Cardinals’ Greg Dortch provides spark, Trey McBride cashes in vs. Bears

GLENDALE — Nearly a quarter into the Arizona Cardinals’ Week 9 game against the Chicago Bears, neither offense looked all that sharp trading punts back and forth.

But sometimes you just got to work with what you got. Just ask Cardinals wide receiver and punt returner Greg Dortch.

In the waning minutes of the first quarter, Dortch got the Cardinals sideline jumping behind a 27-yard punt return that set up quarterback Kyler Murray and Arizona’s offense in Chicago territory.

Murray and Co. jumped at the advantageous opportunity, needing five plays to cash in behind a two-yard Trey McBride run.

Touchdown views brought to you by @mcbtrey pic.twitter.com/F1XUebnqXe

— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 3, 2024

“I won’t tell the whole story, but I figured that would be the first play we scored,” Murray said postgame. “We liked the way it looked drawing it up. It looked good all week, and we executed it in the game. It was good to see him in the end zone.”

The score put Arizona up, 7-0, before Chicago responded with a field goal in the second quarter.

McBride continues to be the most consistent part of Arizona’s passing game in 2024.

Entering play Sunday, McBride had racked up 42 catches on 56 targets for 446 yards. All of those were tops among Arizona’s pass catchers through eight weeks of work.

The only things missing from McBride’s 2024 resume were the touchdowns.

McBride finished the game with the rushing score to go along with three catches for 35 yards.

Sack streak comes to an end

Kevin Byard’s sack on Murray in the first quarter of Sunday’s tilt officially ended Arizona’s impressive sackless streak.

Since Week 5, the Cardinals had pitched a shutout in that department.

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