears!!! Holy tits, we’ve got ball game!!!

23-17 Cards!!!

Joe T laying into Grossman, just absolutely shredding him…and, for the second time tonight, we can’t disagree with the guy.

Cards ball on their own 17, 4:53
Cards get a good return, but then a stupid 15 yard taunting penalty….they’re killing themselves right now.

We’d go play-action on 2nd down.

Leinart to Boldin for the first down. Huge pick up. With four minutes left, that’s going to allow them to just about kill the clock. Meanwhile, Brian Urlacher is absolutely destroying Edge every time he runs the ball.

3rd and 12, we’d just kneel it and punt it away. Put the ball back in Grossman’s hands. Their defense has been stopping him all night.

Hester 82 yard punt return for the TD!!!!! Oh my God!!! What the hell is happening here?!?!

24-23 Bears after the PAT!!!!

Leinart gets the ball back….we’ll find out what he’s made of right here.

Cards ball on their own 35, 2:53 Q4
Cards don’t need a ton of yards….just need to get in FG range.

Cards pick up a 1st down on the Bears side of mid-field. They probably only need about 15 yards to get into Rackers’ range.

Here’s the thing: no matter what happens, the Cards deserve to win this game. Leinart has played like a pro, Grossman has played like pure shite.

Bears bring pressure, Leinart goes incomplete. His O line is doing a very nice job right now.

Blitz again, 3rd and 4, two down territory….we’d run it right here.

Leinart goes underneath, picks up 13…that’s ballgame. Rackers isn’t gonna miss this one.

Leinart complete to Boldin again!!! Can’t believe they’re still throwing it. Ballsy play calling right there.

Cards just working the clock right now. Right now, with the ball on the 21, we’re looking at a 38 yarder for Rackers, well within his range.

Edge can’t get the first, Bears call TO. Could be a huge play right there. 40 yarder for Rackers. He MISSES!!!! What the hell is going on?

Wow. Amazing. OK, so we’re Bears fans, yeah? We feel really bad for Matt Leinart right now. OK, not that bad….but they should’ve won that game. That’s just ridiculous.

Joe T. calls it the most bizaare (sp?) game he’s ever seen in 30 years of being around the NFL. Once again, we can’t disagree with Joe, and that seems like the best way to end this thing.

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