Cardinals vs. Bears: What's the Game Plan for Arizona?

If Week 1 is any indication, the Arizona Cardinals are in for a unique challenge as they face the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon.

With John Fox in charge and a new coaching staff in place, the Bears gave the Green Bay Packers all they could handle last Sunday, coming up one touchdown short in the fourth quarter. A flexible offensive scheme combined with an inventive defensive look kept the Packers from stretching their legs.

The good news for Arizona is the team not only has a week of tape on Chicago's new look, but it also enjoys a considerable talent advantage. Here's how Bruce Arians and the rest of Arizona's coaches can look to take down the Bears and improve the Cardinals' record to 2-0.

Offensive Game Plan

The best place to start this discussion is with the following screenshot from Chicago's game against Green Bay on Sunday. There's a lot going on.

FOX Broadcast

This isn't technically Chicago's base (3-4) defense, but it acted as such against Green Bay. It's a kind of hybrid 4-3/2-4-5 defense, and it's very curious.

Instead of subbing out a linebacker for a fifth defensive back, Chicago has subbed out one of its three interior linemen. Jared Allen and Pernell McPhee—the outside linebackers in the 3-4 defense—are still on the field, acting as stand-up pass-rushers.

This made it difficult for the Packers to make plays down the field, but it also left the inside linebackers—Shea McClellin and Christian Jones—relatively unprotected. Neither McClellin nor Jones is a natural inside linebacker.

That's where Arizona's offense should attack.

The Cardinals are not a power running team, and they shouldn't pretend otherwise. But if they see this look against Chicago on Sunday, they should exploit it for all it's worth. Chris Johnson might not be the player he once was, but he still has plenty of burst through the hole.

Carson Palmer, meanwhile, will have to remain patient should Chicago continue to drop seven in coverage. With Michael Floyd slated for an expanded role in Week 2, Palmer will have his share of one-on-one matchups to exploit.

Safety Antrel Rolle and corner Kyle Fuller are both capable of making a play on the football, so Palmer will do well not to try to force throws against Chicago's soft zone.

Defensive Game Plan 

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

There was a lot going on with Chicago's offense against Green Bay, but most of it was the football equivalent of sleight of hand. Get past the no-huddle and the unique formations, and this is what the Bears were trying to do:

1. Quickly get the ball into their playmakers' hands.
2. Create manageable down-and-distance situations.
3. Limit Jay Cutler's options.

Simple.

Arizona's defensive focus isn't challenging to guess. It needs to deal with, and limit, Matt Forte. 

Forte is going to get his touches and put up yardage, but the Cardinals must stay disciplined. They need to bottle up the cutback lanes Forte is so adept at exploiting with his superior lateral quickness. He managed 165 yards on 29 touches against the Packers.

Arizona should aim to keep him under 150 combined yards.

The script for flustering Cutler remains unchanged. He's prone to make mistakes under pressure, and Arizona defensive coordinator James Bettcher would do well to dial up the pass rush. Kyle Long looked a lot like someone playing right tackle for the first time (which he was) against Green Bay, so it's possible to exploit Chicago's offensive line even with a limited array of pass-rushers.

Key Players and Matchups

Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Arizona's safeties vs. Matt Forte and Martellus Bennett

Chicago is going to line up both players all over the formation to create favorable matchups, which means they'll get a lot of one-on-one time with individual representatives from Arizona's safety quartet. 

Not only will the safety troupe be tested in coverage, but the Bears will continually question their ability to tackle. It is impossible to sufficiently stress the importance of tackling well against Forte and Bennett.

While Deone Bucannon and Tony Jefferson are both on the Cardinals' injury report, Kyle Odegard of the team's official website expects them to play on Sunday.

James Bettcher vs. Jay Cutler

Perhaps the most intriguing new wrinkle in Adam Gase's offense is the freedom given to Cutler. Thanks to the no-huddle element, Cutler is frequently changing plays and routes at the line of scrimmage, something he did well against Green Bay.

Still, Cutler isn't Peyton Manning, and the inexperienced Bettcher can't afford to lose this chess match. Bettcher must ensure his defense is dictating play. 

Michael Floyd vs. Alan Ball

It's actually guesswork that Ball will draw the Floyd assignment; he could end up covering Larry Fitzgerald or John Brown instead. Regardless, he's the corner Carson Palmer should look to exploit.

Ball gave up four catches on four targets to James Jones last Sunday, two of which went for touchdowns. Jones is a savvy veteran, but at this stage of his career he's not on the level of Arizona's top receivers. 

Prediction

The message divined from Chicago's Week 1 game plan was pretty clear: Don't give up the big play on defense and don't make the big mistake on offense. To put it another way, if the Bears were going to lose, they didn't want to beat themselves.

Ultimately, the Packers had enough playmaking ability to win the game, and if Arizona wants to be on Green Bay's level, it will need to do the same. Championship contenders don't lose games to rebuilding teams with new coaching staffs. 

Final score: Arizona 24, Chicago 13