With 56 seconds left in the first half Sunday, outside linebacker Zaven Collins was on his backside after getting chipped by Bears running back Roschon Johnson. Watching quarterback Caleb Williams extend the play, Collins had one thought.
"'Someone, please jump on him,'" he said. "And then I see (outside linebacker Xavier Thomas) jump on his back, so I was like, 'thank God.'"
It was a perfect example of how dominant and sudden the Cardinals were at generating pressure in the 29-9 victory over the Bears. The Cardinals recorded six sacks, limited Chicago to 69 rushing yards, and did not allow a touchdown for the second time in the last three games. The 241 total yards allowed was also a season-low.
In a game full of milestones, the Cardinals defense had 16 different players generate a pressure on a season-high 46 percent of dropbacks, according to Next Gen Stats. The number of players pressuring tied for the most by a team in a single game since 2018.
Thomas, who added another half-sack, was in the backfield all throughout the afternoon.
"It's just a great feeling," he said. "You get in that mode that nobody can really stop you. That's how I feel when I'm coming off of a set."
The outside linebacker room delivered on Sunday. Collins had a pair of sacks, Thomas did his work, and in his third season, Jesse Luketa record the first of his career.
To Collins, Sunday's outing was exactly how the staff envisioned the defense's usage, even after losing Dennis Gardeck, BJ Ojulari, Justin Jones, and Bilal Nichols to injury for the season.
"There are games, in the past, where you go back and watch the film and it's only one false step or getting to your move a little bit quicker where it could be like that," Collins said. "It's getting to those things, the fine details of things, because we knew we weren't far away."
Defensive lineman Dante Stills pointed to every defensive stall in the locker room while breaking down the influx of pressures. He said a performance like this, in a game where Stills extended his sack streak to three games, only builds confidence.
"I feel like I'm taking my game to another level," he said. "My mind is like, '(Expletive) it. Just go out there and play your ass off and everything's going to fall in place.'"
When asked about the noise surrounding the lack of a Cardinals pass rush in previous games, with some colorful language, L.J. Collier interrupted to say social media is "all talk."
Stills doubled down on Collier's claim. For the time being, the narrative was put to bed.
"We see all that stuff on social media about how they doubt us and stuff like that," Stills said. "But at the end of the day, every Sunday is an opportunity to shut everybody that's talking down on us."
They'll have another chance to continue proving themselves right when they welcome the Jets to town. The work for that matchup begins on Monday.
"(The confidence) is at an all-time high," Thomas said. "We know what we have on our side of the ball and we know what we're capable of as long as we come prepared every week."
