Arizona Cardinals can make jump like the 49ers

The Arizona Cardinals are starting their rebound in the right direct but they could make a leap like the Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers made a leap from 4-12 to 13-3 and a trip to the Super Bowl in one season.  They were a team up until last season the Arizona Cardinals dominated for over 3 years.

There are some differences in each teams situations however which likely doesn’t lead to such a huge leap for the Cardinals in 2020 but a continued rise in that direction.  Maybe no Super Bowl in 2020 however playoffs could be contended for.

The 49ers had a quarterback with a few years under his belt in the league already in Jimmy Garoppolo.  Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray will be going into just season 2.

The 49ers defense already showed they were ready to make the move upwards during their 4-12 2018 season.  In 2019, the Cardinals offense showed they are ready for the upwards trend as well.

The trick will be putting the right pieces together on defense.  It is a point Fox Sports Jay Glazer makes this week in an article in The Athletic.

A fun prediction was published last week looking at the Cardinals 2020 schedule.  That prediction put them at 10-6.

Granted, that’s a lofty but not unattainable goal.  It also may not be enough to get them into the playoffs.  The Cardinals went 10-6 in 2013 in Bruce Arians and Carson Palmer‘s first seasons in the desert and they missed out.

The 6th seeded Minnesota Vikings got in at 10-6.  So the Cardinals may have landed outside the picture at 10-6 this season depending on how tiebreakers would have worked out.

In 2008 the Cardinals won the NFC West at 9-7 and went to the Super Bowl.  The same season in the AFC, the New England Patriots finished 11-5 and didn’t make the playoffs.

So, the point is, there is going to be a lot of work to be done to even get this team in contention for playoffs.  Realistically 11-5 or better should get them in.  Some years 10-6 and 9-7 is good enough.

Let’s see how well the Cardinals put the pieces together this offseason to improve and get the team to the next level and eventually on the 49ers level.  Good times in Arizona.