The Arizona Cardinals certainly had their chances, but at the end of the day they couldn’t keep their playoff hopes alive in Carolina.

For quarterback Kyler Murray, the most frustrating part of the loss came from his inability to mount a comeback in overtime.

“We had a chance to win the game, but we didn’t,” Murray told reporters after the game. “We showed we were resilient, but at the end of the day we didn’t make it. Losing is no fun.”

And what a way to go out.

After failing to get going early, the Cardinals dug themselves into a hole that they were never able to fully climb out of in a 36-30 overtime loss to the Panthers.

The missed opportunity late on will linger in the review of the offense.

But the problem areas of Sunday’s loss go far beyond the Cardinals’ final drive.

And it starts with Murray.

Kyler Murray ends with another “What was that?” moment

For the sixth time in five games, Murray again handed the ball to the other team.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time, with less than five minutes to play and Arizona trailing 30-27.

After scoring on the ground and watching the defense force a punt on the final two drives, Murray and the offense found themselves in field position at the Panthers’ 49-yard line following a defensive pass interference call.

Space on the field wouldn’t matter much, however, after Murray made an errant throw to the other team on third-and-11 with 3:20 to play

While tight end Trey McBride was open for the first down, the quarterback went all out with deep receiver Michael Wilson. Instead, Murray was burned.

“I tried to make a play. I just couldn’t get enough of it,” Murray told reporters after the game.

“I think Mike would have been a touchdown and Trey would have been under it. Yes,” the signal caller added.

Murray continues to struggle in big late-season games.

After posting a 100.8 passer rating and a 12-3 interception-to-touchdown ratio in the 10 games prior to the bye week, Murray has fallen behind an 80.2 rating in his last five Starts threw six interceptions while only throwing four touchdowns.

“The basket is full!”

Many thanks to “Christmas Vacation” for the inspiration, because here we go again.

The Cardinals failed at the little things behind 11 penalties – eight in the first quarter alone – for 82 yards on Sunday.

For a team that has been plagued by fouls since the bye week, it’s great to see that the Cardinals are still tied for first in the league with 82 penalties.

“I think there’s a number of things, but I just think we didn’t play good football together,” tight end Trey McBride told reporters after the game. “We had a lot of penalties in all three phases. We just didn’t play clean football today and I think that’s what ultimately defeated us.”

It also didn’t help that some questionable flags were thrown Sunday, most notably Marvin Harrison Jr.’s offside call to open the game.

“I’ve never been warned for offside all year. I always check with the referees and if anything, (the referees) at least give you a warning,” Harrison told reporters after the game.

“Calling it offside on the first move is kind of crazy to me, but they decided to call me offside there.”

Marv

The wideout’s frustration didn’t end with the penalty.

Once again, Harrison struggled to make contested catches, especially in overtime. His relationship with Murray continued to appear to be unwell, although that wasn’t entirely his fault.

Much like his signal-caller, Harrison has taken a step back of late.

In the five games since the bye week, Harrison has caught 18 of his 40 targets (45% catch rate) for 227 yards and just one touchdown.

That’s a far cry from his 499 yards and six scores on 33 catches (60 targets) in the first 10 games of the year. Even then, Cardinals fans were demanding more from the No. 4 overall pick, who hasn’t reached the 100-yard mark in yards since Week 8 and has two 100-yard games in 15 games.

And that’s before we look at the stats of Brian Thomas Jr. and Malik Nabers, two rookie wideouts who targeted Harrison in the NFL Draft.

Thomas’ workload of 73 catches for 1,088 yards and nine touchdowns in 15 games is what many imagined Harrison would be in year one, rather than Jacksonville’s No. 23 overall pick.

Nevertheless, the number 4 overall selection is nowhere near bankruptcy territory. Give him a full offseason to properly prepare, now you know firsthand the rigors of a season and build more chemistry with Murray. Let’s see what happens.

But right now it’s about finishing the last two games strongly and proving some doubters wrong in the process.

Run down

Given how much trouble Carolina had in the passing game, all signs pointed to the Panthers taking advantage of their running game behind Chuba Hubbard.

Despite the writing on the wall, the Cardinals had no answer for the fourth-year deficit.

Hubbard had his best game of the year on Sunday with 152 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. His two runs in overtime, one for 28 yards and one for a 21-yard touchdown, were responsible for Carolina’s quick game-winning drive.

“We knew Chuba was a good player and we knew we had to stop him and keep him under 100 to get to Bryce Young,” defensive lineman LJ Collier told reporters after the game. “That is one of the goals that we did not achieve today. Hats off to him. He’s a great player and his resume shows it.”

When Young threw in five carries for 68 yards and a score, Arizona couldn’t do much to stop Carolina’s ground game.

This is another sign that general manager Monti Ossenfort has a lot of work to do this offseason when it comes to strengthening the front seven.

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