Sloppy doesn’t begin to describe the Arizona Cardinals’ performance against the San Francisco 49ers in their 41-22 loss at State Farm Stadium.
The Cardinals committed a franchise-record 17 penalties for 130 yards Sunday, with one call negating a touchdown and another allowing the 49ers an extra field goal attempt – from closer range – after the previous one was blocked.
“I think it’s very challenging because it’s deflating when you’re going backwards,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “You have got to focus on the next play and control what you can control and try and move on.”
Turnovers were also a big issue for Arizona. The Cardinals coughed up the football three times, including two interceptions and a fumble lost near the goal line.
“The three takeaways led to 10 points, and two of the three takeaways were in scoring position, so it takes points off the board,” Gannon said. “I don’t think penalties are a winning stat, but we took way too many self-inflicted wounds.”
What started as a season of optimism for the Cardinals, who jumped out to a 2-0 start, has quickly faded into fans searching for answers, and the exits, as the team has lost seven of its last eight games.
However, with seven games still to play, Gannon remains confident the group can learn from the mistakes and move forward.
“I come to work and do the best job I can and try to get our team in a position to win a game,” Gannon said. “We educate, we point out, we coach it, and we gotta take it to the grass.”
It hasn’t helped that Arizona has been battling the injury bug all season, so the Cardinals were happy to welcome back outside linebacker BJ Ojulari, who had not played an NFL snap in over a year and a half.
Ojulari was sidelined because of a devastating knee injury he suffered during the Cardinals 2024 training camp. He suffered a torn ACL, MCL and damaged lateral meniscus.
The star linebacker was selected 41st overall in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft out of LSU. He played in all 17 games as a rookie in 2023, recording four sacks. Until Sunday, he hadn’t played since.
“It felt surreal having not been out there for so long,” Ojulari said. “It was great to be out there with my brothers, having an opportunity to fight.”
Ojulari rejoined a Cardinals defense that has been reeling as of late, having allowed 40 points or more in back to back games for the first time since 2002.
“I think every game we’re in, we fight. This last game we didn’t play as clean as we were supposed to,” Ojulari said. “Practice cleaner, eliminate the penalties and hone in on the little details; that’s going to get us over the top.”
However, there were a few bright spots for Arizona on the offensive side of the ball.
Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett set an NFL record for completions, connecting on 47 of his 57 passes to go along with a career-high 452 passing yards. The prior record was 45 completions set by Drew Bledsoe in 1994 and tied in 2019 by Jared Goff.
“That was one of, I thought, pretty good spots of what the offense did, they kept the quarterback pretty clean and we were able to generate some yards and some explosives through the air,” Gannon said.
Wide receiver Michael Wilson also stepped up big for Arizona, finishing with a career-high 15 receptions for 185 yards. He had just 22 receptions all season coming into the game.
The performance edged Wilson into second in team history for receptions in a game behind only Sonny Randle of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hauled in 16 passes in a game in 1962.
Michael Wilson was READY#ForTheCelly | @budlight pic.twitter.com/8RQ7Rt3B8P
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) November 16, 2025
“I thought he played extremely well, there’s no doubt,” Gannon said. “I know he’s a really good football player. He’s tough, plays with high effort, does what he’s coached to do.”
Arizona will now shift its focus to a home duel against the Jacksonville Jaguars with Gannon and company eager to shift the tide of the season.
“(We) gave them some answers on how to fix those things and (we’re) looking forward to coming back and working on that and getting it corrected and having a good week and getting a win versus Jacksonville,” Gannon said.
Gannon understands what’s at stake and affirmed the importance of controlling the controllables, knowing his name has come up in hot-seat discussions in recent weeks.
“Not a controllable for me. I didn’t hire myself. I’m not going to fire myself, ” Gannon said. “That’s the business we’re in. If you don’t want to be in that business, we laugh, we joke, go work somewhere else.”
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