How the Arizona Cardinals beat the Chicago Bears

The 4-4 Arizona Cardinals have won two straight games and remain tied for first place in the NFC West.

Arizona is back in the desert this weekend to take on the Chicago Bears, who are also exceeding expectations and are currently in the hunt for a playoff spot. It may not be a Clash of the Titans, but it's an enticing game to keep an eye on.

As the Cards hope to extend their winning streak to three games, they need to have a good game plan in place before their showdown with the Bears. Luckily, I have created a three-step plan to destroy Chicago.

It starts with a very obvious step that has proven successful in most cases this year…

The Bears' run defense is fine, allowing 120 YPG. However, they post a disgusting YPC of 4.7, which is far more important than yards allowed. Run-heavy teams like the Colts and Commanders had good success against Chicago, and a team like the Cardinals can achieve the same feat.

It starts with James Conner, who continues to be the workhorse of the Cards' offense. When Arizona wins football games, it's more often than not due to the Pro Bowl running back's good performances, and it's likely they'll lean on him again to beat Chicago.

It doesn't help that the Bears have an excellent pass defense and will likely leave Marvin Harrison Jr. out of the game plan thanks to ace corner Jaylon Johnson. To move the ball on offense, Arizona will need to commit to the running game and Conner will likely be the primary source of their production.

After a slow start to the year, Swift has peaked with nearly 400 rushing yards and four touchdowns over the last four games. His YPC of 5.4 also shows how great he was. Chicago is also 3-1 in those four games and would be a perfect 4-0 if not for a crazy Hail Mary against Washington last week.

With Swift running the ball so well, it stands to reason that the Bears will give him the keys to the offense and ask him to lead the way. This is where the Cardinals defense needs to attack the most and find a way to slow the bowling ball in Swift.

Even though Arizona is one of the worst defenses against the run, averaging 140.9 YPG, they dug deep to shut down the Chargers' JK Dobbins in a win on Monday Night Football a few weeks ago, so it absolutely is reasonable that they can do it again. Right now, the Bears offense is going as far as Swift goes. So if AZ sells out and can keep Swift at bay, they have a great chance of winning.

Williams had his share of ups and downs as a rookie, and recently he's been joined by Swift to literally take over the offense while the No. 1 overall pick goes through some growing pains. The Cardinals need to put an end to it this weekend.

As we just discussed, selling out Swift is a top priority. If they can do that, the next step will be to make Williams as uncomfortable as possible. Williams had to play behind arguably the worst offensive line in the league and was sacked 23 times in seven games. When Williams becomes uncomfortable, the Bears offense becomes predictable.

The Cardinals have struggled to rush the passer this season, but they have found ways to put together creative blitz packages to at least make up for their poor pass rush. AZ are again without Darius Robinson and the defensive line is struggling, but Jonathan Gannon and Nick Rallis have shown a willingness to get creative to build pressure.

Do that against the Bears and watch the offense collapse. Even with a bad pass rush, they face an equally bad, if not worse, offensive line. Someone has to win this fight, and I believe the Cardinals can do it.