The Arizona Cardinals had two turnovers in their 45-29 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. They lost by 16 points or two touchdowns. Without them, the game would have been more interesting.
Prior to last week’s game, they did not turn the ball over in the previous two games.
Taking care of the football will be a huge priority this weekend on the road against the Chicago Bears. The Bears have forced 14 turnovers in their last four games after only getting nine takeaways in their first 10.
Head coach Jonathan Gannon has made it the most important thing this week.
“I would say I don’t know if I can put much more emphasis on ball security,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “Knowing that this team, when they win the takeaway battle, I think they’re 4-0 and when they lose the takeaway battle, I think they’re one and something. Certain teams can overcome it, but that’s a winning stat for a reason. We lost it two nothing last game and you lose the game. We’ve overcome it at times, but our wins were typically in the positive with that so a huge emphasis and knowing that this team takes it away. That’s how they win games. They steal possessions and they stop possessions by taking it away. Those are big plays, momentum plays in a game that can be a turning point in a game, which we’ve got to do a really good job of.”
The Bears are actually 4-1 when winning the turnover battle. They are 0-6 when losing it.
Turnovers have not been as much of a “winning stat” for the Cardinals this year. They are 2-5 when their opponent has more turnovers than they do. They are 1-5 when they lose the turnover battle.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
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