Signing Brian Hoyer was a last chance move for Ken Whisenhunt

The season for the Arizona Cardinals is over. The team was mathematically eliminated after their 58-0 blowout loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, but their year was over far before that game. After Kevin Kolb went down with yet another injury in week six, the writing was on the wall.

Since then, the Cards have had to roll with John Skelton and rookie Ryan Lindley as their starting quarterbacks. Subsequently, the team has gone 0-9 in that span. Much of their losing can be attributed to the lack of talent at the QB position.

That is why the team decided to sign former New England Patriots quarterback, Brian Hoyer on Monday. Hoyer was picked up off waivers after spending the past three weeks with the Pittsburgh Steelers. And although it has not been announced, expect Hoyer to be the starting quarterback come Sunday against the Lions. That is Ken Whisenhunt's last ditch effort -- and possibly GM Rod Graves', too -- to save his job.

We obviously cannot expect Hoyer to come in and light it up with just one week worth of time to study the playbook. It doesn't work that way. And the guy was on waivers for a reason with Charlie Batch (!) getting the start over him in Pittsburgh. Hoyer is not the answer beyond this season.

But Whisenhunt was forced to do something he has not had to do much since becoming head coach of the Cardinals -- make a drastic, unforeseen move. This is his last hope at shaking things up, hoping to inspire the team and get some sort of offense clicking. He knows that Kolb likely won't play again this season, as it is safer to shelve him. What he also knows is that there is almost a 0% chance he will steal a win with Skelton or Lindley under center.

So can Hoyer be the guy that leads the team to a victory? He's no franchise QB, but he may certainly be an upgrade over what we have seen the past nine weeks. Their best chance to win another game this season and to break their awful streak is this Sunday against the struggling Lions.

Will that happen with Hoyer running the offense? Whisenhunt better hopes so, because this is his last shot.

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