We’ve scene this script before: the Arizona Cardinals leading with less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter and still unable to come away with a victory.
It happened again in 27-23 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 7.
Despite a fine effort from backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett and two touchdown receptions by tight end Trey McBride, the Packers hung around and took control late.
Before we turn the page to the Cardinals’ bye week, Arizona Sports hosts have some reacting to do:
Rapid Reactions: Cardinals lose to Packers
John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo
For the life of me I will never understand going for it on fourth-and-one from your own 48-yard line with just under six minutes to play.
Green Bay had no real success offensively for most of this game.
They had 98 total yards at halftime and they went three-and-out on the opening possession of the second half.
Why you would risk giving them a short field rather than pinning them deep and making them go 80-90 yards is beside me.
I get being aggressive and trying to win the game but there is a time and place for that. This was not it. You are in the lead! Milking a 23-20 lead. The more plays you make them run the better chance for a mistake by their offense. You basically gave them the ball in field goal range.
Now Green Bay had to make some plays to win the game instead of tying it and sending it to OT and they did.
The Cardinals defense failed when it mattered most – giving up a 3rd-and-eight pass play from Jordan Love to Tucker Kraft and allowing the Packers to convert a 4th-and-two after deciding against a field goal when Love hit Kraft for 15 yards.
Needed stops, didn’t get them.
So the Cardinals get a fifth straight loss — they set an NFL record for losing a third straight game with a lead of at least seven points entering the fourth quarter and for all intents and purposes their season is over.
They’re not coming back from 2-5 to make the playoffs, especially with that schedule and six of their final 10 on the road.
So now the bye week — I would not fire anyone at this point.
Play out the season, see if they can get it turned around.
The team is playing hard just not good enough to close out these games. Haven’t learned how to win. Frustrating as hell, I get it.
Oh, and one more thing. Jacoby Brissett gives them a better chance to win than Kyler Murray — just saying.
Tyler Drake, co-host of Cardinals Corner
Jonathan Gannon and Calais Campbell didn’t have to say anything postgame. They’re faces and body language said it all.
The frustration over yet another loss — by one score or not — is nearly bursting at Arizona’s seams.
Once again, the Cardinals looked to have figured things out. And once again, a fourth quarter falloff ensued.
At 2-5, Arizona’s chances to rebound and make a run at the postseason look bleak.
There’s still a lot of ball left but when this team continues to prove it can win late against good teams, that’s a recipe for disaster.
The bye week couldn’t come at a better time. But will there be any real changes that flip the switch? And just how much longer can a skid like this go before the powers at be make a bigger change to the equation?
Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo
These Cardinals are on the wrong side of history, the first team to ever lose three straight games after leading by seven or more in the fourth quarter. Their fourth-quarter failures have reached an almost legendary scale.
I know the quarterback dilemma is the headliner here, and I think we can all see the offense has functioned better with Jacoby Brissett in control over Kyler Murray.
Clearly, it wasn’t a one-week blip what Brissett did a week ago in Indy; the unit just functions better with him at the helm. But is it the most important thing right now?
Yes, Brissett is operating better than Kyler but if you’re not winning games as a result of that, is that the most important problem to be solved?
The death in the details.
A 61-yard field goal — that felt like a throwaway and turned out to be anything but — at the end of the first half.
A second-and-nine pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. that was so off target, Brissett called that miss “the game.”
A fourth-and-one quarterback sneak that felt like the right decision but the wrong call.
A that-can’t-happen fourth-down conversion to a wide-open Tucker Kraft.
Now, it’s on Jonathan Gannon to pull a little Torey Lovullo-style magic here.
Lovullo took a team that was a clear seller at the deadline and had them playing meaningful baseball until the last weekend of the season.
At 2-5, the task is even taller for Gannon.
Can he keep his foot on the gas and his finger on the pulse of a football team whose season has officially slid out of control?