Cardinals suffer first loss of the season in heartbreaking fashion

After beginning the 2021 season with seven victories in a row, the Arizona Cardinals saw their win streak come to an end on Thursday night after losing to the Green Bay Packers.

Favored by almost a touchdown, the Arizona Cardinals were expected by most to walk off the field with a win on Thursday night over a Green Bay Packers team that was without their defensive coordinator and their top wide receiver, Davante Adams.

Instead, the Packers were the team to leave State Farm Stadium on Thursday with a victory following a shocking ending to their matchup with the Cardinals.

Arizona had a chance to take a lead over Green Bay in the final seconds of the contest. But a miscommunication between Kyler Murray and A.J. Green resulted in the Cardinals suffering their first loss of the 2021 season.

Mistakes too hard to overcome for Arizona Cardinals on Thursday against the Green Bay Packers

The fact that the Cardinals still had a very legitimate shot to come out with a win at the end of Thursday’s matchup speaks to how talented their team is this season.

But it was a shocking mistake that cost Arizona the victory and uncharacteristic mistakes were the theme of the night for the team that now has a record of 7-1 this year.

From the Green Bay five-yard line with 25 seconds left in the game, Murray threw a pass to his right in the direction of Green. However, Green wasn’t facing Murray for some reason and the ball ended up getting intercepted by Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas.

These mistakes combined with the Cardinals’ inability to stop Green Bay’s rushing attack were two of the biggest factors in Thursday’s result. Arizona allowed the Packers to rush for a total of 151 yards and it led to Green Bay having the ball in the contest for almost 38 minutes.

Murray finished with 274 passing yards, two interceptions, and no passing touchdowns for the first time since the Cardinals’ Week 3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Arizona will attempt to get things back on track when they head out on the road next week for their second and final matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.