Your Arizona Cardinals are sitting here at 8-5 and very much in the thick of things in the NFC. In ESPN's latest power poll, the Cardinals currently sit at # 10 in front of the Lions and Colts, both of whom would be in the playoffs today and currently in the playoffs, Detroit and Indy, who we beat mind you.
Looking at the final three weeks of the season I was curious what would happen if the Cardinals won out and everyone else just wins based off of better record. The Cardinals would be 11-5 and watching the playoffs this season. To add insult to injury they would also be watching Detroit, Indy, Seattle, San Francisco, and Carolina whom at that point in time they would of all beat in the course of a year at least once.
That being said, I would suggest you cheer for Atlanta over the next three weeks. Atlanta plays both SF and Carolina and could turn the playoffs in our favor. A simple win in week 16 vs San Francisco or a win week 17 vs Carolina (as long as they lose to New Orleans) and Arizona winning out puts us in the playoffs.
I know most people will say that it's completely difficult to win out, (I'm looking at you week 16 in Seattle) and all I can say about that is two things:
1) AZ can beat Seattle.
2) Hopefully Seattle has nothing to play for and sits some people.
Either way, the Cardinals' playoff hopes rest on their winning. This is playoff time and it looks like the Cardinals need to start winning or go home. Nothing like a seven-week playoff to get back to the Super Bowl. I don't know about you, but I for one want to keep watching and cheering on because as sad as I would be going 11-5 and missing the playoffs, I would be more upset going 10-6 and missing the playoffs because we didn't win the games down the stretch.