Cardinals’ loss may top list of Valley’s biggest sports disappointments

TEMPE, Ariz. — The Cardinals provided their fan base with plenty of thrills this season through a record-setting 13 regular-season wins and just the franchise’s second NFC Championship Game appearance.

As much as we’d like to view those achievements through rose-colored lenses, however, the lasting memory of this season will be the team’s 49-15 whipping at the hands of the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Cardinals had genuine Super Bowl aspirations. They were as logical a pick as any to carry off the Vince Lombardi Trophy and give the Valley just its second major professional championship.

In that light, the Cardinals’ loss — and the manner in which it came — may rank as the most disappointing performance in Valley sports history.

For comparison, we have chosen four other Valley teams with varying circumstances and expectations to compare to the 2015-16 Cardinals. You decide how they rank in our poll.

2015-16 Arizona Cardinals: The Cardinals carried lofty expectations into this season after a 9-1 start the previous year was derailed by QB Carson Palmer’s ACL injury. The offense set numerous records, there were playmakers all over both sides of the ball and Arizona only needed two wins to advance to its second Super Bowl. Instead, the team turned in its worst performance of the year at Carolina and now must face the reality of a rapidly-closing window of opportunity.

1992-93 Phoenix Suns: Charles Barkley’s first season in the Valley was a whirlwind. With Barkley in the best shape of his life, the Suns posted the NBA’s best regular-season record, then survived a first-round scare from the Los Angeles Lakers and a seven-game, Western Conference Finals against the Seattle SuperSonics. The problem for the Suns was that they had to face the two-time defending NBA champion Chicago Bulls and the game’s best player, Michael Jordan, in the Finals. After losing the first two games at home, Phoenix fought valiantly to get the series back to the Valley for Games 6 and 7, winning an epic Game 3 triple-overtime thriller and Game 5, after which Barkley joked that the Suns had saved Chicago from the certain riots that would have followed the city’s celebration. Down 3-2 in the series, the Suns couldn’t close the door on a late lead in Game 6. John Paxson may never be welcome in these parts after draining a 3-pointer that gave the Bulls their third straight title and kept the Suns from claiming their first.

1996-97 Arizona State football: The Sun Devils set national championship expectations from the opening bell when they knocked off Pac-10 heavyweight Washington in the season opener, and then top-ranked, two-time defending national champion Nebraska in Tempe, ending Nebraska’s 26-game win streak and thereby jumping 11 spots in the AP poll from No. 17 to No. 6. The Sun Devils survived a scare against USC with a 48-35 double OT win and made it to the Rose Bowl undefeated. The Sun Devils got the ball with less than five minutes to play, providing QB Jake Plummer with an opportunity to cap his brilliant career in style. Plummer converted a fourth down when he hit wideout Lenzie Jackson. With just over a minute remaining, Plummer scrambled for 11 yards and a touchdown on third-and-goal, giving ASU a 17–14 lead. Unfortunately for ASU, their defense couldn’t hold. With the help of two pass interference penalties, Valley product Joe Germaine (Mesa Mountain View) led a last second drive, hitting David Boston in the end zone with 19 seconds remaining to give Ohio State the win and break Devils’ fans heart.

2006-07 Phoenix Suns: This will forever be remembered in the Valley as the series in which the NBA’s brain trust failed in its leadership roles. In the closing minutes of San Antonio’s series-tying Game 4 victory in San Antonio in the Western Conference semifinals, Robert Horry delivered what can only be described as a hip check on point guard Steve Nash, sending him flying to the floor. In the ensuing fracas, the NBA ruled that Suns forwards Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw had left the bench (two players critical to guarding Spurs forward Tim Duncan) thereby earning one-game suspensions while Horry was the only Spur suspended (two games). NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson told reporters in a conference call that the league’s longstanding policy of invoking its leave-the-bench rule without considering additional factors made the Suns’ suspensions automatic. In other words, Jackson hid behind a rule and gave the offending party (San Antonio) the lesser sentence instead of exhibiting true leadership when it was needed most. Without their big men, the Suns lost a pivotal Game 5 in Phoenix despite a valiant effort and fell in the series, 4-2, ending perhaps their last legitimate title opportunity despite the superhuman efforts of the 2009-10 club.

2008-09 Arizona Cardinals: In terms of preseason and postseason expectations, this team ranks at the bottom of the five listed here. Nobody expected much from the Cardinals in the regular season, and when they won the NFC West they were widely derided as the worst playoff team in NFL history after losing four games by three or more touchdowns. With a favorable draw and some fortunate upsets in the NFC playoffs, the Cardinals rode receiver Larry Fitzgerald and QB Kurt Warner to wins over the Falcons, Panthers and Eagles to reach their first Super Bowl. Steelers linebacker James Harrison’s Super Bowl record 100-yard interception return for a touchdown just before halftime looked like the nail in the Cardinals’ coffin, and the Steelers tacked on a field goal to take a 20-7 lead to the fourth quarter. But Arizona scored 16 consecutive points, including Fitzgerald’s iconic 64-yard touchdown reception, to take a 23-20 lead with 2:37 remaining in the game. Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt’s only thought after Fitzgerald’s TD? We left too much time. The Steelers drove 78 yards to score on wide receiver Santonio Holmes’ leaping and controversial (was he out of bounds?) 6-yard game-winning touchdown catch with 35 seconds left. Cinderella had been denied.

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