On Sunday, the Arizona Cardinals lost to the Chicago Bears, 27-16. The Cardinals are now 3-12 after the defeat. Here is what Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon had to say after the game.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!"You start the game down 21-0, it’s tough to dig back but I did think that we fought back."
🎥 Head Coach Jonathan Gannon addressed the media following today’s game vs. the Bears. pic.twitter.com/bHxYNmU7YX
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) December 25, 2023
Gannon had some interesting things to say but more importantly had some interesting things that were not said. In this clip no one asked him specifically about the two calls that may have been the difference in the Cardinals failed comeback.
Two Decisions
The first call that could be considered questionable was the two point attempt the Cardinals attempted after scoring a touchdown to cut the lead to 24-16. The two-point attempt was unsuccessful and it left the Cardinals down by eight.
The benefit of going for two there, is that if they were successful then they could score a touchdown and kick an extra point to take the lead.
Now, the downside is that the Cardinals were in the position where they had to get a stop, score a touchdown and a two point to force overtime.
The second questionable decision was going for it on fourth and seven on their won 27-yard line. Now, this decision normally happens in the last two minutes or if the team has no timeouts left.
There was more than three minutes left in the game and Arizona had all three of their timeouts. So, to go for it there was a very risky call. The benefits of the call was that the drive would be continued but they still had a long way to drive before scoring a touchdown.
The downside was that the game was essentially over after the fourth down attempt was not good. It gave the Bears the ball well within field goal range.
If the Cardinals were a top team and the coach made those decisions at the end of the game. Those decisions would be questioned a lot more on a national scale.
