Pressure's on Chicago Bears defense
Chicago Bears coach John Fox, when he was asked about his team's pass rush in last week's loss to the Packers, summed it up in four words: “We're on to Arizona.”
You can't blame Fox for his brevity. It's difficult to expound on something that didn't exist.
Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was not sacked. He was not hit. He could have done a commercial for laundry detergent … after the game.
What little pass rush the Bears were able to muster did force Rodgers to run six times for 36 yards, so there's that.
“Obviously, the most improvement we can make is our pass rush and winning our 1-on-1 battles a little bit more than we did,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “We competed very well. We executed the defense. But they blocked us better in the pass rush.
“We've got to do a better job of getting some heat on the quarterback.”
In Sunday's game against the Cardinals at Soldier Field, the Bears will have a better chance of getting to the quarterback, 35-year-old Carson Palmer, who does not possess the elusiveness of Rodgers.
“He's more of a stand-still quarterback,” said Bears outside linebacker Pernell McPhee. “He isn't very mobile. It was a lot of being disciplined with our rush lanes last week, (but) come to this week we can just let it loose because we've got a quarterback who we don't really have to contain too much, and that's what it's going to be about.”
But Palmer wasn't sacked last week against the New Orleans Saints, posting a 122.8 passer rating and completing 19 of 32 passes for 307 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
The 13-year veteran, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 draft, is 14-2 in his last 16 starts with the Cardinals, going back to 2013, when Arizona went 7-2 down the homestretch. Palmer won all six of his starts last season with a 95.6 passer rating (11 TDs, 3 interceptions) before he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee.
But he's playing just as well as he did before the injury.
“Carson looks really good right now,” Bears linebacker Jared Allen said. “He's moving better than I've seen him move in the last few years. He's obviously another guy who knows where the ball needs to go. (He has) high intelligence, good accuracy, (gets the) ball out quick.
“From that standpoint (Palmer and Rodgers are) very similar. Aaron's probably a little more mobile as far as extending plays and making plays on the run or in the pocket. Still, I watched some of the game against the Saints, (Palmer) wasn't looking like a 35-year-old man.”
If the Bears don't get to Palmer, he can be almost as dangerous as Rodgers — maybe more so because he's got a better variety of weapons.
He can choose from future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, 6-foot-2, 220-pound Michael Floyd and speedy big-play guy John Brown.
Floyd has 112 receptions over the previous two season for 1,882 yards and 11 touchdowns. Fitzgerald has career totals of 915 receptions, 12,238 yards and 89 touchdowns. The 6-3, 218-pound 12-year veteran was the Cards' leading receiver last week with 6 catches or 87 yards.
If the pass rush doesn't get better pressure on Palmer than it did on Rodgers, the Bears can expect the same result.
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