5 Reasons the Cardinals Are an Ideal Bears Preseason Opponent

A lot of people may have looked at this Chicago Bears Arizona Cardinals preseason matchup as a stiff arm from the schedule makers. Don't the Bears have a enough problems? Why pit them against a constant stream of playoff contenders? First of all, that's not the makers' problem. Second, people should be happy about this. The Cardinals are a team that presents a series of unique challenges. Hence why they've had a lot of success the past few years. To be able to play them on the road in a meaningless game is a great opportunity to learn some things without having to sacrifice one of their precious 16 regular season games. In fact there are five reasons Chicago should be grateful for this. Whether they win, lose or draw is inconsequential. It's all about these factors.

David Johnson

Contrary to popular myth, the biggest problem with the Bears defense in 2016 was their secondary. Sure it was bad at times and clearly needed help. However, it was hung out to dry a lot of time by just how bad the teams' run defense was. Chicago ranked 27th in the league against the run last year, allowing a healthy 121 yards per game. Much of this was due to persistent injuries on their front seven. They gave up 106 in the opener against Denver, but 54 of those was against the third string unit. So there were signs of progress. Of course the Broncos pale in comparison to what the Cardinals can offer with All-Pro running back David Johnson. He amassed over 2,100 yards from scrimmage and scored 20 touchdowns last season. Chicago will really see for the first time whether they're ready for that kind of test. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/David-Johnsons-Monster-3-TD-Game-vs.-Rival-Seahawks-NFL-Week-16-Player-Highlights.mp4"][/video]

Speedy wide receivers

The Cardinals may not be entirely happy with the state of their receiving corps at present. That's fair considering there is not a single star in the bunch outside of the aging Larry Fitzgerald. That said they do have one attribute the Bears should be wary of:  speed. Three of their targets in John Brown, J.J. Nelson and Jaron Brown averaged over 13 yards per catch a season ago. It demonstrated their ability to eat up space quickly. The Bears spent a lot of time and money working to overhaul their secondary this offseason with guys like Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper, Quintin Demps and Eddie Jackson. They wanted more athleticism, more range and more instinct on the back end. A great test of such things is against an offense like Arizona that loves to chuck the ball deep in almost any situation.

Chandler Jones and Markus Golden

Mike Glennon was put under a lot of pressure last week in limited action. That was raising the concerns regarding the Bears tackle situation. Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie were serviceable last year but are still considered the weak points of the offensive line. Giving up pressure when the Broncos didn't even have Von Miller on the field is a definite problem. So this next game will be another pop quiz for them. Chandler Jones and Markus Golden make up a strong pair of edge rushers for the Cardinals. As a team Arizona had 48 sacks in 2016 and 23.5 came courtesy of those two. So try to imagine their excitement at getting to chase the relatively immobile Glennon in this game. Meanwhile Glennon will have to find a way to speed up the clock in his had that seemed to run a tick too slow at times last year.

That secondary

One of the few knocks on Mitch Trubisky was his decision-making when facing more advanced coverages. It came up against Stanford in the Sun Bowl. Twice the Cardinal fooled him with crafty calls that got him to unload an ill-advised pass that was intercepted including one for a touchdown. It's the primary reason some are wary of getting Trubisky onto the field too quickly. They aren't sure if he's seeing those little intricacies yet. [video width="1280" height="720" mp4="https://www.sportsmockery.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Tyrann-Mathieu-Grabs-the-2nd-Pick-Six-of-the-1st-Quarter-Cardinals-vs.-49ers-NFL.mp4"][/video] Few teams are better at this than the Cardinals. They love to throw exotic blitzes at opponents because they have a loaded secondary to afford it. In the past two years they have six interceptions returned for a touchdown. Headlined by Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu, they've since added more depth including veterans Tramon Williams and Antoine Bethea. Not to mention second round pick Budda Baker. Given the situation at wide receiver for Chicago, that group will be a challenge to attack.

Bruce Arians

Don't bother telling Bruce Arians that this is just another preseason game. He's an old school guy and isn't the type to waste opportunities. Even if the final result doesn't matter, Arians wants to crush his opponent on the field. He wants his players to play well. So don't expect him to take his foot off the gas for this game. There will be no withholding. Expect the Cardinals to attack, both offensively and defensively. If nothing else, this will be a test of how prepared the Bears are.