3 Worst Games You've Seen As A Cardinal Fan

[NJCardFan]

Somebody said that Sunday's game was one of the 3 worst games they ever say so this brings me to this, what are the 3 worst games you ever say as a Cardinal fan. I shall start:


1977: Dolphins 55 Cardinals 14-Thanksgiving Day 1977. This was before the Cowboys had the other Thanksgiving Day game. The Cards were given the game, at home, against Bob Griese and the Dolphins. Both teams were 7-3 and the Cards were riding a 6 game winning streak coming into the game and were flying high. Well, 6 Griese TD passes later, the Cards were demoralized. They went on to lose the final 3 games including to the previous 1-26 Bucs to finish 7-7 for the season. They didn't really recover from that loss until the Neil Lomax era. Seriously. Not only did the Cards lose the final 4 games that season but lost the first 8 the next.

2002: Cardinals 0 Chiefs 49- We actually started this season off pretty good going 4-2 but then we lost a tough game to the 49ers and the slide began. The 6 game losing streak came to a head in a game in Kansas City where the team literally mailed in the game. We had exactly 159 total yards and gave up 216 yards on the ground. You can just see the team quit.

2008: Cardinals 7 Patriots 47-The team should have just stayed home. Really. The good thing is that after this game we didn't lose another one until the Super Bowl.

Well, there are 3 of mine. I could have picked others but these 3 stand out.

 

[Buckybird]

Somebody said that Sunday's game was one of the 3 worst games they ever say so this brings me to this, what are the 3 worst games you ever say as a Cardinal fan. I shall start:


1977: Dolphins 55 Cardinals 14-Thanksgiving Day 1977. This was before the Cowboys had the other Thanksgiving Day game. The Cards were given the game, at home, against Bob Griese and the Dolphins. Both teams were 7-3 and the Cards were riding a 6 game winning streak coming into the game and were flying high. Well, 6 Griese TD passes later, the Cards were demoralized. They went on to lose the final 3 games including to the previous 1-26 Bucs to finish 7-7 for the season. They didn't really recover from that loss until the Neil Lomax era. Seriously. Not only did the Cards lose the final 4 games that season but lost the first 8 the next.

2002: Cardinals 0 Chiefs 49- We actually started this season off pretty good going 4-2 but then we lost a tough game to the 49ers and the slide began. The 6 game losing streak came to a head in a game in Kansas City where the team literally mailed in the game. We had exactly 159 total yards and gave up 216 yards on the ground. You can just see the team quit.

2008: Cardinals 7 Patriots 47-The team should have just stayed home. Really. The good thing is that after this game we didn't lose another one until the Super Bowl.

Well, there are 3 of mine. I could have picked others but these 3 stand out.

I remember watching that '77 game for about 3 qtrs & leaving to go deer hunting. That was a complete debacle. I still remember hearing about Mr B changing the locks on Cardinal coaches into their offices after the '77 season ended because he didn't want to pay Coryell & his staff. I will never forget that ass kicking that day!!!


My top 4:

1) see above
2) Tobins last game, 49-7 loss in Dallas. I was there!!!
3) Christmas night 1995-a lump of coal in our stocking as "Cruddy Ball" exits before the game ends. Maybe a holiday treat this year against the Cowpies
4) 20-20 tie against Gmen on MNF-O'Donoghue shanks 3 GW FG's
2)

 

[NJCardFan]

I remember watching that '77 game for about 3 qtrs & leaving to go deer hunting. That was a complete debacle. I still remember hearing about Mr B changing the locks on Cardinal coaches into their offices after the '77 season ended because he didn't want to pay Coryell & his staff. I will never forget that ass kicking that day!!!


My top 4:

1) see above
2) Tobins last game, 49-7 loss in Dallas. I was there!!!
3) Christmas night 1995-a lump of coal in our stocking as "Cruddy Ball" exits before the game ends. Maybe a holiday treat this year against the Cowpies
4) 20-20 tie against Gmen on MNF-O'Donoghue shanks 3 GW FG's
2)

I was in college watching that one with Giant fans. O'Donohue cost us many games in his career.

 

[Snakester]

I remember the 1977 game well. We only had 3 defensive backs that were healthy for that game and two of them got hurt in the first half. Bob Griese and the Dophins then did nothing but throw the ball because they knew we couldn't defend the pass. But this game had the best fight in NFL history. 33 Miami Dolphins went to the hospital after that fight. I remember Conrad Dobler chasing Don Shula down the sidelines and RB steve little beating up several Miami players including OL Larry Little. The Cardinals may have lost the game that day but they sure won the fight. There was multiple fights during the game as well but the bench clearing brawl at the end of the game was great!

 

[Avondale Red Rage]

1. Yesterday
2. 2008 Patriots Game
3. 2006 Bears Game

At least those are the three I most wanted to strangle someone afterwards.

 

[SECTION 11]

Oh boy, I don't even know where to start. This is a tough question.

 

[Cards_Campos]

LOL It might be easier to name the top 3 games of all time...Many less to choose from

The San Fran games we lost that 1 year was brutal....The opening game where we let them drive 80 yards and they fumbled in the end zone and dude dives over the ball! Then we had them beat again and Rackers of course misses a fg where Whiz was like trying to call a fake timout or something...Weird play...then in OT Warner gets sacked and ball game...and both those cost us the playoffs.

 

[Jersey Girl]

My top 4:

1) see above
2) Tobins last game, 49-7 loss in Dallas. I was there!!!
3) Christmas night 1995-a lump of coal in our stocking as "Cruddy Ball" exits before the game ends. Maybe a holiday treat this year against the Cowpies
4) 20-20 tie against Gmen on MNF-O'Donoghue shanks 3 GW FG's
2)

I was there, too. Went with my sis. I'll never forget Martay Jenkins smiling and acting a fool after the team had just gotten blown out. Made me super mad.

As I was leaving the stadium, I was talking to another Cards fan who had mentioned McGuinness. He said he knew him personally and it looked like he would be the next coach. Sure enough ...

 

[oaken1]

The last three,....the rest dont matter.

 

[Shane]

The list is way to long and distinguished to merely pick out 3.

 

[Dr. Jones]

The Bono naked Bootleg game.... #1

The Bears Monday Night Game..... # 2

The Eagles Thanksgiving Night game..... # 3

The Niners Monday Night game where Lawrence Phillips crushed us..... #4

#1 - First and only time I left SDS before the game ended. I was just so deflated. It affected me for weeks.

The others are collectively bad.... But the embarrassment they caused on the national stage was just so overwhelming that they must be on my list.

 

[cardfaninfl]

2006 MNF against the Bears
1983 MNF against the Giants
1976 MNF against the Redskins - 10 turnovers and they were still in the game until an 80 yrd punt return, late in the 4th quarter. It wasn't so much that the returner was untouched, it was the Cardinals standing around, completely gassed, and just watched him run for the deciding score.

With those three games it was more than anger. I felt foolish for watching a game the Cardinals were completely unmotivated to win. They seemed to "luck" into a lead, acted completely surprised by it, then did every thing they could to lose... on national tv.

 

[MrYeahBut]

I just hope we don't have to add the Monday nighter this year to the list

 

[Buckybird]

I just hope we don't have to add the Monday nighter this year to the list

I'm fully expecting a huge lump of coal in my stocking for the beatdown the Cowpies will put on us!!! The sad thing is I will have to listen to all their cornholio fans telling me about it at work.

 

[CtCardinals78]

The game where Steve Bono ripped off a bootleg for a 70 something yard TD, the opening game of the 2005 or 2006 season where the Cards opened up in the Meadowlands against the Giants and got shredded. I remember having very high hopes that season and thought the Cards were a playoff team. After that game I knew it was going to be "another year" and the Super Bowl. A classic Cardinal defensive meltdown to lose the game on the worlds biggest stage after all but winning the game.

 

[devilalum]

The Bono naked Bootleg game.... #1

This is the one I was thinking about. Maybe the most pathetic play in the history of football. It took him about 30 seconds to jog/walk the 80 yards to the end zone and nobody ran after him.

 

[ajcardfan]

I don't think yesterday's game was even the worst Seahawks game ever. That game we lost, at SDS, in the heat, 38-0 was much, much more pathetic than yesterday's effort.

 

[dylanbw]

yeah, um, again, thanks for the memories....

Somebody said that Sunday's game was one of the 3 worst games they ever say so this brings me to this, what are the 3 worst games you ever say as a Cardinal fan. I shall start:


1977: Dolphins 55 Cardinals 14-Thanksgiving Day 1977. This was before the Cowboys had the other Thanksgiving Day game. The Cards were given the game, at home, against Bob Griese and the Dolphins. Both teams were 7-3 and the Cards were riding a 6 game winning streak coming into the game and were flying high. Well, 6 Griese TD passes later, the Cards were demoralized. They went on to lose the final 3 games including to the previous 1-26 Bucs to finish 7-7 for the season. They didn't really recover from that loss until the Neil Lomax era. Seriously. Not only did the Cards lose the final 4 games that season but lost the first 8 the next.

2002: Cardinals 0 Chiefs 49- We actually started this season off pretty good going 4-2 but then we lost a tough game to the 49ers and the slide began. The 6 game losing streak came to a head in a game in Kansas City where the team literally mailed in the game. We had exactly 159 total yards and gave up 216 yards on the ground. You can just see the team quit.

2008: Cardinals 7 Patriots 47-The team should have just stayed home. Really. The good thing is that after this game we didn't lose another one until the Super Bowl.

Well, there are 3 of mine. I could have picked others but these 3 stand out.

....as others have stated, if you are simply listing "worst" games as in "putrid efforts", then there are literally hundreds of games tied for first...

....but if you want to list most "painful" then at least you can....oh hell as I type this I keep having "oh, remember THAT game" flashbacks....

In that case here are just a few "under-rated" painful games that stand out for me:

1 - 1987 (@Dallas) - The strike year (3 scab games, 15 game season)...the Vikings had lost at home to the Redskins in a Saturday game, setting the stage for the Cards to "win and their IN" (the playoffs) game to close the regular season at Dallas. We outplayed the Cowboys, but simply could not stop (prime of his career) Herschel Walker (183 yards from scrimmage) when it counted and lost 21-16. Vikings go on to blow out the Saints and 49ers and almost beat the Skins in the NFC Championship Game. I remain convinced Neil Lomax would have led us on a similar run. Shout out to Gerardi's Wonder Bar in Bayonne for giving me this game on the big screen in the very early days of "the dish".

2 - 1990 (@NYGiants) - Not a good Cards team by any stretch, but on the verge of upsetting THE EVENTUAL SUPER BOWL CHAMPION GIANTS on the ROAD (we had to be 10-14 point underdog), up 19-17 with about two minutes left, Myron Guyton made the tackle of his life on a naked bootleg by Timm Rosenbach (to stop the game clinching 1st down). Giants then marched down and Matt Bahr kicked a 40 yarder at the gun. Win that game and get to 3-3 and who knows? Instead it was the start of a 5 game skid and yet another season was lost.

3 - 1993 (@NYGiants) - This one was extra tough as I was at the game (Lomax jersey, obviously). Despite promising my friend (a Cowboys fan who came into some free tix) I would be respectful and not get us killed, man when Ricky Proehl caught that crossing pattern and took that **** to the house to give the Cards the lead I started talking some insane junk to the legion of Giants fans surrounding me (yes, I used to kill many brain cells back in those days). Sadly, this was the infamous "Brad Daluiso" game, where the Giants (allegedly) opened up the tunnel to increase the already 30+ mph winds to assist their kickoff specialist in making a 55 yarder on the final play. Yeah, the Giants faithful let me have it pretty good....

Tune in next week for: "Tales from Cards games at the Old Veteran's Stadium (Philly-style)".

..but still

#damnilovethisteam
#Cardsfansinnjunite

 

[NJCardFan]

If we're talking live games, here are my 3:

1985: Cardinals 7 Eagles 30-The Cards were pre-season division favorites having barely missed the playoffs in '84. Things started off well winning 3 of the first 4 but a Monday night loss to the Redskins then this debacle against the Eagles and it snowballed ending Jim Hanifan's head coaching career.

1986: Cardinals 10 Eagles 10-And keeping with the 10 theme, there had to have been 10 missed FG's by both teams, most of which were in overtime. The best part of the game was the Cards sacking Cunningham 10 times.

2008: Cardinals 35 Jets 56-Yes, I was there live to see Favre shred our defense for 6 touchdowns and saw Q nearly get killed...actually, I had left the stadium by then.

 

[NJCardFan]

3 - 1993 (@NYGiants) - This one was extra tough as I was at the game (Lomax jersey, obviously). Despite promising my friend (a Cowboys fan who came into some free tix) I would be respectful and not get us killed, man when Ricky Proehl caught that crossing pattern and took that **** to the house to give the Cards the lead I started talking some insane junk to the legion of Giants fans surrounding me (yes, I used to kill many brain cells back in those days). Sadly, this was the infamous "Brad Daluiso" game, where the Giants (allegedly) opened up the tunnel to increase the already 30+ mph winds to assist their kickoff specialist in making a 55 yarder on the final play. Yeah, the Giants faithful let me have it pretty good....

This was the game that cemented Bugel's firing because Bidwill gave him an ultimatum of a winning season. After that game, we went 4-1 down the stretch to go 7-9. Lost a lot of close games that year. The 9 losses that year we lost by 6, 7, 6, 2, 14, 3, 5, 2, and 7. Take away the 14 point loss to SF that year and the combined loss total is nearly the same as our loss at Atlanta this season. That team played with a lot of heart that season and I believed Bugel deserved another year.

Tune in next week for: "Tales from Cards games at the Old Veteran's Stadium (Philly-style)".

You and I can probably trade war stories.

 

[Cardinals.Ken]

If we're sticking to games seen in person...

#3: Cardinals 25 Cowboys 22 September 7th, 1997

Our first game, in person! Also my first game as one of those mythical Season Ticket Holders.

There were 72 or 73 thousand packed into Sun Devil that day. It was incredibly hot, and humid..I swear it must have been a 110 degrees with 95% humidity in the stadium. We had our seats in the upper level of the North endzone, so we were in the direct sunlight for the duration of our stay at SDS that day.

My wife, who still to this day is not acclimated to the Arizona heat, came down with heat stroke not long after the start of the second quarter.

Needless to say, her well being came first...so we left.

No big loss, right?

By the time my wife felt somewhat normal again, after spending a significant amount of time in the pool, we took the kids to get some ice cream. I was still sneaking a listen to the score on the radio every now and again, and at this point the Cardinals were down 15 in the third quarter.

After ice cream, and some grocery shopping, we got back to the car just in time to hear the game winning call of Butler's overtime field goal to win the game.

My wife felt like crap. I told her it was ok, but she knew I was pissed. I never held anything against her, but as a fan it always stuck in my craw until my proverbial back was broken as a Cardinals fan (don't worry, I'll get to that.)

I still won't mention this game in front of her, as it still upsets her that we had to leave.

By the way, other big wins I missed even though I had tickets?

The win against the Changers in 98 (due to work), and the win against the Vikings in 03 (vacation)

#2: Patriots 23 Cardinals 12 September 19th, 2004

This was the game where the Cardinals honored Pat Tillman at halftime.

Even though we were playing flat, lifeless, football we were only down 5 points going into the 4th quarter. At the time I felt that we had a shot to take down the defending Super Bowl champs.

Surprise! No dice!

Looking back, I think Bilichick & Co. were toying with us, trying not to run up the score, or sully the memory of Pat on our home turf. We really had no business being on the same field as New England.

How this team won 6 games that year still boggles my mind.

This was the only game I went to see that year. 2004 was also the first year since 1997 that I was not a season ticket holder.

#1: Broncos 38 Cardinals 17 September 23rd, 2001

Our first game after 9/11. Personally, I really needed this game.

We were down 17-10 at the half, and I really thought we had a shot...boy was I wrong.

After this game, I never fooled myself into thinking that I, nor anyone other fan, could actually "will" their team to a victory.

This is also the only game, win or lose, that made me cry.

 

[ANDY440]

Keep em coming, this is perversely enjoyable. For some reason the game that disgusted me most was losing to the Bucs at Sundevil 6-3 It may have been 9-6 it was all field goals i know that.Tim Rosenbaugh was the QB I forget the specifics of the game but do remember being in disbelief we lost.

 

[Cardinal Bob]

I've seen far too many crappy games over the past 38 seasons to just pick 3.

 

[Osbern61]

Here are mine...

Bears Monday Night Meltdown in 2006

In 1981 after a few good games the Cards get crushed by the Eagles 55-14 or something; I remember our 3rd string QB having to play safety because of injuries in the secondary. I'm a bit vague as it was the first time I used alcohol to get me through the game.

New England beats us at SDS 27 to 3 in one of the most hopeless offensive performances I can recall. There was no doubt whatsover that NE was going to stop us.

I could keep going on about bad games for another 45,000 words.

 

[RugbyMuffin]

#1 - Arizona Cardinals at Cleveland Browns

Sunday, November 16, 2003
Cleveland Browns Stadium

Browns 44 - Cardinals 6

That is, and forever will be the worst ever. So, bad it is imprinted in my brain forever. Horrible. I never, ever, ever felt that way while watching anything in my life. There was so much bad about that game. I know I throw out "standard blowouts" (example: last nights MNF was a standard blowout), but this game was just horrible for so many reasons. Not to mention the Browns absolutely SUCKED that year, and it was one the few games the team was supposed to have a chance.


#2 - St. Louis Rams at Arizona Cardinals

Sunday, September 24, 2006
University of Phoenix Stadium (retractable roof)

Rams 16 - Cardinals 14

Wow. Still angry about this game. Whenever I hear about how Kurt Warner was the sole reason for the Cardinals resurgence, I go back to this game. Before Whiz ever got here. This game, was a game, where if the Rams didn't show up, they still would have won.

INT on the 1/2 yard line going in. Then the infamous 4th quarter where, all the Rams had to do was recieve the kickoff, and get first down. The Rams then fumble the snap, and we recover. IF we kicked the FG (which I was screaming at the TV to do) we win (barring Rackers choking). The VERY NEXT PLAY, we fumble the snap RIGHT BACK TO THE RAMS. Game over. We lose. Warner is rightfully benched.

Ugh. I am getting angry just typing this out. And by the way, the rest of the game was an insult to football from both teams. Anquan, as usual, just outplayed every other player on the field, and almost single handedly gave us a win.


#3 - Last week. Horrible.