CINCINNATI — Jonathan Gannon’s demeanor was unchanged, as it almost always is. He paced the sidelines, his arms crossed and his glare directed forward. There were no desperate screams or frustrated gesticulations.
He did not, in other words, look like a coach who is now 3-13 on the season and 15-35 in his career.
But that’s who Gannon is, after his tenure hit another low against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17.
Despite facing a 10-loss opponent, the Arizona Cardinals were uncompetitive from wire-to-wire. When their misery finally ended, the scoreboard reflected a 37-14 loss. The performance may have been even worse.
Now, the Cardinals are owners of an eight-game losing streak for the first time since 2012. In that span, they’ve been outscored, 280-155.
In NFL history, only 10 other teams have ever lost eight games in a row while allowing at least 280 points. No team has done so since the 2016 San Francisco 49ers.
Here are five key takeaways from the latest loss.
Cardinals looked like a team of backups
Gannon has claimed, throughout this season, that injuries cannot be an excuse for the Cardinals’ performance. It’s his job, he says, to get the backups ready and ensure that the drop-off is minimal.
But in recent weeks, those absences have reached an absurd level, as the Cardinals lead the NFL in games missed to injury.
Against the Bengals, their offense had just four true starters active: Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison Jr., Michael Wilson and Hjalte Froholdt. And Harrison remains limited by a heel injury.
The defense had more starters available, but most of them were fringe starters. Among the defensive core, just Josh Sweat, Calais Campbell, Will Johnson and Jalen Thompson were active.
That talent discrepancy showed up early. In the red zone on the Bengals’ first drive of the game, Joe Burrow checked a pass down to Ja’Marr Chase, who should have been brought down for a short gain. Instead, Chase slipped out of a tackle from Denzel Burke, then spun past Darren Hall to walk into the end zone. Those were just two of the Cardinals’ 13 missed tackles in the game.
All afternoon, their backups looked completely outmatched, on both sides of the ball. That was perhaps to be expected against a talented Bengals offense. It was more concerning against the Bengals’ defense, which has been the worst in the NFL this season.
As owner Michael Bidwill and general manager Monti Ossenfort decide on Gannon’s future, they now have to ask themselves a key question. Is this performance inevitable with the Cardinals’ injuries? Or is it the result of poor preparation from the coaching staff?
In the locker room, a few players were willing to acknowledge the impact of injuries.
“Early in the year, when we were a little bit more healthy, the games looked a lot better,” Calais Campbell. “What can you say?”
Gannon, true to form, was not interested in that perspective.
“I feel good about the guys going out there,” Gannon said. “We gotta coach better so they play better.”
Gannon defends job status
At the end of his postgame press conference, Gannon was asked what this team has shown that makes him the right coach to lead this organization forward.
“I think their effort and energy and enthusiasm,” Gannon said. “I think they’re educated. They have belief. But we gotta coach and play better, there’s no doubt.”
In the locker room, players have also praised the Cardinals’ effort in recent weeks, as a means of defending Gannon. This team, they say, has not fallen apart at the seams, as so many would in a 3-13 season.
It’s not just words. When the locker room is open to reporters after practice, the energy feels the same as it did in September.
“The locker room’s still intact, we’re still a close team,” Dadrion Taylor-Demerson said. “We just gotta figure out a way to win. It’s not like we’re pointing fingers like ‘F you, F this guy.’ We’re still a tight-knit group, man. And that’s what I love about this team.”
But the other part of Gannon’s postgame comments — that the Cardinals are “educated” — is harder to parse. They have now had 109 penalties accepted against them this season, the 10th most in the NFL.
They also have a tendency to commit pre-snap penalties. Over their past 12 games, they’ve been called seven times for illegal formations and three times for illegal shifts. No other team has more of each infraction this season.
But when asked why those penalties are occurring, Gannon did not have an answer.
“I don’t know off the top of my head,” Gannon said. “That’s a non-negotiable for us.”
Cardinals’ offense was pitiful
The Bengals defense entered this game ranked 32nd in points per game, yards per game and yards per play. When broken down by play type, they were 32nd in yards per pass play and 30th in yards per carry. They were also bottom five in both pressure rate and sack rate.
But against the Cardinals, they suddenly looked like a lockdown unit.
When the Bengals offense scored its fifth touchdown of the game to take a 37-7 lead late in the third quarter, the Cardinals had managed just four first downs. Five of their first seven drives had ended in three-and-outs.
Gannon pinned the offensive struggles on the Cardinals’ 3 of 13 third-down conversion rate. The issues, though, ran deeper. On those five drives that ended in three-and-outs, the Cardinals averaged just 1.1 yards per play on first and second downs.
All day, nothing was open downfield. And when receivers did find a glimmer of space, Jacoby Brissett rarely found them. He finished 21 of 37 for 212 yards, with most of that production coming deep in garbage time.
Unlike last week, the run game didn’t help out. Michael Carter, Corey Kiner and Emari Demercado combined for just 42 yards on 13 carries, a 3.2 yards per carry average.
Trey McBride sets records, Michael Wilson progresses toward milestone
Just about the only positive plays for the Cardinals in recent weeks have come when McBride or Wilson get the ball in their hands with room to run.
That was the case once more against the Bengals.
With 10 catches for 76 yards, McBride set multiple records. His 119 catches on the season are the most by any player in franchise history and the most by a tight end in NFL history. Those records were previously held by DeAndre Hopkins (2020) and Zach Ertz (2018), respectively.
“It’s cool to get it in 16 games, too,” McBride said. “I didn’t want anyone to give me a hard time about that. So glad we got that. But honestly, it doesn’t really matter. Would love to have won the game.”
Wilson, meanwhile, caught five passes for 89 yards. He has 907 yards on the season, putting him within reach of the 1,000-yard mark in the season finale. That would be a remarkable achievement, given that he had just 52 yards through five games before Brissett replaced Kyler Murray. Wilson finished with under 600 yards in each of his first two seasons, but has excelled down the stretch with Marvin Harrison Jr. battling injuries.
Cardinals move up draft order
Outside of Gannon’s job status, the only remaining intrigue with the Cardinals’ season is where they’ll finish in the draft order.
In that regard, they got a major boost in Week 17, when the Browns beat the Steelers.
The Cardinals now hold the fifth pick, although they’re effectively in a tie with the Titans for the fourth pick. Tennessee currently holds the strength of schedule tiebreaker by a razor-thin margin — one that regularly flip-flops with other results around the league.
Perhaps more importantly, the Cardinals are now third among quarterback-needy teams, behind only the Raiders and Jets. The Raiders are 2-14, but the Jets are tied with the Cardinals at 3-13 and would fall behind Arizona if they win their season finale against the Bills (assuming the Cardinals lose to the Rams).
That would be significant for the Cardinals, as this draft class is widely regarded to have two top-five caliber quarterbacks: Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore.
The Cardinals could also look to trade up to the No. 2 pick, which is currently held by the Giants. New York already has a promising young quarterback in Jaxson Dart and would likely listen to trade offers if it ends up in the top two.