Five consecutive losses are usually a death sentence in the NFL, the sign of a ruptured and rudderless team.
In Arizona, it brings us to the moment of truth.
When Kyler Murray returns as starting quarterback on Monday Night Football against the Cowboys on Nov. 3 – an assumption based on Jonathan Gannon’s remarks following Sunday’s narrow loss to the Packers – it will mean that Jacoby Brissett has been benched.
Brissett will have been benched for leading the Cardinals to near upsets of the playoff-bound Colts (6-1) and Packers (4-1-1). Benched for lifting the offense to a place it hasn’t been in a very long time, validating the wide receivers, the passing schemes and the offensive coordinator.
It will mean that Murray must add value. He must replicate what Brissett has done in two spot starts and then some. He must prove he is a better option, or we’ll know we need to draft a quarterback in the first round of the 2026 NFL draft.
Competition is good. Brissett has been better than expected. Murray is under a microscope like never before. And for the first time in his Arizona tenure, someone is coming for his job.
After Sunday’s loss, Brissett described his mindset, and why he’s been so successful at elevating a dormant offense. His answer hit like a jackhammer.
“Staying in there,” Brissett said. “Getting back up.”
In six words, Arizona’s backup quarterback told Murray exactly what he needs to do when he is reinstalled as QB1 in Arizona. He needs to stay in the pocket and not bail at the first sign of trouble. He needs to accept contact in the big moments, when absolutely necessary. He needs to feed his wide receivers down the field and Trey McBride in the red zone.
That will require more than twitchy elusiveness, off-schedule brilliance and electrifying athletic ability. That will demand real courage. That means playing the position and not outrunning the position, a time when Murray must stand and deliver. Or we move on.
Maybe we’re lucky the Cardinals lost for a fifth consecutive time, on green day in Arizona when the home stadium was overrun by infidels, when the home team was forced to operate on a silent count to counter enemy noise. If Brissett had won that game, the Cardinals would still be in the playoff picture, and there’s no conceivable way the team could hand the reins back to Murray. Not without fan and player revolt.
Now, they can. And more than anything, we need closure with Murray, one way or the other. We can’t keep riding the wild horse of raw potential. We’ve been bucked too many times.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.
