With his daily blog on ChicagoBears.com, senior writer Larry Mayer will bring you all of the latest Bears news and information instantaneously from Halas Hall.

Cardinals have been red hot on the road this season

The Cardinals have traditionally struggled on the road, but they’ll enter Sunday’s game at Soldier Field with an impressive 3-0 mark away from home.

Arizona, which hasn’t finished a season with a winning road record since going 4-3 in 1976, has won away contests over the Jaguars, Seahawks and Giants.

“They’ve gone into some tough places and won on the road,” said coach Lovie Smith. “It’s hard to say the reason why. I haven’t seen a big difference in their game plan. Sometimes things just happen, and it’s hard to explain why.”

Defensive end Adewale Ogunleye thinks it has something to do with Kurt Warner’s poise. The veteran quarterback has completed 73.8 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and two interceptions on the road compared to 60.6 percent of his passes with six TDs and nine interceptions at home. 

“He’s done it for so many years now,” Ogunleye said. “I think that being on the road doesn’t rattle him.”

The Bears, meanwhile, are 3-0 at home this season and have won six straight games at Soldier Field overall.

Bears stunned Cardinals in last meeting between teams

The Bears will face the Cardinals Sunday at Soldier Field for the first time since a memorable Monday night victory in Arizona on Oct. 16, 2006.

In that game, the Bears turned a 23-3 deficit late in the third quarter into a 24-23 win—without the benefit of an offensive touchdown. The defense scored on fumble returns of 3 yards by Mike Brown and 40 yards by Charles Tillman before Devin Hester returned a punt 83 yards for a TD with 2:58 remaining.

“It was a big win for the defense, the special teams, because we were down, and we fought back,” said linebacker Lance Briggs. “It was one of those defining moments, and that to me will always be one of the best games I’ve ever played in.”

The Bears overcame six turnovers by Rex Grossman—four interceptions and two lost fumbles—as well as a 20-0 halftime deficit to improve their record to 6-0 en route to Super Bowl XLI.

“I remember being in the locker room at halftime and Olin [Kreutz] talking to the team, telling us, ‘You guys play hard the rest of the game, we will win this game,’” Briggs said.

“Those are the kind of moments that you never ever forget in your mind. When he said that statement, I know I believed him and I’m pretty sure everybody [else] believed him too. So when it happened, it was just one of those things. We knew it was going to happen.”

After the game, then-Cardinals coach Dennis Green launched into his now legendary tirade during which he screamed that “the Bears are who we thought they were … so crown their [butt]!”

“That’s probably what will live on, but I don’t really comment about it too much,” said defensive end Alex Brown. “It was a funny moment for some, but it was really a downturn for him and his career as far as a coach—very unfortunate—but I’m glad we won.”

Up-and-down Bears looking for more consistency

Forgive Adewale Ogunleye for feeling like he’s been riding an elevator this season: The Bears lost their opener, won three straight, lost two in a row and then won again last Sunday to improve to 4-3.

“We’re not happy with the way things have been,” said the defensive end. “It’s been an up-and-down season, and that brings a ton of emotions. Sometimes you’re happy, sometimes you’re angry. I would rather us be 7-0 right now and sitting pretty. But that’s not the way it is and that’s not the way life is.

“We’ve got to find a way to continue to get these ‘W’s and turn this season into a positive because it easily can go the other way. With that being said, we’re ahead. We’re 4-3, but we still know we’re not where we want to be and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

The Bears, who will try to extend their winning streak to two games Sunday when they host the Arizona Cardinals, hope to look back at their embarrassing 45-10 loss in Cincinnati Oct. 25 as a turning point.

“When we look back at this season, I hope the Cincinnati game was the game that kind of in a different way opened our eyes to what’s going on and not wanting to be at home during the playoffs,” Ogunleye said. “I want that game to be the game that we turned it around. We got the Cleveland win and we’re going to hopefully get this win against Arizona and continue from there.”

Linebacker Lance Briggs agrees that the loss to the Bengals could be a watershed moment.

“It was an eye-opening game,” he said. “It was something that I thought was a swift kick in the pants. What we do from there could definitely be defining or a turning point for us. Our season has been a roller coaster. We’ve had games where we’ve been happy and we’ve had games where we’ve been angry.”

To Briggs, it’s just a matter of taking advantage of opportunities on both sides of the ball.

“We have to continue to keep knocking at the door,” he said. “We have to continue to fight, and I think every week for us we have to continue to earn a little bit more and more respect.”