What we learned about the Arizona Cardinals from the loss to the L.A. Chargers

There were a handful of things we were interested to watch Sunday when the Cardinals met the Chargers at State Farm Stadium.

The first was whether or not the Cardinals could win. After blowing a chance to stay in the playoff race by dropping two of three games against their three division foes in the NFC West, could they find the motivation to keep pressing forward, especially after All-Pro called some of his teammates out for not battling until the end last Monday night in Mexico City against the 49ers.

The bottom line: Arizona answered the bell and responded with a well-played game but lost 25-24 in a wild finish 25-24 as the Chargers rallied with less than two minutes left to play. The Chargers had a 20-yard punt return to begin their final scoring drive at the Arizona 38 and seven plays later, Justin Herbert hit running back Austin Ekeler for a 1-yard touchdown.

Instead of kicking the point after and taking their chances in overtime, the Chargers went for the win and Herbert hit Gerald Everett in the end zone for a successful two-point conversion and the win.

Now onto the other things we wanted to see from Sunday’s game:

How would Kyler Murray play?

The Cardinals’ starting quarterback was back in the lineup after missing the past two games with a sore hamstring and he looked 100% healthy, which coach Kliff Kingsbury said he would have to be before returning to the field.

Murray looked in control, save for a second-quarter interception when the Cardinals elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 34-yard line. Instead of handing the ball off to running back James Conner, who was averaging six yards per carry up to that point, Murray dropped back and heaved a pass up in the air for DeAndre Hopkins.

Safety Derwin James Jr. kept himself between Hopkins and the football and came down with it for the pick in single coverage. The Chargers cashed in the turnover for a touchdown and a 14-10 lead just four plays later.

Murray, however, accounted for three touchdowns and kept his team in the game. He connected with Hopkins for a 33-yard catch and run for one score and later, used his legs to scramble five yards for another TD that gave Arizona a 17-14 lead at halftime.

In addition to completing 18 of 29 passes for 191 yards, Murray also ran seven times for 56 yards. The quickness, start and stop ability, and the shiftiness were all there once again. Murray wasn’t hesitant or reluctant to run, which was good to see, because he needed to make a few Houdini-like to escape from pressure.

Pound the football behind Conner

The storyline here was easy. The Chargers’ run defense had allowed 157 or more rushing yards in each if their last four games, making it incredibly tempting for the Cardinals to feed Conner the ball and let him slog it out all afternoon.

For the most part, that’s exactly what Kingsbury and new running game coordinator Spencer Whipple did. They had no choice with that derelict analytic staring them in the face. In the first quarter alone, Conner rushed for 54 yards, the most he’s had in the first quarter of a game since 2018 when he ran for 62 first-quarter yards for the Steelers.

Conner had 105 rushing yards after three quarters. Overall, he rushed for 120 yards on a career-high 25 carries. The Cardinals targeted a weakness and Conner exploited it.

What made this even more impressive was that Conner lost a fumble three plays into the Cardinals first possession of the game. Instead of shying away from the run – and Conner – Kingsbury and Whipple showed full confidence in him by giving his a steady diet of carries.

What type of splash could Hopkins and Hollywood make?

It took 12 weeks, but the Cardinals finally saw what things could look like when they had Hopkins and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown on the field at the same time with Murray leading the way.

The presumption, of course, was that by having the speedy Brown as a deep-threat option who can get behind the defensive coverage, things would open up in a big way underneath for Hopkins. Also, there was no way the Chargers could bracket both receivers with two defenders. Somebody is always going to get open when these two talents are on the field.

They both did on Sunday as Hopkins finished with four receptions for 87 yards and a touchdown and Brown, back after missing five games with a broken bone in his left foot, added six catches for 46 yards.

Murray and Hopkins hooked up on a nice 33-yard catch and run that went for a touchdown on Arizona’s second possession and a 21-yard completion helped set up the Cardinals’ second TD of the game – Murray’s 5-yard run. Later, Murray threw a strike to Hopkins on a crossing route, leading him perfectly, and Hopkins accelerated out of his break to turn it into a 29-yard pass play.

That would also lead to a touchdown, as Murray found Conner on a short pass to the right and Conner turned it up field for a 6-yard score and a 24-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Could the defense finally clamp down?

In four of their last five games, the Cardinals allowed 31 or more points. They were 1-3 in those games and the defense had to clamp down.

With their playoff chances all but done, Vance Joseph’s unit stepped up, brought ample pressure on Justin Herbert, stuffed the run game and never let the Chargers find a rhythm on offense. Until the end. The Cardinals couldn’t stop the Chargers when it was clutch time as Herbert completed five passes on the game-winning drive for 47 yards, not including the two-point conversion.

Herbert was sacked four times by four different players. But he threw three touchdowns and the last one sank the Cardinals when it looked like they had this game won.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Takeaways: What we learned from the Cardinals loss to Chargers