Week 16 Marks The End Of The Dream

Arizona lost to the Bengals 23-16, which officially ends the Cards' chances of making the playoffs. Sure, they were a long shot to begin with, but it would have been cool if they could make it in after their horrible start.

The Cardinals followed their recent strategy of doing very little offensively the first 3 quarters, then trying to come back in the fourth. Problem being they fell behind 23-0 to a team that's a little too good to blow that big a lead. Skelton didn't help matters by throwing 3 INTs before rallying with 2 TDs in the 4th. He once again got no help from the running game, as Wells had only 53 yards on 14 carries. The Bengals meanwhile, had 165 yards on 34 carries as a team.

There's not a lot else to say. The Cards did have a chance to tie or win (if they went for 2), but Early Doucet fell down for some reason, so the pass went incomplete.

I'm curious now whether the Cardinals will start Kolb against Seattle in Week 17. On the one hand, the Cards will be playing for nothing more than pride and a chance to finish .500. That would suggest there's no reason to risk Kolb getting another concussion. At the same time, Kolb still needs to prove something. Yes, Skelton has largely failed to demonstrate he should be the longterm starter. He has 10 TDs and 13 INTs, which is only acceptable if you're the Raiders and you really like Carson Palmer. But he has showed some skill at the end of games, and unlike Kolb, he actually makes it through games without getting injured. It doesn't much matter if Kolb is better if he can't stay on the field. And Kolb hasn't been all that great himself. So coming back and leading the team to a .500 record at home to close out the season wouldn't hurt his standing with the fans.