Kyler Murray, the Cardinals find a new way to screw it up against Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – Another defeat?! Should the Arizona Cardinals have played in a different game?! Against another good team?!

I’m sorry, but it’s time for someone to throw away an iPad, kick a Gatorade cooler or invent a new swear word because Arizona’s 23-22 road loss to the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium shouldn’t have happened.

Let me be very, very clear: The Arizona Cardinals should have won this game, and I’m tired of hearing explanations about why they lost.

“This is a good football team,” Jonathan Gannon said. “I thought we had chances, but we just didn’t finish the game.”

He could have said exactly that after the loss to Buffalo. Arizona had the bills in piles. The Cardinals had Buffalo sauce! Then they fell apart in the second half.

Kyler Murray was frustrated after throwing two interceptions and leading an offense that generally waved a white flag in the red zone.

“Not executed,” Kyler Murray said. “Didn’t play enough. Came back to bite us.”

After the losses in Green Bay and Seattle, he could have said exactly that. Or any other loss where the offense simply didn’t show up.

Arizona scored six points last week. Six. It scares me to see how many times that wasn’t enough to beat the stinking Diamondbacks.

This week wasn’t really much better. Yes, I know, 22 is a much better number on the scoreboard than six. I understand that. Howeverthere should have been many more than 22.

“We fouled too much today,” Gannon said. He added: “If we have almost 100 yards in the penalty shootout we are shooting ourselves in the foot. … It’s the pre-snap penalties on offense, and we go back on our own accord. We have to clean this up.”

From my seat, the Cardinals were struggling with the crowd noise.

The scoreboard’s decibel meter exceeded 115 several times in the fourth quarter. I don’t care if this number is correct. All I know is that US Bank Stadium was as loud as a NASCAR race. It was so loud it felt like wearing nightclub speakers instead of earbuds. It was so loud that I now know what purple sounds like.

The Cardinals were rattled, especially Tip Reiman, who was called out for so many false starts that he would have been disqualified had it been an Olympic event.

The most costly hit came in the fourth quarter from Minnesota’s five-pointers. Kyler Murray followed with an intentional grounding penalty. And at the end, the Cardinals kicked a 23-yard field goal to take the lead to 22-16 with about 3:20 left in the game.

That should have been enough, especially since Arizona’s defense hadn’t given up 20 points in the last three games.

But on Sunday, the Cardinals scored 17 points in the second half. Great timing, guys.

The Arizona offense finally broke through for a touchdown when Murray hit Marvin Harrison in the end zone for a 19-6 lead in the third quarter.

But the Vikings came back and scored with a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive that was over faster than you could find with a Google search, “What does ‘skol’ mean?”

Then came the interception, where Byron Murphy Jr. picked the team he rooted for as a kid and drafted him in 2019.

Michael Wilson was candid about this piece. Murray simply made a bad throw. He was under pressure, but he had fought and dodged the first wave of the Vikings’ pass rush. A second rush came and Murray panicked.

“I tried to throw the ball away,” he said.

Do you understand why I want someone to invent a new curse word?!

The Cardinals are expected to sit comfortably in first place in the NFC West. As comfortable as I am on my couch after Thanksgiving dinner. As convenient as a teenager who doesn’t have to help cook or do dishes after Thanksgiving dinner. As convenient as pretty much any but the turkey after Thanksgiving dinner!

Buffalo. Green Bay. Seattle. Even the game in Detroit was close. And now this?!

The entire season will be limited to the final few weeks, starting with the Seahawks at State Farm Stadium on Sunday in Glendale.

Because somehow the Cardinals (6-6) are still in the race. Don’t ask me how, but they are.

Especially after another defeat. In another game they should have done it. Against another good team.

There better not be a single working iPad or upright Gatorade cooler in that locker room. And the message on the board before the team film session when they get home needs to say something like, “Wake up the %#*asdfygh$%^&!!!!”

Kyler Murray, the Cardinals find a new way to screw it up against Minnesota

ByAmelia Journalton

By Amelia Journalton

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