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The Arizona Cardinals take on the San Francisco tomorrow, but before that there is one question that has to be asked: Are the Arizona Cardinals just not a great football team?
We opened the season with ideas of a Lombardi Trophy coming to Arizona, but through four weeks, the Cardinals look closer to a team likely battling for a playoff spot, than a team battling for a Super Bowl.
Why is it though?
Not much changed offensively, shouldn’t they be just as dominant?
What about defensively, didn’t they make massive upgrades at several positions?
One twitter user had an interesting thought after they lost to the New England Patriots:
Y'all overlook the importance of the mental approach to sports.
— #HireCox (@Coximus2) September 12, 2016
There's no way the Cardinals can repeat last year's success
Here's why:
Last year a bunch of guys bought into the mentality that they had that window to win.
— #HireCox (@Coximus2) September 12, 2016
Emotions were high and drove players
The failure in the playoffs haunted that emotion.
— #HireCox (@Coximus2) September 12, 2016
Do you know how hard it is to find that same fire again?
On paper, the team is the same... maybe better...
— #HireCox (@Coximus2) September 12, 2016
Mentally, this team is weak... and this game showed it
Last year was the peak of this core.
— #HireCox (@Coximus2) September 12, 2016
This season is about to be a major disappointment
Was the failure of last year too much for the team to overcome? Was the closeness, the tight knit type of community within the team as important to what this team was as the talent that they added this year?
I think through the first four games we have seen that things are not the same, even though on paper they should be better.
Yet, here we are, trying to figure out whether or not the Arizona Cardinals have the pieces to beat the San Francisco 49ers if Carson Palmer is out.
Is it the fickleness of fandom, or was last year the end of the proverbial “championship window” for this team?
Or, as I have speculated before, do they need to take more and more away from Carson Palmer and not live and die by his performances in each game? Can they become the Denver Broncos of 2015? Or is there a more ominous future around the corner?
What are your thoughts?