26. Arizona Cardinals
After beating the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football a couple of weeks ago, the Arizona Cardinals seemingly fooled just about everyone into thinking they might have a shot to go on a little run.
Well, they might have fooled me.
The Cardinals have been back to getting their beaks kicked in the past couple of games with blowout losses against their division rival Seahawks and now 49ers in which they’ve given up over 40 points. Considering the team also benched starting quarterback Kyler Murray for Jacoby Brissett, it could be the last straw for head coach Jonathan Gannon, whose seat keeps getting hotter and hotter.
Absent a miraculous run here in the next handful of weeks, this Cardinals season looks like it’s well beyond cooked.
25. New Orleans Saints
Saints were on a bye in Week 11
The Saints got some decent return on investment from Spencer Rattler before things started to kind of go off the rails, and they’re getting a decent return on Tyler Shough here in his first couple of starts as well. The Saints’ selection of Shough, in general, was a hotly contested move. The retirement of Derek Carr was unexpected and forced the organization to make a hasty decision during the draft, and it feels like this is just a short-term audition no matter what.
But what if it’s not? What if Shough can actually be the guy?
That’s the mode the Saints are in right now, and they’re fixing to find out. Beyond that, we’ve seen the Saints play a bit better this season than you would think based on their record. They might not be just a quarterback away, but they desperately need Shough to make things crystal clear in the next 8 weeks.