Game Info
Kickoff: Sunday, November 3rd, 4:05 ET
Location: State Farm Stadium, Glendale AZ
Network: CBS
Writer: Michael James
Hey gang, Michael James here filling in for Marco this week. Today we’re looking at the Arizona Cardinals hosting the Chicago Bears. As of this writing, the Cardinals are -120 favorites to win this game and the over/under is 44.5. Let’s see where we stand for our fantasy players in this game!
Chicago Bears
Quarterback
Caleb Williams: Start, QB2
Caleb Williams is still a rookie and is prone to accentuated highs and lows throughout his first season in the NFL. Two of his past three games have seen him score north of 20 fantasy points per game, but looking closer you see those were two home games against a Panthers and Jaguars defense that has been struggling to find an identity in the first half of the season. Then you have the lows like the latest game saw his third week this season with less than 10 points in fantasy. The Cardinals have given up the sixth-most passing yards and come in the bottom five in overall QB pressure rating with a second-lowest blitz rate in the league. Unfortunately, the O-line for the Bears took some hits and had two linemen questionable for this game with at least one of them looking unlikely to suit up at minimum. Williams has a nice floor because of his ability to run with the football at the quarterback position. He is averaging 6 carries with just under 40 rushing yards per game over his last four games. As such, I like him as a bye-week fill-in or a super flex spot. However, I don’t like his odds of achieving a QB1-rated performance in fantasy this week.
Running Back
D’Andre Swift: Start, RB1
Roschon Johnson: FLEX Option, RB3
D’Andre Swift has been money in the bank in his last four games with an average of 22.5 fantasy points per game over that stretch. The Cardinals have allowed the sixth-most rushing yards so far this season and are the fifth-best team to start a running back against in fantasy. Roschon Johnson has been on a steady diet of about 30% snap share since his return in week 3 and provides a steady FLEX floor with his red zone rushes having four touchdowns in the last four games.
Wide Receiver
DJ Moore: Start, WR2
Keenan Allen: FLEX Option, WR4
Rome Odunze: FLEX Option, WR4
Arizona is bottom ten in both air yards per reception and yards after the catch. Hopefully, this will be a good start to get DJ Moore out of his slump. After starting the season on fire with double-digit fantasy points in his first five starts, he has cooled down a bit seeing his lowest targets of the season in back-to-back games now. Keenan Allen is a bit more of a harder one to trust for me. He is pulling in around five fantasy points per game this season in games where he did not find the end zone twice (week 6, Jacksonville). He is averaging five targets per game over his last three games, so this could be a potentially bigger game for the receivers with the need to keep up with the Cardinal offense against this porous defense.
Tight End
Cole Kmet: Start, TE2
While Cole Kmet comes in at the top ten of points to the tight end position in fantasy, his overall numbers are inflated by two games where he found the end zone and exploded for 20+ fantasy points. Every other game has been a TE2-rated performance in fantasy terms. Still, I’m going to be hard-pressed to rate a TE as a sit considering how much of a rocky start the position has been off to this season before last week. For what it is worth, Arizona is averaging around 7 receptions for 65 yards to the tight end over the last four weeks now.
D/ST
Bears: Sit
Last week I had the Bears listed as a start before learning that Jayden Daniels would NOT be ruled out and it ended up being Chicago’s first truly bad performance of the season. This now puts a three-game contrast of this defense at home as opposed to on the road. Given that this game is in Arizona and the Cardinals put 300 yards and 0 turnovers on a highly-ranked Dolphin secondary, I’m playing it safe and passing on the Bears this week. Arizona has only allowed a single sack in their last four games in a row.
Arizona Cardinals
Quarterback
Kyler Murray: Start, QB1
Last week I was not scared off from the secondary of Miami when it came to listing Kyler Murray so high and the same situation presents itself this week as well. I am not backing down from this one either, as the Commanders showed the flaws in this previously stout Bear defense. Murray put up his first 300-yard passing game of the season last week and has now scored more than 20 fantasy points in three of his last four games. With his ability to pick up yards and touchdowns with his feet, I like the floor he provides in this one.
Running Back
James Conner: Start, RB2
I had to do a double-check when listing James Conner as an RB2 because it sure feels like he’s been rolling in fantasy points this season, but by definition of fantasy points expected it is accurate. He is comfortably seated himself on the border of RB2/1 this season and I think he will continue with that consistency here. The only time Conner has not put up good fantasy numbers was the two times Arizona had fallen behind before halftime. Chicago has allowed a 90+ yard rusher in three of their last five games while only keeping one team (Jacksonville) below 100 total rushing yards. One thing to beware of is that Chicago has the lowest missed tackles of any team in the league this year, and by a decent margin.
Wide Receiver
Marvin Harrison Jr.: Start, WR2
Michael Wilson: FLEX Option, WR4
While I was happy to get my call on Murray right last week, I will admit and take the L on my low-ball prediction on Marvin Harrison Jr. Turns out it was reported this week that they were working on more options to open up the field for MHJ and it sure paid off against Miami. Harrison was targeted across the middle for the first time since week three and had his highest amount of routes from the slot in that game. I said I needed to see it first before I would trust him again. Well, I saw it and now I trust him. I am simple like that I suppose. The Bears have allowed a 100-yard pass catcher in each of their last two games in a row and I think it’s about to become three. I am moving him up to the WR2 ceiling for this one. Michael Wilson has found the end zone in two of his last three games and brought in five of his six targets against the Dolphins. This passing attack is on the rise and he will see a benefit from the defensive attention given to his teammates Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride, so he slides in as a middling FLEX option this week with upside.
Tight End
Trey McBride: Start, TE1
A top-three tight end continues doing top-three things. Chicago allowed over 100 yards to the tight end of Jacksonville and McBride is coming off a 9 reception 124 yard performance down in Miami last week.
D/ST
Cardinals: Sit
I would permit streaming the Cardinals at home against the Bears but I would look for stronger options first. You can check out my list of some potential candidates to stream this week. Arizona’s offense tends to get them into higher-scoring games and as such find themselves in the bottom ten of yards allowed against the pass. They have one of the lowest QB pressure ratings in the league. You could do worse here, but you could also do better.
Happy Halloween!!