Jones gets stuffed for nothing, and then five. Pass to Jones in the right flat, he tries to juke the only defender he has to beat for the first down and instead gets stuffed just short of the first. Everyone in the bar is yelling at him for not just running forward. The punt goes for a touchback while Hunter Hillenmeyer argues fruitlessly that it went out over the 1.
Lovie is trying to challenge the spot of the ball and looking incredulously at the refs while they try to explain why he can't. I'd say because there's no angle that has the ball and the field in the same shot. Edge gets a yard. Leinart sails an out route, 3rd and 9. Bears bring it and Leinart gets the pass off in the left flat to Troy Walters, who can't juke his way to a first down. Line drive punt fielded at the 19 and hester returns it past the 40, but, as with most punt returns, a flag is down. No foul.
Grossman drops back, gets stripped of both the ball and his helmet, Cardinals ball on the Bears' 34. A patron takes the Lord's name in vain.
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Cardinals 17, Bears 0, 4:15 left in the half
Return gets to the 20. Adam just said the Bears need to score before the half or they're done. I don't necessarily agree, but it sure would make folks around here a lot more comfortable. Jones gets five. Grossman floats one in the left flat that sails Clark and Muhammad. Grossman hits Clark to the 40. Jones gets eight but a flag is down. Hands to the face and the Bears have 1st and 12. Grossman gets stripped again and the Cardinals recover. The O-line got abused yet again.
Leinart finds a wide open Boldin in between about four Bears defenders for a first down inside the 20. Leinart is 12 of 17 for 122 and two scores. That's supposed to be Rex's line. Rush gets nothing, then a couple. Dump-off gets a couple more and Rackers will come on to make it 20-0. The Cards are gonna run out the clock here before they do it. It's good.
Halftime: Cardinals 20, Bears 0
Halftime thoughts: This is not at all what was planned. First of all, half our group has taken off for the night. At this rate, I'm gonna be sitting alone in the corner of the bar with my computer, hoping no one feels like stealing it from me. As for the Bears, Grossman looks unsure of himself, the line isn't blocking well, the D isn't getting enough penetration and they're not tackling when they have the chance. Lovie better have a speech and a half to deliver at halftime.
Kick returned by the Cards to the 25, holding brings it back to the 15. Run gets a couple, pass gets five and leads us to 3rd and 3. More like 3rd and 5, and Briggs bats down the pass. Punt to the 29, Hester to the 30.
Jones bounces outside but can't get past the last guy and rather than a giant gain, gets four, then goes up the middle for four more. Jones lunges forward on third and it will depend on the spot. Good spot and they have the first. Pass to Clark up the middle and they're in Cardinals territory. Pass to Rashied Davis on the left side and he freezes a defender and scampers down to the 30. Jones gets dropped for no gain. Good blitz pickup but Grossman and Muhammad aren't on the same hot route page and it goes behind Muhammad and incomplete, 3rd and 10. Grossman changes the play at the line, just gets the snap off and hits Davis on an out route to the right side for the first down just inside the 20. Pass to Berrian out of the slot, he sheds a couple of would-be tacklers and gets brought down at the 3. He just ducked under his tacklers. Inside handoff to the fullback McKie doesn't fool anyone and he's dropped for no gain, maybe a loss. Play action rollout, Grossman has nothing and throws it out of the back of the end zone. Grossman throws up a jump ball for Berrian, but it's too high and goes out the back again. Gould on and he's still perfect on the year.
Cardinals 20, Bears 3, 7:22 left in the 3rd quarter
My companions at the table are saying, "Well, at least it's not a shutout." What appeared to be a really lousy onside attempt bounces out of bounds and the Cards have it at their 40. The Indian part of me thinks I should be offended by that cell phone commercial (is it Verizon?) where the daughter asks why their (white) family can't have a network like the Kumarswamys. But really, I don't mind that my people are stereotyped as technologically savvy while the white families lumber into the 21st century a decade late. Leinart tries to hit Boldin over the middle but is a little behind him and high. James gets five. Shouts of "D-FENSE (clap clap)" come from the front room of the bar as Leinart appears to complete a first-down pass, ut Todd Johnson lays a nasty hit on the reciever and it falls incomplete. Might as well not have gone to the trouble as the Bears get hit with a roughing the kicker penalty. Dante Wesley tried to block it and the kicker's follow-through hit him in the arms. It's a penalty by the rules but it's still lame. Briggs almost picks of a check-down from Leinart on 1st and 10 from the Bears' 40, but can't hold on to it. The Cards false start, 1st and 15 from the 45. Another pass falls incomplete due to a timely hit from a safety, this time Mike Brown in on it. Deep in-route to Boldin on the left side and he goes up and gets it and all 5-10 Vasher can do is bring him down for the first down at the 26. Edge gets nothing. Edge gets through the line, into the secondary and gets brought down and we will measure. No, we won't. Illegal formation, 2nd and 15 from the 31. Edge gets about five. Dump-off to J.J. Arrington and he's got more than enough room for the first down. Cards lose a yard. Tommie Harris gets after Leinart, gets shoved in the back (that's okay on regular plays but not on punts?) and Leinart's pass falls incomplete. Inside handoff to Arrington doesn't get enough and Rackers will come on to try and push it back to 20 with a 29-yarder. He does.
Cardinals 23, Bears 3, 1:47 left in the 3rd quarter
Kick returned somewhere in between the 20 and 25. It's getting real hard to pay attention now. My party of nine is now down to three, and they don't look long for this world. Make it the 23. Grossman goes deep up the middle of the field to Berrian, but Antrel Rolle makes a great leaping deflection. Nothing Grossman or Berrian could have done about that, just a great play by Rolle. Cedric Benson in and he gets eight around the right side. Pass to Davis, he appears to have it, fumble it and recover it, but the refs say incomplete. Maynard's punt goes out at the 15. The Bears need something big to happen and soon or it'll just be playing out the string in the fourth.
Edge gets nothing. There it is. This is what the Bears needed. Mark Anderson pounds Leinart's blind side, the ball rolls loose and Mike Brown scoops it and takes it three steps for the score. Gould still perfect on his kicks.
Cardinals 23, Bears 10, :02 left in the 3rd quarter
For those keeping score at home, that's five rounds it took to draft Mark Anderson, 6½ sacks on the season. Matt Leinart mic'd up, quite the thump when he got hit. Kick fielded a yard deep and returned to the 22.
FOURTH QUARTER
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