The Chicago Bears should obviously be focused on what’s in front of their own noses this week. But … I can’t help but peek at what’s happening in Sunday’s Rams-Cardinals game. That’s because the battle of NFC West rivals could have major implications on whether the Bears make the postseason or not.
As we discussed earlier, a Bears loss to the Packers (who do still have something to play for) would result in them needing help from the Rams beating the Cardinals to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, the Rams will likely take the field with backup quarterback John Wolford in place of an injured Jared Goff.
But it’s possible that the Cardinals might trot out their own backup quarterback on Sunday:
Kliff Kingsbury was vague on Kyler Murray's leg injury: "We’ll see how he feels this week. I’m hopeful that he can be in position to play and do what he does."
— Josh Weinfuss (@joshweinfuss) December 28, 2020
Cardinals’ HC Kliff Kingsbury said Kyler Murray has a “lower leg injury” and his status for Sunday’s game vs. Rams is uncertain.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 28, 2020
Kyler Murray suffered a leg injury in last Saturday’s loss to the 49ers. And while Murray might have avoided a serious injury, that his coach has his status up in the air right now raises eyebrows. If Murray can’t go, then the Cardinals’ up-hill climb to a postseason berth gets that much tougher.
For what it’s worth, Arizona’s QB2 is Chris Streveler. He who hasn’t thrown a pass in the NFL and has just two offensive snaps under his belt. One of those was a 3-yard rush. Streveler, 25, is a Naperville, Ill., native who played his college ball at South Dakota. Before landing in Arizona, Strevler threw for 2,698 yards and 19 touchdowns in 35 games with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers. For good measure, Streveler tacked on 1,167 rushing yards and 22 ground scores in those games.
I know better than to try and project CFL stats onto an NFL player, so I definitely won’t do it for a quarterback. Instead, I’ll just point out how wild it is that there are so many moving parts in Week 17. And it’s just Monday. So stay tuned. I have a feeling there could be plenty of updates throughout the week.