Two franchises remain from the original NFL that was created in 1920: The Cardinals and the Bears. The Cardinals, by the way, were named for the color of their original jerseys and not the bird. As long as we were talking history, I thought I'd throw that out. All that, of course, was long before now, long before the Cards moved to Arizona and long before any of the players in Sunday's game were born. Long before their parents were born.

This is about 2015, of course, and the Cardinals' first road trip of the season.

"We're not going to shop on Michigan Avenue," coach Bruce Arians said. "We're going to play the Bears."

-- On paper, the Cardinals should win this game. Those odds should get better if the Bears are without wide receiver Alshon Jeffery and linebacker

Pernell McPhee, who both could miss the game. Yes, the Cardinals are without Andre Ellington, but they are actually fairly well equipped to weather that issue.

-- Could they weather the absence of safeties Tony Jefferson and Deone Bucannon? Both those guys are game-day decisions with a bad hamstring and groin, respectively. I think they'll give it a go, but we'll see how they feel. The way the Cards' defense works these days, those top four safeties are crucial.

-- Then again, if Bucannon can't go, maybe that means more work for Sean Weatherspoon, since Bucannon plays so much linebacker. No Jefferson, and that could mean more Justin Bethel or more Chris Clemons.

-- That picture to the right is from a Bears-Cardinals game in November of 1959. It's Soldier Field — you can tell by the columns — but the Cardinals were actually the home team in the photo (which is courtesy of the Chicago History Museum; J. Johnson, Jr., photographer.)

-- Cornerback or not for Bethel, he will still play special teams, which he did for 26 snaps in the first game — even if he wasn't happy enough with his key downed punt late in last week's game.

"The special teams stuff is something I know I still need to do and make plays on," Bethel said. "I wish I would've made a tackle or two. I hate when I go a game and don't have a tackle, it makes me feel like I had a bad game."

-- The short pass/screen game didn't go all that well for the Cards' defense last week. Now they run into a running back in Matt Forte who is the centerpiece of the Bears' offense. For defensive coordinator James Bettcher, he was confident in the correctable mistakes the Cards made — one cover was on linebacker Alex Okafor, a miss the linebacker insists won't happen again —and that should start this week.

"Teams are going to get plays," Bettcher said. "We understand that. When they do, it's tackle (them) and go on to the next down."

Said cornerback Patrick Peterson, "We have to get all 11 hats to whoever has the ball."

-- Bettcher did rave about Okafor's first game, and not because of his two sacks. "I thought there were a couple snaps where he was so violent setting the edge (against the run)," Bettcher said. "You can see that. That's the first thing that stood out watching the film."

-- Best quote of the week, at least from the Bears locker room: Cornerback Alan Ball, after watching the Cardinals-Saints game, said in total earnestness that Carson Palmer "is at his best moving."

Palmer’s playing at a high level. That's not a debate. But I don't know if I'd say he's at his best on the move. Palmer made sure he heard correctly when I brought it up. "Frightening," he said. Even Carson understands a clean pocket is the way for him to go.

-- The Bears have moved to a 3-4 defensive alignment this season. It's going to be weird to see veteran Jared Allen as an outside linebacker.

-- Arians decided to weigh in on the proposed Larry Fitzgerald-Darren Fells one-on-one basketball showdown. "I've never seen either one of them play, but I could probably take them both," Arians said with a smile.

"But I ain't playing for no checks."

-- The last time the Cards were in Chicago for a regular-season game: It was the 2009 season. Kurt Warner threw for five touchdown passes, including a pair to Fitzgerald (Nine catches for 123 yards that day). The Cards dominated.

We'll see how it plays out Sunday.