Cardinals turn to QB Josh Rosen in fourth quarter vs. Bears

8:14 PM ET

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Josh Rosen era has begun for the Arizona Cardinals.

The rookie quarterback replaced starter Sam Bradford in the fourth quarter on Sunday with the Cardinals down 16-14 to the Chicago Bears with 4:31 remaining after blowing a 14-0 first-quarter lead.

Bradford left the game with 157 yards on 13-for-19 passing and two touchdowns, but he also had thrown two interceptions and lost a fumble.

Rosen completed 3 of 6 passes for 27 yards on his opening drive, but he threw an interception on fourth-and-5 with 1:10 remaining.

The Cardinals would get the ball back one final time, with Rosen completing a 9-yard pass to Christian Kirk and rushing for 12, before taking a sack as time ran out.

Arizona coach Steve Wilks said after the 16-14 loss that he would watch film on both quarterbacks before naming a starter for next week's game against the Seattle Seahawks.

The Cardinals' offensive struggles continued Sunday afternoon against the Bears, even after the playbook was scaled down to a more manageable and understandable size.

The Cardinals' offense rolled to two quick touchdowns in the first quarter. But after that, it slowly ground to a halt. The offense didn't gain a yard in the second quarter and just 30 in the third quarter while not scoring another point. What ended Bradford's day was the fumble he lost after trying to scramble on a broken play early in the fourth.

Sunday's performance was a continuation of the offense's poor play over the first two weeks, when it scored just six points. Heading into the contest, Arizona was ranked last in the NFL in yards per game, passing yards per game and per play, first downs per game, third-down percentage, average time of possession and points per game.

Publicly, the Cardinals exuded confidence that the offensive woes could be corrected this week. But that was not case Sunday, and Arizona turned to Rosen, its quarterback of the future, with the hope that he would provide a spark.

Rosen was drafted 10th overall out of UCLA in April, after the Cardinals traded up five spots to get him.

He has been patiently waiting under Bradford's wings for his opportunity.

On Thursday, Cards offensive coordinator Mike McCoy didn't answer a direct question about how ready Rosen -- specifically -- was to play, if needed, saying, "I think everybody's ready to play."

Rosen beat out Mike Glennon to win the backup job during training camp.

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