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 After completing his first eight passes, Cutler threw an
interception that the Arizona Cardinals' Tony Jefferson returned for
a touchdown late in the second quarter. Cutler made a vain attempt
to tackle Jefferson and suffered what the team said was a hamstring
injury that put him out for the day -- and perhaps longer.
Jefferson's touchdown opened the floodgates to what ended as a 48-23
victory for the Cardinals, who had been locked in a 14-14 tie before
scoring two touchdowns in 52 seconds late in the half.
The Bears said nothing about how long Cutler might be out of action,
but backup quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who finished the game, gave a
hint by saying, "Guys have to step up when guys go down. That's the
situation we're in right now."
It could be a dismal situation for the 0-2 Bears, who play three of
their next four games on the road, starting next Sunday at Seattle.
Cutler's injury did not appear to be a hamstring when he landed on
his shoulder and head after chasing Jefferson, and he never grabbed
at his leg and did not appear to limp as he was helped off the
field. Coach John Fox said simply it was a "pulled hamstring," and
gave no indication of the severity.
"I felt the air was deflated a little bit (when Cutler went out),
but guys did a great job of (saying), 'Let's pick up the tempo,'"
Clausen said.
Nonetheless, Chicago's only scoring the rest of the game came on
three field goals by Robbie Gould.
Arizona, meanwhile, is off to a 2-0 start behind quarterback Carson
Palmer, who has won 15 of his last 17 starts. Palmer completed 17 of
24 passes for 185 yards, including four touchdowns, three of them to
wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald caught a game-high eight
passes for 112 yards.
Fitzgerald has been one of the NFL's best receivers for more than a
decade, but surprisingly this was his first three touchdown
regular-season game.
Even Arians said, "That's hard for me to believe."
Until Cutler's injury, it appeared that the Bears might be able to
stay with the Cardinals, who jumped on top when David Johnson
returned the opening kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown.
Johnson, whose kickoff return was his first touchdown in the NFL,
scored his second later in the game on a 13-yard run.
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Early on, the teams exchanged mistakes, with Arizona twice leaving
Chicago receivers uncovered, and the Bears helped the Cardinals
offense move the ball by committing long pass interference
penalties. That led to a tie at 14 before Fitzgerald's first
touchdown. The Jefferson interception/touchdown came two plays after
the ensuing kickoff.
Big penalties were the theme of the day for the Bears, who were
penalized 14 times for 170 yards, matching a 71-year-old team record
for penalty yardage in a game. Cornerback Kyle Fuller, beaten both
for penalties and touchdowns, eventually was benched.
"You'd like to add up all the yardage we got on interferences
because they don't show up on the stats," said Cardinals coach Bruce
Arians, referring to the fact his team totaled just 300 yards on
offense. "It felt like a whole lot more than that."
"Downfield penalties were a huge issue," Fox said. There are "a lot
of things we have to clean up and fix. We gave up 170 yards in
penalties (mostly) on downfield throws, and it wasn't a mystery we
were going to see some of those."
If Clausen has to start next week at Seattle, it would be just his
second start since his rookie season in 2010 with Carolina. He
started one game for the Bears last December in the season's
penultimate game, but suffered a concussion and did not play again.
NOTES: The Bears played without WR Alshon Jeffery (hamstring), who
led the team in receiving yards and touchdowns a year ago and also
in their opening day loss to Green Bay . . . RB Andre Ellington
(knee), Arizona's leading rusher, also missed the game . . . Cards
LB LaMarr Woodley went out of the game in the first quarter with a
right shoulder injury . . . QB Jimmy Clausen, who joined the Bears
as a free agent in 2014, appeared in four games last year, starting
one in lat
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