Penalties or play-calling? What’s to blame more for Cardinals’ loss to Vikings?

The Arizona Cardinals failed get the job done in Week 13, falling 23-22 to the Minnesota Vikings.

All the good feelings from Arizona’s four-game winning streak and time atop the NFC West have seemingly dissipated ever since the Cardinals returned off their bye week.

Now, they’re looking up at the Seattle Seahawks in the division after dropping back-to-back games that were the Cardinals’ to lose.

But when it comes down to it, what deserves the most blame for Arizona’s issues?

A look at the central culprits:

The penalties

Disciplined has been a word used to describe Arizona this season, and you don’t have to look hard to figure out why.

Entering play Sunday, Arizona’s offense sported the fewest penalties in the league with 51. Against Minnesota, you would have thought the Cardinals were on the opposite end of that spectrum.

Accounting for nine of the team’s 10 penalties for 96 yards on the afternoon, the Cardinals continually shot themselves in the foot.

Tough to get anything done offensively when you’re going one step forward and two steps back.

On the other end, the Vikings accounted for just three penalties for 56 yards.

But while the penalties must get cleaned up, it’s the next factor that appears to have most everybody up in arms.

The play-calling

When it comes down to where Arizona lost this one, four decisions are going to stand out above the rest.

Despite having three advantageous fourth-down looks on Sunday — two being well within Minnesota’s redzone — head coach Jonathan Gannon and Co. went for the conservative route with a pair of field goals and a punt.

The last one, though, is the toughest pill to swallow given the circumstance.

Up 19-16 with 3:23 to play and staring at a fourth-and-four on Minnesota’s four-yard line, Arizona opted for the easy points, opening the door for the Vikings’ comeback in the process.

“There was thought about (going for it) but just wanted to go up more than a field goal there,” Gannon told reporters postgame. “Definitely a decision point that we talked about. So be it.”

“I wanted them to score a touchdown to beat us there,” the head coach added.

It wasn’t just the fourth-down lapses, either.

Given the one-point difference, not going for two after Marvin Harrison Jr.’s 15-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter stands out like a sore thumb.

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