Rapid reactions: Cardinals begin Mike LaFleur era with complete win over Chargers

The Cardinals (1-0) began the Mike LaFleur era with a 26-14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers (0-1) on Sunday that saw Arizona dominate in all three phases of the game.

The offense racked up nearly 400 yards of offense and was highlighted by All-Pro tight end Trey McBride’s nine catches for 95 yards and a touchdown. Rookie running back Jeremiyah Love rushed for 41 yards in his NFL debut and scored the Cardinals’ first touchdown of 2026.

Arizona’s defense impressed, allowing just one touchdown to the Chargers in the second half and holding quarterback Justin Herbert to just 209 yards passing. The Cardinals registered three sacks and forced two turnovers, including an interception by safety Andrew Wingard, in the win.

Special teams saw strong play, with kicker Chad Ryland making four of his five field goals. However, the biggest play came from special teams player Simi Fehoko blocking a Chargers punt early on in the fourth quarter that set up the McBride touchdown to put the Cardinals up by nine points.

Arizona Sports hosts react to the Cardinals’ season-opening win:

Rapid reactions to Cardinals’ season-opening win vs. Chargers

John Gambadoro, co-host of Burns & Gambo: 

All offseason, from the day the Arizona Cardinals hired Mike LaFleur to be their new head coach, all the talk was about the Cardinals’ offense and how explosive it could be. All of it. Overlooked and often dismissed was the Cardinals’ defense. Bringing back Nick Rallis as the defensive coordinator was mocked. The Cardinals’ defense was supposed to be one of the worst in the NFL. Many thought the Cardinals could score with anyone but stop no one.

So today, as much as I would love to talk about how great Jacoby Brissett was – as I am a big fan of his – we have to talk about the defense. They shut down Justin Herbert and the Chargers and held them to 14 points and 268 yards. They made Justin Herbert look terrible: 17-27, 209 yards, a TD and an INT. In the first half, Andrew Wingard forced a fumble by Omarion Hampton that was recovered by Will Johnson. And Dante Stills had a huge sack on a fourth-and-goal. In the second half, they got a Wingard INT, but more importantly, they got stop after stop after stop. The Chargers had the ball down 16-14 and went a total of six yards and had to punt.

They got the ball back again down two points with a chance to take the lead and went 3-and-out thanks to a huge sack by Jordan Burch. The next time they had the ball, they were down 23-14, and Andrew Wingard picked off Justin Herbert on a deep ball for Derius Davis. And for good measure, the next time LA had the ball, the Cardinals forced a false start, false start and hold on consecutive plays and ended up turning it over on downs. And once again, for good measure on their final possession, the Chargers turned it over on downs. Three sacks by the Cardinals’ defense, a couple of deflected passes and two turnovers forced. That was impressive.

Tyler Drake, Cardinals reporter/co-host of Cardinals Corner: 

I talked about it all week when talking about Arizona’s upset chances. The Cardinals had more than enough offensive firepower to compete with the Chargers. That side of the football was the main reason I believed Arizona could win in L.A. this week. They largely showed that across the first half of the game. My biggest worry (and I’m sure I wasn’t alone) was centered on a defense that was nothing but an issue last year. The offense lived up to a lot of my expectations, with Mike LaFleur’s unit looking as advertised outside of the mountain of penalties that need to be cleaned up and not finishing off more scoring drives with TDs. And he wasn’t joking about keeping his running backs fresh with a healthy split between Jeremiyah Love and Tyler Allgeier taking center stage.

But it was the defense that well exceeded any expectation I could have had for it. Josh Sweat didn’t get to the quarterback, and we’re still talking about a win! Dante Stills made it known why he is the listed starter over Darius Robinson, and Arizona might have found something special in Andrew Wingard. Nick Rallis and his playmakers deserve a lot of credit for what they put on tape on Sunday.

The Chargers’ possession chart is bulletin board material:

• Touchdown
• Fumble
• Turnover on downs
• Punt
• Touchdown
• Punt
• Blocked punt
• Interception
• Downs
• Downs

You seriously cannot ask for a better start to the LaFleur era.

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo:

Well, I was two years old the last time that happened. Mike LaFleur just became the first Cardinals head coach to win his first game as head coach since Don Coryell in 1973. An astounding stat that says a lot about a troubling history and perhaps a new beginning. Congrats to the coach for doing something that is apparently harder than it looks.

The only thing to not like about LaFleur’s offense was a few untimely false start penalties and too many field goals after cracking the red zone. Jacoby Brissett looked like a man who had waited his entire life for this moment, placing his passes with precision. Trey McBride continues to be a problem without a solution for most defensive coordinators. Kendrick Bourne was the surprise flavor of the day. And while Jeremiyah Love got his first career TD, it was Tyler Allgeier who led the team in carries and was tasked with salting this one away late.

But for a true surprise, may I present Nick Rallis and his defense. This Sunday he justified the retention of his job with a defense that was the star of the show. Bringing pressure, tipping passes, forcing turnovers, hitting clean and with purpose. The Chargers and their much-discussed new offensive coordinator were handcuffed in the second half. And if Monti Ossenfort is still in a giving mood with the contract extensions, may I suggest one for Mack Wilson Sr. His hit on Ladd McConkey was a tide-turning exclamation point.

It’s hard to ignore just how big of an underdog the Cards were in this game, yet some thought this was the one shocking win you could legit get this season. Now that it’s happened, we’ll see what comes next and how expectations change moving forward – even in the slightest. Are they going to win more than we thought? Not have a top-five pick? Did this slow the Carson Beck fast-track? One game doesn’t answer any of those questions…but the journey to finding out just got a little more interesting and a little more fun.

Kellan Olson, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night:

The only reason the Cardinals won this game is that they executed better, and the gap there was so large that it led to a decisive victory, which is far more encouraging than just about any other way to win in Week 1. This really stood out in the difference of how both teams drove the ball throughout the game, as well as the game’s biggest inflection points.

ESPN’s Ben Solak dropped the nugget that the Chargers had one of the NFL’s worst games in recent years when it came to their average yardage to go on third down.

The Chargers averaged 12.4 yards to go on third down today — would have tied the Jaguars (Wk 13) for the worst number of any game last season

— Benjamin Solak (@BenjaminSolak) September 13, 2026

That’s a compliment to the Cardinals defense and a brief nod to how awful the Chargers were too. But in comparison, it also spotlights on the other end how Mike LaFleur and Jacoby Brissett navigated avoiding third-and-long by taking care of business earlier. Arizona only averaged 3.4 yards per carry and no run reached 20 yards but Brissett threw for 15 first downs to make up for that. The six third-down conversions were all via Brissett as well. Almost every drive had some life to it without a real running game.

Nearly all the swing plays were in the Cardinals’ favor. Outside of Max Melton’s PI on a long Chargers pass attempt, there was Dante Stills’ sack, Simi Fehoko’s blocked punt, Andrew Wingard’s interception and Omarion Hampton’s fumble. If the Cardinals keep the turnover margin green (+2 today), they will at least hang around a lot more easily this year.

I honestly kept waiting for Arizona to shoot itself in the foot, and as I did, I watched the other side keep doing it instead. That was quite refreshing!

I’m choosing full caution on any type of Week 1 overreaction here, waiting to see if Arizona can be somewhat competitive in its next two brutal divisional matchups before deeming this a more competitive group than expected, but again it’s just fun to have this team play sound football for once.

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