The Cardinals had every chance in the world to beat the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday, but two crucial fourth-quarter interceptions prevented a late rally and Arizona fell to a 13-9 loss.

Kyler Murray’s top two receiving options, Trey McBride and Marvin Harrison Jr., turned in some of their best performances of the season in the loss, with McBride scoring his first receiving touchdown of the season.

Harrison Jr., meanwhile, had the most yards in a game (96 yards) since Week 8 (111).

The defense also played admirably and only allowed 13 and three points in the second half. However, he failed to bring Matthew Stafford home for a sack.

Our staff’s reaction to the Cardinals’ loss to the Rams

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: The Cardinals snatched defeat right from the jaws of victory.

Arizona came into this game after losing at Carolina last week. The Rams had everything going for them, as with a win tonight they would likely lock up the NFC West based on the results of several games tomorrow. If the Rams had lost, they would have had a winner next week against Seattle.

And here we were with less than a minute to play and the Cardinals at the Rams’ 5-yard line. Victory seemed inevitable. Arizona had been against the Rams the entire game, and after the Cardinals forced a Rams punt (after a terrible decision by Kamren Kinchens), a fourth-down pass from Kyler Murray from the LA 40 at the 11-yard line interception), the Cardinals had the ball at their own 36 line with two minutes left and two timeouts.

Murray dismantled the Rams’ defense with throws to Carter, McBride and Harrison Jr. and found himself at the 5-yard line with 38 seconds left. But as the season progressed, Murray threw a pass intended for McBride that bounced off his helmet and into the flying hands of Ahkello Witherspoon.

And so 8-8 became 7-9 and the Cardinals suffered their fifth loss in their last six games. A once-promising season in which Arizona was 6-4, in first place and in control of its own destiny has collapsed.

To their credit, the Cardinals fought hard tonight. They played excellent defense and shut down Matthew Stafford and the Rams’ running game. They simply couldn’t make enough plays on offense to reward the outstanding defensive performance.

Murray threw for 321 yards, McBride had 12 catches for 123 yards and his first touchdown. Even Harrison Jr. had a good game with 6 catches for 96 yards. But this team just has trouble finding the end zone. One more to play before the long, hard work begins this offseason to address the issues that have plagued this team this season.

Tyler Drake, senior Cardinals reporter and co-host of Cardinals corner: Things I liked: Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr. and the effort of the defense in a game that didn’t really matter for the Cardinals.

Things I didn’t like: Almost everything else.

What was common for the Cardinals for most of the second half of the season was that Arizona’s offense was inconsistent outside of tight end Trey McBride.

Murray failed again in the non-negotiable department, turning the ball over twice in the final quarter. The final play was easily the hardest to watch, as the quarterback fired a ball from McBride’s helmet into the hands of a Rams defender in the end zone to seal the defeat.

It wasn’t just the signal caller, with a patchwork offensive line and penalties causing problems, but in my opinion a lot of that can be attributed to Murray.

There is still a game to play. Can the Cardinals (especially the offense) give fans something to hope for heading into the offseason?

Jesse Morrison, assistant producer of Wolf & Luke: Despite a 13-9 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, there were some positives that can’t be ignored.

Trey McBride continued to show that he could be the best tight end in the NFL and it was nice to see him finally grab a receiving touchdown.

Marvin Harrison Jr. had one of his best games as he caught six passes for 96 yards. His contested catch in the first quarter was particularly impressive. He’ll be fine, just be patient.

Other positives included running back Michael Carter’s 70 yards on 13 carries, Darius Robinson’s performance and Max Melton’s pass breakup to prevent a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

A loss is a loss and Kyler Murray’s two interceptions weren’t great. However, the eliminated Cardinals showed fight and the young players showed enough excitement to be positive about the team’s continued development.