Cardinals’ schedule is brutal even before considering division they play in
No team with 14 losses the previous season has ever been gifted as brutal a schedule as the 2026 Arizona Cardinals.
Watch: The Arizona Cardinals schedule is here, what will their record be? | 11 mins
Bowwow.
That’s how the 2026 NFL season might sound in Arizona. A season that might feature the same amount of W’s.
Alas, is another 3-14 season in the cards?
The Valley was never going to celebrate the league’s annual schedule release on Thursday, not with a new coaching staff inheriting a team stuck on the familiar terrain of rock bottom. But the Cardinals’ itinerary seems cruel and unusual, even by our standards. I am certain a 14-loss team has never been issued a tougher schedule.
Officially, Arizona’s schedule is rated as the third hardest in the NFL based on opponent’s winning percentage. But that only tells half the story.
The Cardinals are the doormats in a historically great division, where all three NFC West rivals won at least 11 games in 2025, where all three are considered Super Bowl contenders in 2026.
They face three other returning playoff teams in the Broncos, Eagles and Chargers. They face two very dangerous non-playoff teams in the Chiefs and the Lions. They will be underdogs against the Commanders, Cowboys and Giants. And one of their last-place draws is the Saints, a team that finished 2025 with real momentum, with four wins in its last five games.
The Cardinals are already installed as the NFL’s biggest underdogs in Week One. They have no primetime games or international assignments. They get the Jets and the Raiders in Weeks 15 and 17, respectively. Which means they might go a long time before finding a winnable game.
I repeat: No 14-loss team has ever been given a tougher schedule.
The brutal schedule illuminates the bottom-line priorities in Arizona. They must find their next franchise quarterback at all costs. They must give rookie Carson Beck at least 10 potential starts, which means a Week 4 start in New Jersey or a Week 8 game in Dallas are the most logical entry points. Beck has recent history at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, leading Miami to a CFP win over Ohio State in 2025.
The low ceiling of expectations comes with heavy questions. Contrary to his 1-11 record, Jacoby Brissett was a very dangerous quarterback in 2025. If Jeremiyah Love is a ready-made star … if the offensive line has finally found the right mix … if Marvin Harrison Jr. found his inner dog in the offseason … there’s a chance the Cardinals could notch a few upsets in the first couple of months.
But what’s the point? The smart odds are on the long play, using the 2026 season for player development and trial by fire, which means Brissett is expendable and tradeable, maybe to the Steelers. The same goes with Trey Benson.
Many Cardinals need to grow significantly in 2026. It’s time for Harrison Jr. and Darius Robinson to play to their potential and not represent huge misses for General Manager Monti Ossenfort. Same with Walter Nolen, Will Johnson, Garrett Williams, Max Melton, Jordan Burch, B.J. Ojulari, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and others.
Good news is, the Cardinals get nine home games and they will travel fewer air miles than 22 other NFL teams, including nearly 23,000 fewer air miles than the 49ers.
Bad news is, they’re a million miles from the Super Bowl, and the journey back requires a franchise quarterback in the cockpit. At this point, nothing else matters.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7.
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Comments
15 Comments
Cardinals may not win a single game! This franchise deserves it. Horribly run. Horrible owner. Bad choices.
Great points and interesting column. My conclusion is that the only viable solution for the Cardinals is to tank the season from the get-go. As you write, Dan, Jacoby Brissett is good enough to lead this team to more than a handful of victories -- enough to miss out on a truly great QB is next year's draft -- and without making the playoffs. We must start Carson Beck from Day One.
This is ridiculous. These schedules are never as tough as they sound when they first come out because all these SOS rankings are based on LAST YEARS STANDINGS. There is to much parity in the NFL to get all worked up over the schedule release, we were the most injured team in the past 24yrs going back to 2001 last season, that’s not going to happen again this season.
Arizona has a roster they can win games with, they just need to stay healthy this season. They should have a good solid defense and offensively should be able to play a ball control run heavy brand of football behind a good OL and elite run game, loaded with weapons in the pass game at WR/TE n RB. AZ was in most of their games last season they just couldn’t close them out with all the injuries they had, I don’t see that repeating itself again this year. I think this Arizona team is going to be much better than a lot of people think they’re going to be this year, they definitely have the talent to win games and LaFluer is a much more creative offensive mind. The Cardinals are going to be a lot better this year so long as they stay relatively healthy.