TEMPE – On Nov. 21, 2021, the Arizona Cardinals walked out of Lumen Field in Seattle with a 23-13 victory over the Seahawks to improve to 9-2 overall, including four consecutive wins against NFC West opponents.
Since that fateful day, Arizona has won only four of its past 27 division matchups following a 31-7 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks in the team’s home opener on Sunday at State Farm Stadium.
It’s a continuation of a trend that began from the moment the NFL’s divisional realignment in 2002 moved the Cardinals to the NFC West.
Over the past 24 seasons, Arizona has claimed a division title three times in addition to five playoff berths and a lone Super Bowl appearance. The rest of the division combined has 21 division titles, 34 playoff berths, 10 conference championships and three Super Bowl titles.
In that same time frame, Arizona is 59-84-1 against NFC West opponents.
The Cardinals are not likely to receive any sort of respite from the in-division gauntlet as three-fourths of the 2026 edition of the NFC West has Super Bowl aspirations. And the roster may be a little thinner, too.
On Monday, coach Mike LaFleur announced that top cornerback Will Johnson, who sustained a neck injury against the Seahawks, could be out for a while.
“Potentially could miss the whole season,” LaFleur said. “It sucks for him.”
Seattle’s dominant performance on Sunday showed what it’s capable of, thanks in large part to the team’s physical mentality under coach Mike Macdonald. Even without injured quarterback Sam Darnold, the Seahawks racked up 385 total yards of offense and held onto the ball for 36 minutes and 33 seconds in all, and for longer than 10 minutes on one touchdown drive, thanks to a strong rushing attack that managed 162 yards.
“To me, that’s embarrassing,” Cardinals safety Andrew Wingard said. “I don’t think there’s anything you can take from that. They just bullied us for 10 minutes.”
On the other side of the ball, Seattle’s defense cemented its status as a top-tier unit by pulling off feats like holding Arizona to just 151 total yards and allowing zero passing plays of over 10 yards.
“We don’t blindly take shots down the field if the coverage doesn’t dictate,” LaFleur said. “They were playing in a ton of shell and they were giving us the checkdowns.”
Made with Flourish • Create a table
This Sunday, the Cardinals travel to Santa Clara, California, to take on the 2-0 San Francisco 49ers, another NFC West rival. Following Arizona’s struggles to contain an offense with backup quarterback Drew Lock under center, coach Kyle Shanahan’s star-studded offense poses a serious threat.
Despite suffering serious injuries to receivers Ricky Pearsall and De’Zhaun Stribling, the 49ers are averaging 31 points per game thanks to the efforts of quarterback Brock Purdy, running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end George Kittle.
San Francisco’s defense under new defensive coordinator Raheem Morris has also allowed just 20 points so far this season and is the 10th-best unit in terms of yards allowed per game.
Three weeks after Arizona’s visit to Northern California, the team travels 386 miles south to take on the Los Angeles Rams.
After a 12-5 season that ended with a defeat to the Seahawks in the NFC Championship, the Rams secured the best Super Bowl odds out of any team entering this season after making blockbuster moves like acquiring defensive end Myles Garrett and cornerback Trent McDuffie on top of bringing defensive end Aaron Donald out of retirement.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals are in a state of flux after replacing fired coach Jonathan Gannon with LaFleur, the Rams’ former offensive coordinator, in order to rebound from a 3-14 season. The 2025 season saw Arizona finish as the only NFC West team out of the postseason, and if Sunday’s result is any indication, the team still has a long way to go before it is ready to stack up against a division best resembling an arms race.
Arizona’s 47-24 win against the 49ers at State Farm Stadium in Week 18 of the 2024 season was the last time the Cardinals took down an opponent from the NFC West. In ironic fashion, the Cardinals have the chance to end their seven-game in-division losing streak in the same stadium where it began a year before.
“To be the best, you have to play the best,” Wingard said. “Faceless opponent. It doesn’t matter who we play. We have a game next week, and the next one’s the most important one.”
Be the first to comment