Analyst Highlights Cardinals' Biggest Concern

The Arizona Cardinals need to be more disciplined.

Arizona Cardinals defensive end L.J. Collier (91) celebrates his fumble recovery with teammates against the Los Angeles Rams during the fourth quarter at State Farm Stadium in Glendale on Sept. 15, 2024. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

ARIZONA -- The Arizona Cardinals move forward into the final five games of their season needing a near-perfect schedule to make the postseason, thanks to back to back losses out of their bye week.

Regardless, the Cardinals still find themselves in the thick of the postseason hunt and likely won't see their fate ultimately decided until the final week of the season.

What's Arizona's biggest cause for concern coming down the stretch of the year?

Bleacher Report says: Discipline.

"The Arizona Cardinals have been finding new ways to lose this season," wrote Alex Kay.

"These issues began to appear immediately when Arizona blew its season opener to the Buffalo Bills. Despite building an 81.3 percent win probability near the end of the second quarter, it collapsed in the second half of an eventual 34-28 defeat.

"The Cardinals then had a four-game winning streak snapped by a tepid performance against the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago, a game in which they scored a meager six points and lost by 10 despite outgaining their rival offensively and committing just one turnover.

"Things hit a concerning low on Sunday when they squandered a 92.5 percent win probability with less than five minutes remaining. The Minnesota Vikings showed their resilience in a 23-22 victory that saw them battle back from 13 down in the back half of the contest, a comeback spurred in no small part by a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions from Kyler Murray.

"Arizona is still in contention with a .500 record despite making a litany of mistakes that have cost several wins in 2024, but the Cardinals must become more disciplined, avoid beating themselves and finish games they are supposed to win if they are going to be a factor come late-January."

Discipline is arguably the top thing that can prevent Arizona from reaching their potential - whether it be penalties or mental errors - that's been evidenced time and time again this season as the Cardinals have often found themselves in one-score games.

“Yeah, I just think the good teams, the great teams find a way to win those one-score games. That's what the league comes down to. It's very close. There's not any teams that you can look at and be like, ‘oh, they're just a terrible football team.’ I think any given Sunday, they say that for a reason," said Kyler Murray.

"I think you can look at every game but one where we were right there and should have won the game or could have had a chance to win the game and we just didn't close it out, or we didn't make enough plays at the end to win the game.”

When the Cardinals are clicking and firing on all cylinders, they've proven to be a tough team to handle - we'll see if Jonathan Gannon can continue correcting the ship in the right direction.