Rapid reactions: Cardinals gut out Monday Night Football win over Chargers

The Arizona Cardinals dropped the Los Angeles Chargers 17-15 in a back-and-forth Monday Night Football affair.

Here’s how our hosts and editors at Arizona Sports are taking to the Cardinals advancing to 3-4 on the season and maintaining pace with a confounding NFC West.

Luke Lapinski, co-host of Wolf & Luke: Kyler Murray called it an ugly win. And it was.

The offense still doesn’t look right. There’s no way around that. Outside of James Conner, of course. Conner had 152 total yards while the rest of the Cardinals combined for 174. Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. — who has five catches in October — still don’t seem to be on the same page just yet. And there were plenty of Arizona drives tonight that went nowhere.

Here’s the thing though — that all gets forgotten when you win.

Sure, those things still need to be worked on. But it’s always better to learn from a win instead of a loss. The Cardinals were far from perfect tonight, but they’re dangerous against these teams like the Chargers that like to grind out tight, low-scoring games because they have playmakers. They may not be consistent on offense yet, but Kyler can rip off a 44-yard touchdown run at any moment. Or a 50-yarder like he had against the Niners. Or he can hit Marv for 130 yards and two scores through the air in one quarter like he did against the Rams. And those moments swing everything in games like this where offense is at a premium.

We’re burying the lede here though. The story tonight was the defense. That side of the ball has been decimated by injuries, yet it completely shut down the Chargers’ rushing attack. Jim Harbaugh’s group has built an identity on being physical and relentlessly running the ball. They completely abandoned it in the fourth quarter though. Maybe that’s something they’d do differently if they could go back, but they were basically left with no choice by Arizona’s defense.

The Cardinals forced two turnovers against a team that had only turned the ball over twice in all of 2024. And Arizona never allowed a touchdown in this one. For the second time in three weeks, the defense was the catalyst in a win. That can’t just be overlooked.

Suddenly the Cardinals are only a game back of first in the wide-open NFC West. And yes, they’re still just 5-20 in their last 25 home games, but they’re 2-2 in their last four now. That’s an improvement, and it means something when your fan base is looking to buy in.

They’re also 3-0 against the state of California this season. So maybe we can get the Dolphins to relocate to Bakersfield before Sunday.

Dave Burns, co-host of Burns & Gambo: I knew James Conner was capable of an effort like this. We’ve seen it before and perhaps we’ll see it again. For me though, it was the physicality of the defense that nearly stole the show. No one will ever confuse the Chargers with a light-’em-up offense but Justin Herbert is a very capable NFL quarterback who just had a very rough day at the office. He produced the yards but it often came with a price. Sacked three times. Pressured numerous others. His rushing attack was taken from him. Herbert did everything he could to squeeze out a win but too many field goals doomed the Chargers. And the Cardinals’ defensive line has earned an ice bath tonight.

But this night belonged to Conner. His tackle-breaking catch and run in the fourth quarter was the play of the game and he bailed out an offense that appears to be more of a one-hit wonder than any of us could have imagined. The dynamic passing game has yet to materialize. Marvin Harrison Jr. had a mind-bending drop right before a personal foul bailed him out.

Figuring out when (and how) to go for it on fourth down was an adventure. And outside of his game-changing run, the Cards’ offense under Kyler Murray continues to shock and amaze for how toothless it looks. Granted, that’s a league-leading type of defense they just went up against. But too often this offense leaves us wondering when the pieces will come together in the way we all imagined before the season started. Drew Petzing has to figure things out because right now the Cards are more surviving than thriving. For them to truly enter the race for a postseason spot, the offense must lead the way.

Kevin Zimmerman, lead editor of ArizonaSports.com: The Chargers came in with a resume that said they would run the rock, create problems on defense and be lucky if they could find juice in the passing game.

Jim Harbaugh’s team created that against a set of prior opponents with questionable offenses, and that should be taken into account for any Cardinals fans declaring this a momentum shift in the season. You do not apologize for winning, however, and Arizona did so by stuffing the run despite being down a number of defensive front-seven players and taking advantage of the few offensive opportunities they had.

It helped that they got a couple of forced fumbles early to negate a few mistakes. More than anything, the victory showed again that the Cardinals can be dangerous against any opponent if they get the running game going. That just needs to become a consistent thing for their season to truly swing the right way.

Kellan Olson, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night: They all count the same, right?

The Cardinals did enough to win this football game. Conner had one of the best Cardinals individual performances of the last few years, the run defense was awesome and there were enough plays made elsewhere to round this thing out. At least a six-point swing on two forced fumbles by the Cardinals decided this thing — and a shoutout to Michael Wilson for staying involved in the play on Conner’s punchout to recover that one.

Herbert was magnificent in this game considering the limitations around him, a non-existent running game his offense is programmed to rely on and a pass-catching group that required identification on nearly every reception. But he was not in a position to make one game-breaking play on his own, which is exactly what Murray was able to do on his touchdown run.

This was not a season-changing victory, both in the result and how the Cardinals got it. Marvin Harrison Jr. continues to be a non-factor, the pass rush had its moments while also allowing Herbert a ludicrous amount of time to throw, a questionable unnecessary roughness call likely saved the Cardinals and their overall passing game was outgained 336-145. But they kept the season alive, and that deserves its props.

Mitch Vareldzis, co-host of Arizona Sports at Night: There was puh-lenty that could have gone wrong tonight. Remember that opening drive interception? How about the James Conner fumble? Herbert burning the Cardinals through the air with help from Will Dissly?

But you know what? A lot went the Cardinals’ way!

A defense that silenced the Chargers’ rushing attack. An offense that held the ball long enough to keep the Chargers from too many opportunities. NO TOUCHDOWNS ALLOWED. And just enough Murray magic for a miraculous Monday night victory!

I will not ignore the things I did not like from tonight’s win compared to my reaction to their win over the 49ers. But I’m also not going to diminish the importance of a win like tonight. With everything happening injury-wise with the 49ers and the Rams, this is still an open division for the Cardinals if they can just string some consistent performances together.

These next three weeks are HUGE! At the Dolphins. Home against the Bears. Home against the Jets.

Is going 2-1 too much to ask? Can you go into your bye week 5-5?

And then did you see who comes after the bye?

Not to be that guy, but the make-it-or-break-it point of the season has arrived! A win tonight was a great first step!

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