Cardinals Under Fire for Late-Game Decisions

The Arizona Cardinals could have gone for two late in the game but chose not to.

Dec 1, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon reacts during the second quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images / Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images

The Arizona Cardinals didn't trail for most of their eventual Week 13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, though when the 23-22 score went final, two decisions made by head coach Jonathan Gannon emerged as massive talking points for fans following the loss.

With 4:43 left in the third quarter, the Cardinals finally reached the end zone via a Marvin Harrison Jr. touchdown, ending their string of field goals and extending their lead to two possessions.

With their lead sitting at 12 points, Gannon opted to go for the extra point rather than a two-point conversion, which potentially would have pushed Arizona up to a 14-pont lead.

The Cardinals ultimately lost by one point, and now fans are pointing directly to Gannon's decision to play conservative.

Jonathan Gannon made three conservative decisions today that ESPN analytics disagreed with, not including the PAT up 12 pic.twitter.com/jEKneFywVb

— Theo Mackie (@theo_mackie) December 1, 2024

Jonathan Gannon deserves to lose that game. On the road against a 9-2 team and you don’t play to win you play not to lose. Also Kyler was not good at all. Way too many bad plays.

— K1SinceDay1 (@KSzn2021) December 1, 2024

Playing not to lose

This is how you lose football games

Drew Petzing. Jonathan Gannon. This loss is on you two

— Andy Kwong 🏈 (@akwong31) December 1, 2024

When asked if there was any thought on going for two, Gannon said:

"No, there was no thought there. I liked where the game was at that point."

The Cardinals found themselves at the Minnesota four-yard line on a fourth down with 3:23 left and up by a field goal.

Rather than playing it aggressively and going for the win, the Cardinals opted to kick the field goal to go up by six points, still allowing Minnesota the opportunity to win the game with a touchdown and extra point - which is something they did on their next drive.

Gannon said there was some thought to that decision, unlike the two-point try.

"I mean, there's thought about it. Just wanted to go up more than a field goal there, but definitely a decision point that we talked about. So be it. I wanted to make them score a touchdown to beat us there," he said.

If AZ misses the playoffs we will look at this game as a big reason why.

The not going for it on 4th down, going up by 6…

Gannon failed that analytics test. Big time.

There’s a lot he’s done right but that decision was a bad one.

And Seattle takes a 2 game lead if the Jets…

— Blake Allen Murphy (@blakemurphy7) December 1, 2024

Jonathan Gannon has done a great job overall this year, but his decisions to kick FGs inside the 5 probably cost his team 2 wins.

— Anthony Amico (@amicsta) December 1, 2024

Our own Alex D'Agostino highlighted this in his instant takeaways:

"Five field goal attempts, punting on fourth and short, not going for a touchdown to seal the game late, and ignoring a potential two-point conversion to go up 14 were conservative decisions that didn't pan out," wrote D'Agostino.

"It's easy to scrutinize each one in a vacuum and overreact to them - plenty more went wrong than these, but those decisions don't win you big games against good opponents. The Cardinals need to be playing with more urgency, and that extends to Gannon.

"Finding the proper balance between smart and reckless is the key to game management with an up-and-coming team."

Now, Arizona has dropped their last two games coming out of the bye week and hold a 6-6 record, still second in the NFC West and setting the stage for what could be a season-defining game against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 14.

It'll be a big test next Sunday, though Cardinals fans feel like their team dropped a golden opportunity in Minnesota.