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The Cardinals' pass rush is huge in their win over the Chicago Bears

Posted on by Kennedy
The Cardinals' pass rush is huge in their win over the Chicago Bears

Zaven Collins led the way with two sacks and five more chips

The Cardinals' pass rush is huge in their win over the Chicago Bears

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Maybe it was the presence of former edge rusher JJ Watt in the house. Maybe it was because Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is still a rookie and has a penchant for sticking with football for too long. Or maybe it was because the Arizona Cardinals simply needed a game where their pass rush could finally hit a quarterback.

Whatever it was, it worked.

The Cardinals collected a season-high six sacks against Williams for minus-45 yards, the defense kept the Bears out of the end zone all day and they cruised to a 29-9 win Sunday at State Farm Stadium.

Arizona has now won three straight games 7-0 for the first time since the start of the 2021 season, maintained its lead in the NFC West and remains firmly in the hunt for an NFC playoff spot at 5-4 after nine games.

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And yes, the Cardinals' 213 rushing yards and three touchdowns had a lot to do with it on Sunday. However, without their pass rush and some nice complementary plays in the back end of their secondary, there's no telling how this game could have turned out.

Coach Jonathan Gannon praised defensive coordinator Nick Rallis, who celebrated the birth of their second child with his wife Sunday morning.

“Yeah, I thought Nick played a hell of a game. Call him,” Gannon said, adding that Rallis was subsequently given a game ball.

“On Tuesday we had a little bit of back and forth about what we should do because this guy (Williams) is a tough player to defend. They have good skills and I liked (Rallis's) plan and the defense, how we attacked those guys, attacked the defense and let some guys go. … The players made plays.

“As good as they rushed, the back end covered well. I look back there and there's not much air. If you put color on color and make them act under duress, it's difficult. So big praise also goes to the backend; They played well.”

Outside linebacker Zaven Collins led the pass rush with two sacks, the second multi-sack game of his career and first since his sophomore season in 2022. Rookie edge rusher Xavier Thomas added 1½ sacks, pro Jesse Luketa third year, also had one. and inside linebacker Kyzir White and D-linemen LJ Collier and Dante Stills each contributed half a sack.

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Arizona's six sacks were one more than the team had in Week 2 against the Rams, and that's what the defense expected, according to Collins.

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “There have been games in the past where you look back and watch the film – it's just one wrong step or you get to the point a little quicker where you can be like that. That’s what it kind of led to, getting to these things – the finer details of things, knowing we weren’t far off.”

As often as the Cardinals hit Williams, who entered the game with the fourth-most sacks in the league (23), they also watched the rookie slip out of trouble.

“One of the first plays of the game,” Collins said. “I spun, counter-spun, fell to the ground, got up and went after him, chased him to the sideline, slipped again, got back up and chased him back down the field.

“He is omnipresent. The style of play he has is very rare because he has great pocket awareness and it was in our minds the whole game and the whole week to implement that.”

The Cardinals recorded two consecutive sacks on Williams at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, including a 16-yard takedown for a loss by Collins that forced a turnover on downs. The Cardinals then scored their second field goal from Chad Ryland and secured the final lead with a safety.

“It definitely felt great,” said Thomas, who posted his first sack total of the season. “We just want to build from here. We always knew what we were capable of and what we could do with the talent we had at quarterback.”

Still adding, “Yes, it’s all boys. It's the outside linebackers, the D-line group, even the secondary. I thought we all contributed to getting to the QB today.”

The Cardinals defense did not allow an offensive touchdown in the team's last two home games.

“That’s what you want,” Luketa said. “They want to protect the nest.”

Speaking of nests, Rallis and his wife decided to name their newborn son Dominik Kyzir, a tribute to White, who followed Gannon and Rallis from the Eagles to the Cardinals.

“He was telling me about it for a few weeks, but I thought he was messing around,” White said, smiling.

Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic. Follow him on

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