Arizona Cardinals blow playoff chance, look ahead to 2021

The Arizona Cardinals fail to show up on either side of the ball in a disappointing loss to their NFC West division rival

Welp, that’s 2020 for you.  It was one ‘ol 16-week tease. The Arizona Cardinals gave us hope for three and a half months.

However, despite still mathematically alive for the playoffs, realistically they killed any shot at getting into the 2020 postseason.  Simply put, they decided not to show up on Saturday in a loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

The Cardinals looked good in their first drive of the game but once they settled for a field goal, thanks to a Christian Kirk dropped ball, it was all downhill for them from there. Quite honestly, dropped passes were a theme on the day.

Dan Arnold dropped a couple of passes, one happened to find him wide open. He also was called for a fumble, though replay shows it really shouldn’t have been.  However because that was the call on the field, naturally it went against the Cardinals.

But see, that’s what happens to teams that decide to take the day off. No matter how good or bad things are going, the calls will go against you.  This is something the Cardinals have been used to in Arizona for over 30 years.

Give props to the 49ers. They came out with some very good play calling.  Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan out play-called Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury.

It might be time for Kingsbury to give up play calling after 2020.  He absolutely needs to bring in an offensive coordinator in 2021.  Otherwise, this team will find itself in the same position at this time next year.

The Niners certainly gave the Cardinals opportunities as well. Kicker Robbie Gould missed two field goals and an extra point.  Quarterback C.J. Beathard fumbled right before the end of the first half.

The Cardinals decided though they weren’t interested in doing anything with the ball given eight seconds and the ball in Niners territory.  It was another theme of the day.

Bottom line, the Chicago Bears are in line for the seventh playoff spot in the NFC. The Bears just need one win coupled with a Cardinals loss next week.  The Cardinals will travel to Los Angeles to lose to the Rams next weekend and finish out the season thankfully.