Bears must find a way to stop Cardinals DE Campbell
If the Bears want to continue their promise of operating a run-first offense today against Arizona, they're going to have to find a way to block Calais Campbell.
All 6-feet-8 inches and 300 pounds of him.
Adequately built for the five-technique role in Arizona's blitz-happy 3-4 scheme, Campbell has been at this role for eight years now. He has 43.5 sacks over the last six seasons, and is coming off his first Pro Bowl appearance.
Ask Adam Gase about him and you'll see his eyes widen.
"He always seems to be at the right place at the right time. I was on the unfortunate end last year - we ran a screen; he picked it off," Gase said. " … He's probably one of the top interior guys there are in the league."
It's something the Bears are going to have to figure out if they want to run the ball like they did last week, when a Matt Forte-heavy attack totaled 189 yards on 33 carries in a 31-23 loss to the Packers.
On Sunday, the test will be Campbell and an Arizona front that stifled the Saints - another previous pass-happy team that tried to pound the rock - to 54 yards on 20 carries, a 2.7-yard average and a long of nine yards in the Cardinals' 31-19 win.
The Cardinals are also built to defend the pass. They have heralded defensive backs in Tyrann Mathieu and Patrick Peterson as well as some of the more exotic blitz packages in the league.
But having a five-technique who can average seven sacks a season for six years also hasn't hurt.
"He's 6-8. He can touch you from five feet away. It's tough," Jermon Bushrod said. " … You have to fight and be as physical as you can with him. You have to get your hands on him before he gets his hands on you."
Playing on the left side, Bushrod will help in the duties of blocking Campbell, but many of those will fall on Matt Slauson.
"He can really leverage well for a man of that size," Slauson said. "…"He can reach around and get an elbow, get a shoulder to really propel himself around the edge. That (height) really helps him there."
Sam Acho, who played linebacker the last four seasons in Arizona, had plenty to say about Campbell, using terms such as "beast" and "relentless." Campbell is the only player still on the Cardinals who was a groomsman in Acho's wedding. Acho's NFL job up until this year was to work off his hip to get to the quarterback.
His job now will be to give the Bears the inside scoop on how to block a 6-foot-8 man.
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