Cardinals making dubious NFL history with last-second losses

The Arizona Cardinals became the first team in NFL history to lose three straight contests on a game-winning score as time expired on Sunday, according to sports data service SportRadar.

The Cardinals are a handful of plays away from a potential 4-1 or even 5-0 start to the season, and yet, last-second losses to the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Tennessee Titans put them in a 2-3 hole nearly one-third of the way through the campaign.

Sunday’s 22-21 loss to Tennessee was particularly head-scratching, considering the Cardinals had a 21-6 second-half lead. They were set to take a 28-6 advantage before running back Emari Demercado fumbled the ball just before crossing the goal line in the third quarter.

The Titans faced a 1.8% winning percentage at one point, the second most improbable comeback of the season, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. The only game ahead on that list was the Buffalo Bills overcoming a 40-25 deficit in the fourth quarter of Week 1 against the Baltimore Ravens (1.1%).

Tennessee’s average win probability for the entire afternoon was 12.1%, which is the single lowest for a team that won the game in the Next Gen Stats era (2016).

It felt like a game that the Cardinals probably win nine times out of 10, but their own failures to put away a previously winless team plus untimely boneheaded mistakes and bad luck contributed to a loss that doesn’t come around very often.

“Felt like we had multiple chances to put away the game in all three phases and we did not do that,” head coach Jonathan Gannon told reporters. “It feels like three games in a row that I’m saying the same thing. But until we do a better job, we’re going to keep losing.”

The Cardinals had not lost three straight games by three or fewer points in any season since they moved to the Valley for the 1988 campaign.

The closest they came previously was back in 2011 with three straight losses by four or fewer points in the midst of a 1-6 start with Kevin Kolb at quarterback and Ken Whisenhunt coaching. That team started the year with four straight one-score games and finished 8-8.

The current Cardinals have opened the season with five straight one-score games, a franchise first since 2007.

Arizona’s next eight games are against teams .500 or better, starting Sunday against the 4-1 Indianapolis Colts. Only the New York Giants (.621) have a harder schedule than Arizona (.614) the rest of the away by opposing winning percentage.

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