It’s time to give credit to the Bears coaching staff.

No, really.

After a week where they got beat because of the Hail Mary pass and the decisions that led to it on both sides of the ball, they actually did what they needed to do to prepare for Arizona.

They took the day off for a visit due to the physical toll of this loss. Most importantly, the theme all week was focused on the tough task at hand with the Cardinals.

It’s easy to dismiss an opponent who has struggled to win in recent years, especially after their own horrific defeat that can hang heavy over the team like a fog.

But the Bears have been talking about the Cardinals all week as a team on the verge of taking over the NFC West, which they very well could do.

The offense treated safety Budda Baker like he was the Terminator. You waited until one of them said, “Baker’s over there.” We cannot negotiate with him. We can’t reason with him. He feels no pity, no remorse, no fear. And he absolutely won’t stop. never.” They didn’t say it, but almost.

“Budda Baker is moving this way, he’s coming in from the middle of the field,” coach Matt Eberflus said. “They have a three-safety look primarily in a five-safety look and he’ll come. He won’t always come, but there will be guys that will come, and he’s mostly the one who does that.

“When you scout your runs, sometimes it creates a little confusion. Our guys have done a good job in practice, but again, it’s going to be full speed. He’s going to be a very good player and a very good player . good front because they move it a little. Our guys must do a very good job of communication.

The same respect was given to Kyler Murray, who the Bears faced last year, as well as running back James Conner.

Last year, the Bears suffered their most excruciating loss, blowing a 21-point lead against Denver, then turned around the next week and shook off the hangover and embarrassment, went to Washington for a short preparation for a Thursday night game and routed the Commanders.

Eberflus and his team must hope something similar happens now for their first road win of the season. They really need the victory.

Here are the keys to achieving it.

1. Pass protect

Whether it’s standard pass blocking, running plays after establishing the run, or moving Williams, they need to keep their quarterback’s feet clean.

Williams has been completely ineffective under pressure on the road. He has a passer rating of 57.11 when blitzing in road games and 45.09 when blitzing under pressure or without blitzing on the road.

The problem with all of this is that the Bears offensive line will have a new left tackle since Braxton Jones has been ruled out with a knee injury. Larry Borom will replace him and although he is experienced, he hasn’t played all year because he was on IR coming out of camp.

Because of this, tactics such as play-action, establishing the run to do so, moving the pocket, and using bootleg action will be huge in preventing Williams from being harassed.

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If they give Williams time, he will be able to see how they use Baker and burn the running game in their plan.

2. Danger zone

The Cardinals are a nightmare for defenses in man-to-man pass coverage because of Kyler Murray’s scrambling ability and also because their receivers are more effective against man coverage.

Opponents therefore hit them heavily with area.

According to Pro Football Focus, they faced the zone 75.6% of the time.

The Bears’ defensive scheme is zone and they rank in the top 10 in defensive success rate (50.2) and yards allowed per target (7.4) according to PFF.

The zone situation was also applicable against Washington and the Bears still lost, but only allowed four field goals until the final desperation play. But Washington offered better strike zone coverage than the Cardinals.

It’s more of the same defensively, as they play strong zone pass defense, and also strong red zone defense since they are #1 in the red zone.

3. Moment of possession

It’s not just about controlling the ball, but also eating up time as in time of possession. This is important because Arizona’s offense can be explosive and the Bears want to keep them off the field.

In Arizona games, the winning team is usually the one with the greater possession advantage. When they lost three of their first four, Detroit, Buffalo and Washington all had big advantages. Of course, this normally involves running the ball efficiently.

In their last game, when it was essentially a shootout at the end against Miami, that wasn’t the case. In the Chargers and 49ers games, the Cardinals came away with wins, but the games played out similarly to the previous ones in terms of ball control. Then, key turnovers cost the Chargers and 49ers and made their ball control efforts almost detrimental.

For the Bears, achieving this is easier said than done. This shouldn’t be the case, but one of Shane Waldron’s offensive hallmarks in Seattle was his inability to possess the ball. Twice they were last in possession, the penultimate in his other season. The Bears are middle of the pack in terms of time of possession. Shooting for the moon, trying to make big plays should be less important than moving the ball consistently and scoring.

Waldron might even find that this approach helps them score points early in games so they don’t have to fall back into a hole like they usually have.

Twitter: BearsOnSI