Well, that was pretty much the most heartbreaking ending the Arizona Cardinals have experienced all season.

After a failed attempt to defeat the Los Angeles Rams, the Cardinals emerge from SoFi Stadium as losers 13-9.

Unfortunately, the classic mistakes we’ve seen from the team this year were made and Arizona has another losing record.

That’s a loss that may shake things up a bit – and I have some major criticisms.

But to be fair, there were some things to be happy about in the defeat.

With one game left for Arizona, the end is in sight and we have most of our insights ready to look ahead to the season.

After the narrow loss, we learned even more about this team, and that’s what we want to talk about here.

Trey McBride is the best weapon on offense

James Conner played at a Pro Bowl level this year. Marvin Harrison Jr. has shown brilliant talent as the Cards’ top receiver (more on him later). Kyler Murray is an athletic marvel who can make plays with his arms and legs.

But Trey McBride is the best player on the Cardinals’ offense.

All season long, the third-year tight end has been one of the most reliable pass catchers in the entire NFL. After today’s game, McBride is within touching distance of the franchise single-season receptions record of 115 set by DeAndre Hopkins in 2020.

Mr. Reliable at his best.

While McBride may not be a game-changing player who produces Top 10 highlights on SportsCenter every week, his consistency and reliability cannot be measured in words.

Without McBride, a faltering Cardinals offense would be lost.

Rumors of Marvin Harrison Jr.’s death have been greatly exaggerated

The doomsday parade with Harrison Jr. chanting is a bust that should have already been silenced against the Rams. MHJ scored six balls for 96 yards. It was an under-the-radar performance with far more highs than lows.

And while he didn’t have many plays that will be featured on his rookie highlights video on YouTube, it was still a game that should give him confidence to continue to grow.

Harrison’s stats may not be the historic season we wanted, but it’s still a good one.

If Harrison can finish the season with another game like this, Cardinals fans should be a lot happier about his second-year prospects than they were a few weeks ago.

The Cardinals need more playmakers on defense

I love some parts of this Cardinals defense and some guys have bigger roles lined up for the future. Garrett Williams, Dante Stills, Max Melton and several others had great seasons and will be the foundation of this defense.

However, they urgently need more playmakers.

Several high-turnover plays were missed, such as Baron Browning’s failure to pick off Matthew Stafford and Budda Baker’s dropped interception in the end zone. These are plays that swing the game in your favor and lead to many close games and losses for Arizona.

As the offseason begins, the Cardinals will need to look not only at adding talent on defense, but also playmakers. Interceptions, sacks, everything in between.

The Cardinals could have won more games this year if someone had been able to create turnovers. This must be a top priority for this organization.

The Cardinals would be a playoff team if this offense showed up every week

Speaking of winning more games, the Cardinals would have been far from out of the playoff hunt if they had run this offense week in and week out. And it wasn’t even an elite performance tonight.

What we did see, however, was that the Cardinals moved the ball effectively most of the time and occasionally tested the defense. The results were mixed, but at least the game was lively and therefore worth watching.

We didn’t get the result we wanted, but it was a far more competitive game because the Cardinals were willing to do things they hadn’t done before.

Wins are wins and losses are losses, but you can’t tell me Arizona won’t win at least one more game if they play like they did tonight.

Other than that…

Drew Petzing has to go

At this point I’m done watching Drew Petzing. Even in a well-planned game, he found a way to ruin it.

Murray made some mistakes, but there were plenty of questionable decisions from Petzing that angered me… none more so than the Arizona offense’s final play, where the Cardinals chose to pass inside the five-yard line instead of to force the Rams to burn their last remaining timeout and empty the clock by executing them.

No. Instead, we made the stupid decision to throw the ball, and it ended in a play that will be remembered as one of the best of the regular season… but not for Arizona.

I’m done. I’m over it. I’m ready for a change.

Sorry, Coach Petzing, but your number is up.