On Sunday afternoon, the Arizona Cardinals were on the road against the Chicago Bears. Chicago defeated Arizona, 27-16.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!How did the Cardinals’ offensive line perform in the game? Did they protect Kyler Murray? Were they able to create holes for the running game?
Protecting Kyler Murray
Kyler Murray had a good day on this stat sheet. He went 24/38 for 230 yards, two touchdowns and zero turnovers. Murray was only sacked twice in the game.
The offensive line did a good job but the Bears defense is not great at creating pressure. They have pressured the opposing quarterback on 17.9% of their drop backs this season.
So, it is fair to question if this was a good performance by the Cardinals offensive line or just another bad performance by the Bears defensive front seven?
The Running Lanes
The Chicago Bears have only given up 1,210 rushing yards so far this season. This is the least amount of rushing yards allowed in the NFL.
In this game the Cardinals were able to run for 93 yards on 20 carries. Now, 32 of those yards were from scrambles by Kyler Murray.
Cardinals starting running back, James Conner ran for 45 yards on 12 carries. That is 3.8 yards per carry which is higher than what the Bears normally give up per carry. Chicago has only allowed 3.6 yards per carry so far this season.
Arizona’s offensive line did not play against the best defense in Chicago but did what they were supposed to do. They protected Kyler Murray and open holes for the run game.
The Cardinals may have run for more yards, if they were not playing from behind the entire game. The offensive line had a solid “B+” performance against the Bears.
