Questions linger after Cardinals loss to depleted 49ers

Take great offense at the lack of offense in Arizona. Feel free to be deeply insulted by a 16-15 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday when Kyler Murray couldn’t find a way to beat Mac Jones.

The Cardinals should be better than this.

They dominated time of possession early in the game. They were gifted a safety late in the game. They were spared another goal-line glitch from their quarterback. And they still found a way to lose to a diminished division opponent.

There are many lingering questions about the Cardinals’ offense. On a 15-play drive to start the second half, James Conner left the field on a cart after taking a crushing blow from two defenders.

How can this team possibly survive without Conner’s warrior spirit?

Shortly after, a wide-open Marvin Harrison Jr. dropped a pass that landed gently in his hands. The pair of events rocked diehard fans to their core.

How can Marv ever become our next superstar if he can’t catch easy passes? And how can the Cardinals become a serious playoff contender with no running game and one of the worst wide receiver rooms in the NFL?

Troubling, indeed. And that was before Murray’s fire-drill scramble near his own goal line that almost resulted in a safety for the 49ers.

Alibis are always abundant in defeat. Paris Johnson Jr. missed the game with injury. The Cardinals’ defense was mostly excellent. Mack Wilson Sr. brought serious heat, treating Christian McCaffrey to one of his hardest days in the NFL. Calais Campbell and his late-game heroics nearly converted his second save in as many weeks.

But the Cardinals offense is not to be trusted or feared. They are averaging fewer than 18 points a game after playing the lowly Saints, Panthers, and 49ers. They remain impotent and predictable despite all their careful planning and time spent together. Something has to change.

What a shame. The Cardinals could’ve been the final act in a five-star weekend when the Mercury advanced to the WNBA semifinals; the Diamondbacks won their weekend series against the first-place Phillies and are just one game out of the playoff race with six games remaining; and the Sun Devils scored a huge road win against Baylor, with Sam Leavitt producing a pair of legacy drives at the end of a Big 12 cliffhanger.

Alas, the Cardinals provided more question marks than exclamation points on Sunday. The kind of questions they should not be facing three years into a methodical rebuild.

Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m. on Arizona Sports.

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