I’m sure Kyler Murray will look forward to another year of questions about whether or not he has a big win within him. Last season, the Cardinals only needed to win one of their last two to make the playoffs. Murray put up a 66 rating in Week 16 against the Niners, and then was hurt for the season finale.
Now consider that the Cardinals lost four of their last five regular-season games this season after starting the year 7-0. And Murray has struggled. He had a 85.9 passer rating in Week 16 and failed to surpass 100 in all but one of his last five starts. And then he had this disaster last night, including maybe the worst INT in the history of playoff football.
“It’s disappointing that we didn’t make it a game and come out and play the football we know we’re capable of playing, that’s really the most disappointing part,” Murray told reporters following the loss. “Losing is one thing, but when you don’t even make it competitive, it’s another thing.” said Murray after the game. “I put a lot on my shoulders, put a lot on myself and to dream of this moment and then be in the playoffs, the first game of the playoffs and then to play the way I did, to play the way we did, it’s, like I said, disappointing.”
Murray wasn’t helped by his coach, Kliff Kingsbury, forgetting that you can run the ball on occasion. And maybe he’s the one getting found out. The Cardinals started out scoring more than 30 points in seven of their first nine games. They only did that twice more the rest of the year, one was against the Dickensian Bears and then the last week of the season against a Seahawks team that had their golf bags in the locker room. Seems like everyone caught on. Where you really find out about a coach is when you see what their countermove is, if they have one.
Maybe start with learning that a safety isn’t always the worst outcome.
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