Arizona Cardinals lifeless in loss to Los Angeles Chargers

For 15 minutes on Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals fooled us into believing they were starting to figuring it out

The Arizona Cardinals looked like a real NFL team for the first quarter on Sunday.  They led the Los Angeles Chargers 10-0 after the first quarter.

There was life on both sides of the ball, even the special teams looked good with a nice punt return by Christian Kirk and kickoff return by T.J. Logan.  It was all a mirage.

After amassing 108-yards of offense in the first quarter, they finished the game with 149-yards.  That’s just 31-yards the final 45 minutes of the game.

The Cardinals had just three offensive plays in the third quarter.  A lot of that did have to do with the quarterback on the other side of the ball.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers started the game 25-25 before throwing an incompletion.  It tied the NFL record set by Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill.  He finished the day going 28-29 and three touchdowns.

But what was troublesome was the Cardinals looked like they had just given up.  It looked that way on both sides of the ball.

After the game, head coach Steve Wilks said he didn’t think the team quit, though it certainly looked that way to many fans and media watching.  He might have a different take after watching video of this one.

Or he might not?  He seems to have blinders on at times with how this team is performing.  It was clear the Cardinals were not giving a full effort on the field after the first quarter.

It was particularly disappointing after coming out and establishing a 10-0 lead to just allow the Chargers to run over them.  The Chargers are a very good team but this was not even close to the best effort the Cardinals put up this season.

So now it is off to face the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau next week.  It doesn’t get any easier and it is looking more and more like a 2-14 season, which would the Cardinals worst in their 30 years in the desert.