The Arizona Cardinals are officially reeling after their third straight loss, falling under .500 (6-7) with an ugly 30-18 home performance against the Seattle Seahawks (6-7) on Sunday.

After an opening drive touchdown to wide receiver Michael Wilson, two first-quarter interceptions by the arm of Kyler Murray destroyed any early momentum in a critical Week 14 divisional game.

An accompanying 44:42 surprise win by the Los Angeles Rams (7:6) over the Buffalo Bills gave the Cardinals third place in the NFC West standings.

With the division lead slipping out of reach, the Cardinals will be forced to play near-perfect football down the stretch to keep their postseason hopes alive.

Arizona Sports Hosts and reporters shared their biggest takeaways from the Cardinals’ third home loss of 2024:

Vince Marotta, co-host of Bickley & Marotta Mornings: Two weeks ago, during a 16-6 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle, Drew Petzing and the Cardinals offense, in my opinion, abandoned the running game too early.

On Sunday in Glendale, Arizona’s offense may have been inclined to abandon the passing game after their first drive of the game, giving them a 7-0 lead in a game they lost 30-18.
For the third week in a row, Kyler Murray destroyed any chance the Cardinals had of winning with two stunningly bad interceptions on consecutive throws in the first quarter. Murray led 7-3 and was picked off by linebacker Ernest Jones on a play where the QB apparently didn’t see the defender.

One play later, Seattle struck when Geno Smith threw a 19-yard touchdown strike to Jaxson Smith-Njigba, giving Seattle a lead they would never relinquish.

Two offensive plays later, Murray stared at Marvin Harrison Jr. and Coby Bryant tackled him. Five plays later, Zach Charbonnet capped a scoring drive with a 1-yard run to make it 17-7.

Felt like a ball game. It was.

Let’s rewind… The Cardinals’ bye week didn’t just come at a bad time. It took four weeks. Sure, Arizona was competitive in Minnesota last week (a game the Cardinals should have won), but that heartbreak was overshadowed by two absolutely dominant performances from the Seahawks. Both Cardinals lines were hit like a speed bump in a busy mall parking lot AGAIN at Christmastime.

The Cardinals are not a playoff team. They’ve been trying to convince us that they are, and the wins against mediocre to bad teams in the first ten weeks of the season have convinced me of that. The truth is that they got a win this season against a team with heart.

They could win one of the next two games against the underperforming Patriots or Panthers in the next two weeks, but the reality is that this team was overperforming before the bye week and is more likely to finish in the NFC West Finishing last means it deserves a playoff spot.

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: There was a lot NOT to like about this one.

For one, Kyler Murray was terrible with two big interceptions that led to 14 Seattle points. The run defense was crushed by backup running back Cach Charbonnet with 134 yards on 22 carries, a very healthy average of 6.1 yards per rush, and the Seahawks as a team tallied a whopping 176 yards on the ground. By the way, Seattle failed to reach 100 yards in any of its three previous games.

There’s also the fact that Arizona’s playoff chances have all but fallen by the wayside. Yes, I don’t like a lot of things.

The Cardinals were fine losing to the Seahawks in Seattle. And the loss to Minnesota didn’t hurt them that much. They were still in good form and in control of their own destiny to win a competitive game at home against Seattle today. But after laying an egg, they are now two games behind the Seahawks with four to play and no tiebreaker. Basically, the Cardinals can’t lose another game and need Seattle to lose three. That doesn’t even take into account the Rams, who beat Buffalo in a shootout today.

The Murray mystery continues. She loves me, she loves me not. About three times this season we’ve all been completely blown away by his development as a quarterback and his ability to play like a top 10 QB in this league. But then there are games like this – a total flop where his play was a direct result of the loss. There were a few of those this year. In the end, you judge Murray on his overall performance over a whole season – not just the bad games and not just the good games. And this after last week’s two INT performances and an INT in Seattle means they have 5 INTs in their last three games and the Cardinals are 0-3 when playing meaningful games down the stretch. It’s just not good enough. Must be better.

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo: Before the game, I heard a smart person say that if you’re a playoff team, you win this game. They didn’t do it and they aren’t and that’s all. Of course we can talk about the win, the help and the playoff odds. But a division game at home in December must be won. If you can’t do it, you don’t deserve it. As for why? A multiple choice question where the only correct answer is “all of the above.”

Kyler Murray threw two disastrous picks on consecutive throws, both of which resulted in first-half touchdowns. Murray played fairly decently last week, but Sunday raises questions about his ability to be great when the need is greatest. Three years ago, a 9-2 Cards team fell short in December and Kyler couldn’t get past it. Jonathan Gannon said after the game that they wouldn’t play meaningful games without him. True, but… can he adapt his game to the moment? He’s seemed more nervous and vulnerable to pressure lately, which begs the question of whether it’s him or whether his line play is ahead of him.

Trey McBride didn’t catch a ball until five minutes left in the third quarter. The Cards defense gave them a chance in the second half, but yards flowed like candy from a broken pinata in the first half. When you add it all up, you’ll find a team that wasn’t ready to finish post-bye week.

When the game was over, “Closing Time” by Semisonic blared from the stadium speakers. Maybe they play it every week, but the song was particularly relevant to this Sunday. Pack your jackets. Move it to the exits. You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.

Tyler Drake, Arizona Sports Cardinals beat writers and Cardinals corner Co-host: The Cardinals entered Sunday’s game against the Seahawks as a more desperate team, with the NFC West and playoff hopes hanging in the balance.

After four quarters, Seattle appeared to be the team that needed (and wanted) the win more.

This is hard for Arizona and its fans to digest. The feeling of being ahead of schedule is gone. And right behind them are the Cardinals’ playoff hopes.

The season isn’t over yet, but it certainly feels like it after this one.

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