Shame on the Cardinals for losing to Carolina

On By Littum

Shame on the Cardinals. In a sport full of atrocities, they are the cruelest pranks of all.

Eliminated in Carolina?

No serious football team would dare. No fan base deserves to hear such vile words in 2024.

But that’s what the Cardinals coughed up on Sunday. With their playoff hopes on the line, they lost to a team with three wins and one of the worst franchises in sports. They fumbled around and figured it out.

There are many fingers to point. The Cardinals coaching staff has been harping all week about playing meaningful games in December. They emphasized how they couldn’t overlook the three-win Panthers, a team that performed better than its record indicated. They talked about avoiding a trap and walked head first into one.

Their focus in the first quarter was an abomination. There were penalties, an errant pass and numerous mental errors. Marvin Harrison Jr. made two of those in the first three plays, helping to waste good field position to start the game. The first quarter spoke very poorly for team management, especially a coaching staff that couldn’t command the room’s attention, which failed to prevent the second lackluster performance in three weeks.

In the upcoming offseason, there will be talk and much propaganda about how much the 2024 Cardinals improved in year two under Jonathan Gannon. Even if the Cardinals win their last two games and finish with a 9-8 record, the claims will ring hollow.

That’s because the Cardinals were 6-4 entering the bye week. They are 1-4 straight since, and are falling again down the stretch. Their gutless loss to the Panthers robs Valley of an upcoming showdown against the Rams in Los Angeles, a game that would have given the Cardinals a real crack at a division title and a home game in the playoffs. A game that was set for primetime Saturday night, giving Arizona spotter fans another shot at glory.

Now the game means nothing.

Finally the quarterback. Kyler Murray already has size issues. He cannot afford to shrink any longer on a football field. But he’s done it consistently since the bye week, coming off big moments and spoiling solid overall performances with inexplicable moments and decisions.

Murray is capable of being an MVP candidate, a breathtaking dual threat and one of the most compelling players in the NFL. He can also be annoying, polarizing and incredibly bad. And it’s all within one possession.

The mismatches are insane, and so is an offense built on checkdowns and bubble screens.

For economic reasons, most keen observers assume Murray will be back again in 2025. But it’s going to be really hard to sell hope along with a significant increase in ticket prices when so much of the valley has turned on our diminutive quarterback. And it’s going to be really hard to see.

It’s not uncommon for the Cardinals to get eliminated in Carolina. It happened twice in the playoffs during the Bruce Arians era, and both of those games hurt hard. Except it was great Panthers teams blocking our way to the Super Bowl.

But today? Against Bryce Young’s Panthers? Are you robbing the fan base of a huge stage and a defining moment in LA?

What a shame.

Reach Bickley at [email protected]. Listen to Bickley & Marotta mornings from 06.00 to 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports