Cardinals fall 44-21 to Mahomes, Chiefs in Embarrassing Season Opener
Norm Hall - Getty Images
A year ago this weekend, I was in Nashville, Tennessee with my girlfriend at Nissan Stadium, as we watched the Cardinals obliterate the Titans 38-13 to begin the 2021 NFL season.
Kyler Murray scored five touchdowns. The defense forced three turnovers and held Derrick Henry to 58 yards, while sacking Ryan Tannehill six times.
The Cardinals destroyed Tennessee so badly that Titans fans were heading for the exits in the third quarter. The team dominated, and buzz quickly began to generate across the Valley after such an exciting season opener.
One year later against the Chiefs, and it was Cardinals fans who were heading towards the exits early, as the team that was once unstoppable last season is now just a memory that’s gone with the wind.
The Chiefs set the tone of the game on their first possession with an 11-play, 75-yard drive that resulted in a Travis Kelce touchdown. The Cardinals responded with a three-and-out, which ended in Murray getting sacked for a seven yard loss. The Chiefs offense picked up right where they left off on the ensuing possession, scoring a touchdown on a seven-play, 86-yard drive in which they didn’t face a single third down.
It was evident the Cardinals were unprepared for the task at hand and outmatched from the jump, and although they scored a touchdown on their second drive of the game to make the score 14-7, there was never a moment where it felt like they would be able to overcome the Chiefs’ dynamic, fire-powered offense. After being down by as many as 30 late in the third quarter, the Cardinals ultimately lost to the Chiefs, 44-21.
“They kicked our ass”, Murray said in his postgame press conference. Murray finished the game 22-34 with 193 yards passing and two touchdowns, while rushing for 29 yards. “There’s no shying away from what happened. As far as us, you look in the mirror, attention to detail, the little things… we did not execute in the moments where we needed to. That’s what happens when you play a good team.”
Coach Kliff Kingsbury, who recently signed a five-year contract extension with Arizona this offseason, was straight-forward in his postgame interview. “They beat us in every way… there’s no denying or hiding from it. We didn’t execute in any phase and they played at a high level.”
Mark J. Rebilas - USA Today Sports
Going into this week, the Cardinals had never lost a season opener in the Kliff and Kyler era. After last season’s collapse and an offseason filled with continuous, unnecessary drama, Cardinals fans were hopeful that the team would show up and play a respectable brand of football to begin the season like they had in years past. A strong performance in the season opener just might have made fans forget about the lack of urgency that was shown from General Manager Steve Keim this offseason, as little to no improvements were made to the roster.
Instead, fans are now bracing for what could be a long and stressful season for a team that is slowly becoming a punching bag for football fans as an organization that reeks of dysfunction and incompetence.
Following such a lopsided, blowout loss, many questions need to be answered. If the Cardinals didn't play a majority of their starters in the preseason, how were there already so many starters and key players on the injury report heading into the game? Is the training staff not doing their job? Is Kliff physically pushing the players too hard at practice? If Kliff was so confident that Kyler and the starters didn't need preseason reps, why did they look so unprepared and lack any sense of urgency? Why did the Cardinals entire 2022 draft class only play five snaps?
The “doom and gloom” attitude may be a slight overreaction. The Cardinals were missing several key players (J.J. Watt, Rondale Moore, Antonio Hamilton, etc) and the Chiefs are one of the best teams in the NFL. However, it feels like the Cardinals never washed off the stench that was plaguing them towards the end of last season.
The offense continues to struggle to put together efficient drives without Hopkins, who will not be with the team for the next five games. Without Hopkins, the Cardinals have lacked any type of verticality in their offense, making for a very predictable offense for opposing defenses that is centered around screen passes and inside handoffs.
The defense picked up right where they left off as well, giving up touchdown after touchdown after touchdown, with no sense of disruption to the opposing offense. Dating back to last season, the Cardinals defense has allowed an average of 31.4 points per contest in their last seven games. Horrific.
Thankfully for Arizona, division rivals Los Angeles and San Francisco also lost their opening games, creating the possibility that all four NFC West teams will start the season 0-1 as Seattle hosts Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos tomorrow night. Regardless of how other teams in their division played, there is no excuse for the piss-poor, lethargic performance that was put forward today by the Cardinals.
Murray was given the long, financially beneficial contract extension that he and his agent went to great lengths to secure this offseason. Elite quarterbacks find ways to win games, even without their top weapons. If Murray wants to prove that he was worth the $240 million contract extension he signed in July, performances like these are unacceptable. Murray wasn’t at fault for the Cardinals loss, but “meh” performances from the third highest paid quarterback in the NFL need to be more of an infrequency than they are the norm.
The Cardinals aren’t going to win every game, but settling for mediocrity and developing bad habits on the playing field is not how you set a foundation for a winning organization.
Joe Camporeale - USA Today Sports
There may be no one to blame more for the Cardinals lackluster performance than Kliff Kingsbury, who in his fourth year as an NFL head coach still runs an extremely predictable and repetitive offense that makes you question whether or not he has what it takes to be a successful play-caller in the NFL. Although it was just one game, the effort put forward by the team was extremely disappointing and concerning, especially right after Kingsbury was given a five-year contract extension while still having never won a single playoff game. Eight months to get prepared to start fresh after last season’s historic collapse, and this is the best effort Kingsbury could get out of his players?!
The fans deserve better than this, and if there is going to be any hope for this upcoming season, the Cardinals need to play with more urgency and execute in all three phases of the game, immediately.
“We got to get a lot better in a hurry.” Damn right you do, Kliff.
Game Notes
Dating back to last season, this is Arizona’s sixth straight home loss
Kyler Murray led the Cardinals in rushing with only 29 yards
The Cardinals 23-point loss was the highest out of any team in Week 1, and it was their 4th worst season opening loss in franchise history
The Chiefs’ total of 44 points was most scored by any team in Week 1
Patrick Mahomes set a new career-high with 12 consecutive completions
Mahomes moves to an overall record of 12-2 in the month of September, with 46 TD’s and 3 INT’s
Up Next:
Chargers (1-0) @ Chiefs (1-0), 9/15 @ 7:15ET on Prime Video
Cardinals (0-1) @ Raiders (0-1), 9/18 @ 4:25ET on CBS
