Throwback Thursday: Bears rally to beat Cardinals in 2018

Every Thursday throughout the 2021 regular season, Bears Wire will take a look back at some of the most memorable moments in Chicago Bears history that occurred on or near that given day.

September 23rd, 2018: Bears complete comeback against Cardinals to secure Matt Nagy’s first road victory of his career.

When you think about the Chicago Bears executing a comeback in Arizona against the Cardinals, your mind probably goes straight to 2006, and rightfully so. It was a legendary comeback in a historic season for the Bears. But on this day three years ago, the Bears executed yet another, albeit not as exciting, comeback against the Cardinals to start the season 2-1.

Like 2006, this game started ugly for the Bears. The Cardinals, led by Sam Bradford in what would be the final start of his career, drove his team down the field and threw a touchdown pass to a wide open Ricky Seals-Jones to give the Cardinals the early lead.

The Bears missed a field goal by Cody Parkey on their opening drive and a fumble by quarterback Mitchell Trubisky led to another Cardinal touchdown. Bradford found running back David Johnson for the score, putting the Cardinals up 14-0 after the first quarter. It looked like a blowout in the making.

The Bears found some yards, but didn’t do much in the second quarter in terms of points. They mustered a field goal to make it a 14-3 ballgame at halftime. It seemed as if a winless Cardinals team was about to boat race the Bears for their first victory. But thing quickly turned around.

On Arizona’s first drive of the half, Bradford threw a pick to safety Eddie Jackson, setting up the Bears for a touchdown drive to cut the lead to 4 points. Another interception on the Cardinals ensuing drive led to a field goal and suddenly it was 14-13 entering the fourth quarter. Bradford committed yet another turnover, this time a fumble thanks to a sack from outside linebacker Khalil Mack. It set up the go-ahead field goal from Parkey to make it 16-14.

The Cardinals entered desperation mode and removed Bradford for rookie Josh Rosen to try and mount a comeback with under five minutes remaining in the game. Instead, he threw an interception to cornerback Bryce Callahan, sealing the win for the Bears.

It’s not the 2006 game but it was a fun comeback victory in Nagy’s first season. Both teams meet again this year for the first time since this game.

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