Comparing positional groups and analysis of key statistics in the Week 16 game between the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals with a prediction. on the score.
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00:00 Bears fans might be watching the Green Bay game as closely on Sunday as they are the
00:10 Bears and Cardinals game.
00:12 That's because the Packers are playing the Carolina Panthers and the Panthers have the
00:16 Bears first pick in the NFL draft at stake.
00:20 But the game at Soldier Field can mean something maybe for Justin Fields future, maybe for
00:25 the coaching staff's future, nobody knows yet.
00:28 It's the Bears and the Cardinals at 325 p.m. on Christmas Eve.
00:32 Here's who wins and why.
00:34 Here's where the matchup looks the most even and you'd have to call it a push.
00:38 In coaching, Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon is Matt Iberflues' old defensive backs coach
00:43 and the former Eagles defensive coordinator and at 3-11 he can't say he's got an edge
00:48 over Iberflues in his eight wins in two years.
00:53 The Cardinals running game is formidable, ranking seventh behind James Connor, who averaged
00:57 just five yards a carry and also Kyler Murray is a pretty good running threat.
01:02 They had 243 yards against the 49ers of all people but the Bears are number one at stopping
01:07 the run, so were the 49ers though too.
01:10 I also have no edge when the Bears are passing, believe it or not.
01:13 Buda Baker and the Cardinals are 13th against the pass but they give up the 29th most touchdown
01:19 passes, 26 total.
01:21 DJ Moore and Darnell Mooney have been going against good pass defenses and a line against
01:26 good pass rushers the last three weeks.
01:30 The offensive line will get a break this time.
01:33 Justin Fields will have time to throw.
01:37 Okay here's where you give the Bears the advantages and first of all you have to give them the
01:41 intangible edge, playing outside in the rain or if not in the rain just chilly weather,
01:47 not indoors like the Cardinals are used to.
01:50 That leads directly to special teams where the Bears should have it all over the Cardinals.
01:55 Arizona is horrible returning kicks, not even averaging 19 yards of return and the
02:00 Bears' Caro Santos is a better outdoor kicker now than Matt Crater who once was a good outdoor
02:05 kicker but then he got spoiled by kicking indoors for a decade.
02:09 The Bears have better returners.
02:10 Vailis Jones is a breakaway threat and Trent Taylor, if he isn't muffing the ball, is pretty
02:16 steady too.
02:18 Then you go to the biggest mismatch in this game and that's the Bears running it against
02:21 the Cardinals 31st ranked run defense.
02:25 The Bears are fifth in rushing.
02:26 Everyone runs on the Cardinals who have given up 148 yards a game over the last eight on
02:30 the ground.
02:32 Justin Fields, Khalil Herbert and Rojana Johnson should get rolling in this one.
02:36 Finally, the Cardinals passing game is atrocious.
02:38 It doesn't have wide receiver threat Hollywood Brown because he has a heel injury.
02:43 Murray has a passer rating of 78.4.
02:47 He's throwing against a Bears secondary that is second in the league in interceptions and
02:52 is playing totally different now since Montez Sweat came and took over and started to sack
02:58 quarterbacks.
02:59 Arizona is only 29th in passing.
03:03 So without an edge in any area for the Cardinals, Santa it seems will come bearing gifts for
03:09 the home team.
03:10 The Bears will take a 33-23 victory and for a week all of the Justin Fields supporters
03:15 can come back out into the open.