Where did the 2025 season – now with the tail end coming in 2026 – get sideways for the Cardinals?
I've said this on a few platforms: a team built on the run wasn't able to run it consistently. That showed up early, even in wins against the Saints and Panthers, and that was hard to overcome. There were a lot of other factors that went into everything. The quarterback (both of them, for various reasons.) A defense that struggled the back half of the season. Yes, injuries.
What happens next? Change. What change? We will start to hear Monday. What it is, I am not sure. It will be fascinating to see play out, however. The NFC West has been unreal this season for the other three teams. There is easily a case to be made that the best three teams in the conference are the three the Cardinals have to play twice a season.
But there is one game left (with one of those teams) Sunday. The Rams really don't have much to play for, but they have lost two in a row and if a team wants to be playing its best football going into the postseason, a three-game losing streak ain't great.
So the Cardinals know there will be a battle to finally break their own losing skid. And then we go into an offseason that will make headlines, one way or another.
-- Quarterback Jacoby Brissett was/is aware that wide receiver Michael Wilson needs 93 yards against the Rams to reach 1,000 for the season. This week he said Wilson hadn't even mentioned it to him, and "I think that's pretty cool."
That doesn't mean Wilson isn't thinking about it. He is. How could he not, after starting the season with eight catches for 52 yards through five games? (I mean, Wilson had 11 catches for 142 yards in the first game against the Rams alone, in Week 14.)
It is just a number, however. "Whether I get 1,000 yards, that's not going to change how I have always felt about myself," Wilson emphasized.
It'll still be a fun subplot to Sunday's finale.
"I think I brought it up to him last game, and I was like, 'How close are you to a thousand?' And then he was like, 'Let me get back to you,'" Brissett said. "Then he didn't tell me until right before we were about to land, and I was just like, 'Oh, alright. Well, you could've told me that in the middle of the game.' But we haven't really talked about it. I might go talk to him a little bit about it right now."
-- Wilson now has 13 career touchdown receptions, but the 38-yard catch-and-run he had last week in Cincinnati was the first time he caught one outside the end zone and had to run it in. For that reason, Wilson said it's the favorite of his career.
"It's an element of my game I've been wanting to work on," Wilson said.
-- Tight end Trey McBride got his records last week, but one active battle is still going on – he and Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua are tied for the NFL lead in receptions with 119. If McBride ends up topping the league this season, he will be the first tight end to do so since Kansas City's Tony Gonzalez in 2004. Gonzalez had 102 that season. (The Bengals' Ja'Marr Chase is at 117, so he's in the mix too.)
-- The Cardinals' final 2026 draft position and 2026 opponents slate still need to be finalized. The last two opponents are a home game with either the Lions or Vikings, and a road game against either the Falcons or Saints. A look at how this weekend impacts the Cardinals:
- Falcons play the Saints. Cardinals travel next season to whomever loses that game.
- Vikings play the Packers, Lions play the Bears. Lions and Vikings are tied; if they end up tied, Lions visit Arizona. Otherwise, if one team wins and the other loses, it's the team that loses that comes to Arizona.
-- As for the potential draft pick, the worst pick the Cardinals could end up with – and they would have to win to make it possible – is seventh overall. In theory, they could jump all the way up to No. 2, but they would have to lose and the Giants, Jets and Titans would all have to win.
-- The Cardinals have used an NFL-high 80 players this season in games. Would I be surprised if they added one or two to that number come Sunday? I would not.
-- If Calais Campbell can get one more sack, and reach 7½ this season, he would earn another $500,000 incentive. He already earned one when he reached 5½ sacks.
-- When Baron Browning and Darren Hall came back from their concussions, they became the first Cardinals to wear a Guardian Cap in a game. Budda Baker is coming back after missing a game with a concussion, but he will not be donning the GC. Not a surprise, after Baker made it a point when the Guardian Caps first came out that it wasn't for him. Not that look.
"No, no," Baker said this week. "I'm not considering it not by any means. Even if they wanted me to wear it, I'm not wearing that."
-- Larry Fitzgerald continues to barrel toward a spot in the Hall of Fame. He’s in the final 15. The list will be pared to 10 and then 7, but the public won't know about those cuts. The next news will come out the week of the Super Bowl, when the Class of 2026 is officially announced. You'd think Fitz will be there. I'm sure this isn't the last time I pontificate on it before then.
-- Despite the fact he still won't comment, happy birthday to assistant equipment guru Marcus “DoodleBob” Lukes on his 30th. He doesn't look a day over 29.
-- Walter Nolen III – who posted pictures on social media this week after he had left knee surgery, wearing a big brace – only played in six games this season, but made an impact and looked every bit of the first-round defensive lineman that he was. He finished with 11 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown.
"You've seen what he can do on the field, but more importantly you see what kind of person he is, you see him out there having fun," defensive line coach Winston DeLattiboudere said. "He loves this game, he loves being here, and I think he has really big things coming up in the future.
"We know we've got a guy who has a fire in his behind who loves playing ball. I think that'll go a long way."
-- The last word goes to Cardinals quarterbacks coach Israel Woolfork, on dealing with the injury-riddled roster:
"It's forced us to be better coaches truthfully. I don't think anyone in that building has had a 'woe is me' attitude. Everyone comes in, we understand who we have, who is healthy, and who is the opponent. What's the best plan we can (use), the best plan to have success. Obviously, I would love to have the Monstars out there playing, but that's not the case."
See you Sunday. One last time this season.
