Bears look to bounce back from another gut-wrenching loss when they host Cardinals

ARIZONA (3-11) at CHICAGO (5-9)

Sunday, 4:25 p.m. EST, Fox

BETTING LINE: Bears by 3 according to .

AGAINST THE SPREAD: Cardinals 7-7, Bears 6-7-1.

SERIES RECORD: Bears lead 57-29-6.

LAST MEETING: Cardinals beat Bears 33-22 on Dec. 5, 2021, in Chicago.

LAST WEEK: Cardinals lost to San Francisco 45-29; Bears lost to Cleveland 20-17.

CARDINALS OFFENSE: OVERALL (24), RUSH (7), PASS (29), SCORING (25).

CARDINALS DEFENSE: OVERALL (25), RUSH (31), PASS (13), SCORING (31).

BEARS OFFENSE: OVERALL (22), RUSH (5), PASS (27), SCORING (22).

BEARS DEFENSE: OVERALL (14), RUSH (1), PASS (26), SCORING (22).

TURNOVER DIFFERENTIAL: Cardinals minus-2; Bears minus-1.

CARDINALS PLAYER TO WATCH: RB James Conner is in the midst of one of his best seasons and has a chance at hitting 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career, despite missing four games with a knee injury during the middle of the season. The 28-year-old ran for 86 yards on 14 carries last Sunday against the 49ers, who came into the game with the NFL's No. 1 rush defense.

BEARS PLAYER TO WATCH: DE Montez Sweat. Sweat has a chance to finish the season leading two teams in sacks, with 6 1/2 in eight games for Washington and six in six games since a trade to Chicago. He had a career-high 2 1/2 sacks last week to raise his personal-best total to 12 1/2 this season. Jonathan Allen is second on the Commanders with 5 1/2. Yannick Ngakoue has four for the Bears, and he is out for the remainder of the season after breaking an ankle in a win over Detroit in Week 14.

KEY MATCHUP: Cardinals TE Trey McBride against Bears S Jaquan Brisker and ILB Tremaine Edmunds. McBride had 10 catches for 102 yards last week and ranks sixth among NFL tight ends with 712 yards receiving. The second-year pro figures to be tested against Chicago. Brisker has six pass breakups in his past six games. Edmunds has a career-high four interceptions - tied for the league lead among linebackers - in his first season with the Bears after five years in Buffalo. He has picked off three passes in the past four games.

KEY INJURIES: Cardinals TE Geoff Swaim (calf) was placed on injured reserve after leaving last week's game. ... WRs Marquise Brown (heel) and Greg Dortch (shoulder) are dealing with injuries. ... Bears LG Teven Jenkins (concussion) left last week's game. ... DL DeMarcus Walker (leg) and DB Jaylon Jones (calf) were banged up.

SERIES Game notes

The road team has won six straight in the series between founding NFL franchises and former crosstown rivals, a streak that started with Chicago beating Arizona on a Monday night in 2006. The Bears rallied from 20 down at halftime. Then-Cardinals coach Dennis Green unloaded in his postgame news conference with his famous "The Bears are who we thought they were!" rant.

STATS AND STUFF: The Cardinals have a 4-1 record in their past five games played on Christmas Eve. ... McBride has 66 receptions this season - a franchise single-season record for a tight end. ... The Cardinals ran for 234 yards and two touchdowns against the 49ers last week, knocking them out of the No. 1 spot in NFL rush defense. This weekend, they'll face the new No. 1. The Bears are giving up just 79.8 yards rushing per game. ... Conner has averaged at least 4 yards per carry in 12 straight games, which is the longest active streak in the NFL. ... Matt Prater has already kicked eight field goals of more than 50 yards this season, breaking his franchise record from 2021. ... QB Kyler Murray has thrown for 1,075 yards, four TDs and four INTs in five games since his return from a torn ACL in 2022 that caused him to miss roughly 11 months. ... The Bears were up 10 last week and closing in on their third straight win, only to blow a double-digit, fourth-quarter lead for the third time in a loss. They also did it against Denver in Week 4 and at Detroit in Week 11. ... Chicago has league highs with 14 takeaways and 12 interceptions over four games since Week 11. The Bears are second in the NFL with 18 interceptions and tied for sixth with 23 takeaways. ... The Bears' offense had just one touchdown last week. They did it after Eddie Jackson returned an interception to the 1 - and needed eight attempts counting penalties to cross the goal line. ... QB Justin Fields was 19 of 40 for 166 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and a 46.5 rating going against the NFL's No. 1 defense last week.

FANTASY TIP: Fields could use a bounce-back game and might have some chances to break off some big runs. That could also create opportunities in the passing game, assuming the Bears keep the drops to a minimum this week.

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