The Consensus Week 13: How did the Cardinals move up?

The good news? The Arizona Cardinals jumped out to a 10-0 lead against a pretty good Los Angeles Chargers team Sunday in Carson, Calif.

The bad news? The Chargers responded with 45 unanswered points, and didn’t look too taxed in doing so.

In many ways, the Cardinals, who are now 2-9 on the year, found a new level of rock bottom. Yet, two of the national power rankings we track for The Consensus moved the Cardinals up their rankings this week.

SI.com and SB Nation — both of which had Arizona ranked 32nd last week — elevated the Cardinals up one spot while CBSSports.com kept them at #30. The only explanation is the mere existence of the San Francisco 49ers.

Outlet	Rankings	Cardinals’ Rank	Movement	Comment
	Arizona Sports NFL Power Rankings Week 13: Top 3, bottom 4 unchanged	#32	—	Cardinals have endured three losses by 30-plus already.
	NFL Week 13 Power Rankings: Toughest game ahead for all 32 teams	#32	—	Toughest game left: All of them. Seriously. The Cardinals are 2-9 and have been competitive recently against the 49ers and Raiders — the NFL’s other two-win teams. But every game will be tough for the Cardinals from here on out, even though their next three opponents — the Packers, Lions and Falcons — have been struggling of late. The Cards finish the season at home against the currently 10-1 Rams and at the surging Seahawks.
	NFL Power Rankings, Week 13: Seahawks hit top 10; Steelers fall	#32	—	The Cardinals were up 10-zip against the Chargers in the first quarter on Sunday. Should we just stop the blurb right there? Because that’s about when Arizona quit playing. It’s not often that you see a team jump out to a 10-0 lead, then allow 45 unanswered points. The Broncos pulled off a similarly ignominious feat in Super Bowl XXII, scratching out 10 points before Doug Williams threw the ball all over the park in a 42-10 Redskins win. Sound familiar? The Cards made a bad day on defense into a historic day for Philip Rivers, who started Sunday’s game by throwing 25 consecutive passes that hit neither the ground nor any Arizona defenders. Cardinals fans on Twitter have called for the team to inhabit this spot — and in some cases, 33rd or 34th. I understand their enthusiasm now.
	NFL Power Rankings Poll: Saints Still No. 1, Cowboys Climb Into Top 10	#31	▲1	The Cardinals actually led 10-0 after the first quarter. And then, well, you can see the final score.
	NFL power rankings: Steelers fall out of top five as Seahawks, Ravens steadily climb	#32	—	Getting blown out is one thing — it’s been a regular occurrence in 2018. Appearing listless while being blown out? See ya, Coach Wilks.
	NFL Power Rankings: Pete Carroll, Russell Wilson lifting the Seahawks yet again	#32	—	It’s hard to take a 10-0 lead and lose 45-10. The bright spot, of course, was Larry Fitzgerald. He scored his fifth touchdown in the Cardinals’ last five games. He’s not having a huge season (uneven quarterback play hasn’t helped) but is still a great professional producing on a terrible team.
	NFL Week 13 Power Rankings: Colts on the rise thanks to Andrew Luck, Jags on the decline due to bad QB play	#30	—	Did they quit against the Chargers? It sure looked like it. That’s not a good thing for coach Steve Wilks.
	Week 13 power rankings	#32	—	At least they had a 10-point lead.
	NFL Power Rankings: B/R’s Expert Consensus Rank for Every Team Entering Week 13	#32	—	For the Arizona Cardinals, Week 12 was a statement game. And the statement they made in losing 45-10 to the Los Angeles Chargers was, “We are the worst team in the NFL, and don’t you forget it.” The Cardinals had just 149 yards of offense total. Arizona has now eclipsed 300 total yards in a game once this season. The Cardinals had 10 first downs and averaged 3.3 yards per play, and Josh Rosen passed for 105 yards. To be as offensively inept as the Cardinals as consistently as they are is like a macabre achievement. You can’t just luck into being that bad. It takes work. For the season, the Cardinals are averaging fewer than 250 yards and 14.1 points per game—in an era where offensive production has skyrocketed. How does this team even have two wins? Oh yeah…the 49ers.
	NFL power rankings Week 13: Holy crap, the Browns are ahead of the Packers	#31	▲1	No comment.

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