The NFL regular season is over and we now move to the postseason and offseason. The draft status of all the non-playoff teams is set and we have one final set of power rankings from Touchdown Wire for the season.
In the final power rankings of the season from Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield, The Arizona Cardinals slid three spots after their season-ending loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
They finish the season ranked the lowest they ranked all year, finishing at No. 17.
A season that started with such promise ends with the Arizona Cardinals watching Chris Streveler take meaningful snaps as an injured Kyler Murray looks on. With their loss on Sunday to the Los Angeles Rams the Cardinals limped to an 8-8 record, due in large part to a horrific second-half of the season. The Cardinals lost five of their final seven games, including four within the NFC West.
Perhaps the team is still a season away, but there were high expectations for Arizona entering 2020, due in part to the expected second-year growth from Kyler Murray and the trade for DeAndre Hopkins. But with a finish like this one must wonder about this team — and yes, head coach Kliff Kingsbury — heading into the offseason.
After a 5-2 start, missing the postseason is painfully disappointing, especially knowing they should have beaten teams like the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots. One more win and they would be in the postseason.
However, looking big picture, the Cardinals won eight games and just missed the playoffs, which is more or less where they were pegged to be before the season began by most.
What became quite obvious is that Kyker Murray carries that team and, when he is anything less than special, the team is overmatched.
Now we move on to the offseason and hope they can make improvements around him because if they don’t, they might end up wasting the seasons they have with a rookie contract.
Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify.
Latest show:
Previous shows:
and
