Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, reacts after missing a catch against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of an NFL football game, Saturday, Dec. 26, 2020, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
You would be rather confused as a viewer Saturday if you were told the Arizona Cardinals were the team in a must-win game and not the San Francisco 49ers.
With San Francisco away from home, out of the playoff picture and missing a handful of key players, the 49ers were the group showing more urgency in a 20-12 Cardinals loss.
The defeat now means the Cardinals’ playoff fate has been taken out of their hands and into the Chicago Bears’.
Arizona Sports hosts and editors react to the biggest loss of the Cardinals’ season thus far.
John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo
I’ll keep this short – that was pathetic!
An absolutely brutal performance in which the Arizona Cardinals failed to show up. They deserved to lose. With everything on the line, and I mean everything, you have to wonder what the hell were they thinking? How could they play that poorly against a team with nothing to play for when you had everything to play for? A playoff spot could have been secured this weekend! At the very least, a win gives you control of your own destiny going into the finale against the Rams.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: 8-8. That is what this team is. Plain and simple.
Murray was terrible, the defense, especially the rush defense, was terrible, the coaching was terrible, Kenyan Drake was terrible, Mason Cole was terrible. I mean seriously — did they even practice this week? Where was the sense of urgency ALL GAME!
Kliff had his lunch stolen from him by Robert Saleh, the 49ers’ defensive coordinator. Then he had his books stolen from him and his backpack and his lunch money for the next day. How many players were out for the 49ers? And Arizona couldn’t take advantage. That’s on Kliff, that’s on the lack of leadership on this team, that’s on every single player for not taking this game more seriously. I don’t want to hear on any given Sunday — the 49ers are not good they are completely depleted and they want to go home after four weeks in the desert. And you let them beat you.
Shame, shame shame.
Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta
That was dumbfounding.
How can a team needing a win to stay in control of its playoff fate put that type of effort?
And how many times have we asked ourselves that very question during the 2020 season as it pertains to the Arizona Cardinals?
Saturday’s 20-12 loss to a bunch of guys in San Francisco 49ers uniforms really gives credence to the “is Kliff Kingsbury an NFL-caliber head coach” chorus that’s been singing since Steve Keim pulled the trigger on a controversial hire in January of 2019.
Earlier this season (admittedly in better times), I asked the head coach what the ceiling for his offense is in his mind.
“I’d love to see it,” he responded.
Thirty-one games into his head coaching tenure, we haven’t seen it. Or worse yet, maybe we have.
The offensive failure (12 points is a season-low) is at the top of the list of reasons why the Cardinals lost this pivotal game. but there are plenty of others.
Could the offensive line play any worse? How does a third-string quarterback with one career win play circles around a Pro Bowl quarterback who was the first overall pick?
The 2020 season has been incredibly frustrating for the Cardinals, even in wins against Seattle and Buffalo. Through the frustration, I’ve shot down all talk of whether or not Kingsbury should be on the hot seat.
His decision to go for it on 4th-and-2 from his own 35-yard line down only two points with nine minutes left in the fourth quarter was disastrous. Not only did they not convert, but San Francisco put another touchdown on the board 20 seconds later.
But when a team with so much to play for comes out to the field looking like extras from The Walking Dead in red uniforms, you have to question the coaching. It’s not the first (or the second or third) time that we’ve scratched our heads about the lack of passion or energy on the Arizona side. In a year where motivation from fans has been absent, never before has that element needed to come from the staff.
It’s safe to say with one game remaining, that hasn’t happened, and that’s beyond concerning.
Kellan Olson, ArizonaSports.com editor
I haven’t dedicated much in this space to Kliff Kingsbury throughout the season. The two things the coach of this Arizona Cardinals team needs to do is 1) show they are capable of maximizing Kyler Murray’s ability and 2) be mildly competent in other areas.
It’s as clear that Kyler Murray is talented enough to lead a few deep playoff runs as it is that Kliff Kingsbury is not even close to being the coach that can get the most out of that talent. Playoffs or not, we’ve seen enough on Kingsbury to know he can’t handle the two most important parts of this job.
Watching Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay get a few drives a game that almost feel free remind you that’s what precise game-planning from an “offensive guru” looks like. Kingsbury does not have nearly enough of those and his befuddling play calls on other drives cancel those out.
At a certain point, the way this team sucks is on him. The penalties, burned timeouts and inept decision-making scream a poorly coached team, on top of what Vince mentioned above. When your offense has struggled to move the ball into the red zone nearly all game, why on Earth go for it down two points when the 49ers would be in field goal range? With eight minutes left still and the defense doing well enough?
It’s difficult to believe in this team if Kingsbury is running it. He just lost a must-win game to C.J. Beathard.
Jordan Byrd, producer of Burns & Gambo
Blame it on too much Christmas cheer or overlooking a wounded opponent but however you slice it, the Cardinals season is now hurtling towards a heartbreaking ending.
The Cardinals didn’t execute, didn’t show any intensity and were out played and out coached in every facet by the 49ers on Saturday.
The fact that the Cards could be this lifeless against an inferior team on paper is absolutely inexcusable. Kliff Kingsbury and the coaching staff deserve their fair share of that blame, but it’s also on the players for not being able to take advantage of the numerous opportunities the Niners gave them to hang around.
The offense we saw the last few weeks appears now to be a mirage. Many of the same mistakes that have plagued this unit early in the season were back on full display. Penalties that put the offense in longer than needed to situations, dropped balls and an inconsistent run game were all problems that the Cards reverted back to Saturday.
Instead of finding their stride and beginning to peak when the season matters the most, the Arizona offense is going backwards. That’s partly on the injuries the Cards were experiencing but also a bad indication that this team and their offensive guru of a head coach are not nearly as far along as we once hoped or where they should be.
The 49ers were using a third-string quarterback that hadn’t played in two years, and yet Kyle Shanahan looked like the real play-calling savant in how he was able to squeeze just enough out of his team to get the win. Let’s not fool ourselves, the Niners left seven points on the field all in the form of missed kicks. If Robbie Gould wasn’t having just about as bad of a day as the Cardinals, the Niners would have won comfortably.
What once looked like a special season just a month or so ago is now trending towards an epic collapse. Arizona no longer controls its own playoff destiny and it shouldn’t. Saturday’s performance was about as far removed from looking like a playoff team that you can get. The Cards might still have a chance and could possibly get the help they need from the Bears to make the postseason, but if Saturday was any indication, Arizona will be lucky not to get blown out by halftime next week in Los Angeles.
Kevin Zimmerman, ArizonaSports.com editor and reporter
This was the worst loss of the season and one with implications beyond this year’s playoff hopes. The 49ers treated their temporary home at State Farm Stadium like they owned it, calling a masterful game on both sides of the ball.
There was the Cardinals blitzing Budda Baker off the edge and Kyle Shanahan prepared with a bootleg play to tight end George Kittle into the vacated space. There was misdirection and motion that had Arizona’s defenders thinking too much and losing contain on the edges as they searched for the ball in the backfield.
Then there was the San Francisco defense, which injured Kyler Murray and stopped the Cardinals’ run game despite a defensive line decimated by injuries. The 49ers held up just fine in coverage down a few bodies there as well.
Again, Arizona fell to a team that on paper looked far less talented, and Kliff Kingsbury will be on the hot seat through next season unless the Cardinals can beat the Rams, get a little lucky and fulfill their promise with at least a promising postseason showing.
"lose" - Google News
December 27, 2020 at 08:15AM
https://ift.tt/352Xn9d
Rapid Reactions: Cardinals flat in must-win game, lose to 49ers - Arizona Sports
"lose" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3fa3ADu https://ift.tt/2VWImBB
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Rapid Reactions: Cardinals flat in must-win game, lose to 49ers - Arizona Sports"
Post a Comment