HOUSTON — When Calais Campbell speaks, the cameras and microphones come circling and for good reason.
Campbell does not speak in the same cliches and platitudes that power the NFL. He digs deep, searching for honest answers. He wants to open a window into the reality of a locker room. The sugar-coating is thin, when it exists at all.
Such was the case earlier this month, shortly after the Cardinals had been eliminated from the playoffs. That week, Campbell stood by his locker and used his 18 seasons of experience to explain the importance of the season’s final five games.
“If we finish strong,” Campbell said, “I think that says a lot.”
At that point, the Cardinals were 3-9, but seven of their losses had come by four points or fewer. They had a better point differential than the Carolina Panthers, who are tied for the NFC South lead.
When Campbell said that the Cardinals were “not a bad team” and that they “could very much be a 10-plus win type of team,” it was an understandable position. With better late-game execution, the Cardinals could have entered December with their playoff hopes alive.
Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Calais Campbell (93) smiles from the sideline before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. in Glendale, Ariz.
But that, Campbell explained, is exactly why a strong end to the season was so important.
“With such a young team, you have to finish strong to set up your future,” Campbell said. “To try to continue to build a winning culture so this team can continue to have success and something to look forward to.”
A few minutes later, Campbell added another part — the aspect of finishing well that often goes unsaid by players and coaches late in these lost seasons.
“That can build that confidence where Mr. Bidwill (would) consider keeping everybody together and going for it again next year,” Campbell said.
That was on Dec. 3. Eleven days later, the Cardinals suffered their second indignity in as many games. Last week, it was a 45-17 blowout to the Rams. This week, it was a 40-20 smackdown to the Texans.
Their head coach, Jonathan Gannon, is now 15-33 at the helm. In a crucial season that was supposed to mark the end of a rebuild, he is 3-11. And the defense — his specialty — is reeling at a level with few historical precedents.
It’s hard to remember now, but Campbell’s optimism about a positive end to the season came under different circumstances. The Cardinals had dropped two straight games by three points, including an overtime loss to the Jaguars. In that context, the Cardinals’ blowout losses to the Seahawks and 49ers could be viewed as blips.
Now, the close losses look like a blip.
Since their last win — 41 days ago in Dallas — the Cardinals have been outscored, 217-122.
In four of those six games, they’ve allowed at least 40 points, making them the first team to hold that distinction since the 1981 Baltimore Colts.
History isn’t much kinder to teams that have allowed 217 points in a six-game span. The last team to do that was the Denver Broncos, in a stretch spanning 2022 and 2023. Those Broncos allowed 70 points in a single contest.
It would be somewhat understandable if the Cardinals’ offense was spurring their collapse. Against the Texans, they started just three offensive players who would be entrenched as starters with a fully healthy roster. That group has been decimated by injury.
On defense, the injuries are more typical of December in the NFL. The Cardinals are without linebacker Mack Wilson Sr. and safety Jalen Thompson, plus cornerback Max Melton, who was benched a week before his injury. Plenty of teams are down two and a half starters.
And yet, the results have been abysmal. In his five-minute postgame press conference, Gannon’s longest answer came when asked what went wrong defensively. After all, that group left him with no shortage of content.
“We didn't contest some routes well enough, some zone distribution was off, we let the quarterback get out of the pocket,” Gannon said. “Run game, I thought it was boom or bust. It was either going for 1 or 2 or 10 yards.”
That just about covers it.
Texans coach DeMeco Ryans later said that starting running back Woody Marks could have come back in the game after an early ankle injury. Against the Cardinals, he didn’t need to.
This does not fall at the feet of one player. As edge rusher Zaven Collins said after the game, it’s a different mistake on each play. A missed tackle here, a missed run fit there.
Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Calais Campbell (93) runs during an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams on Dec. 7 in Glendale, Ariz.
That brings us back to Campbell’s interview earlier this month, when he pushed back against the notion that the Cardinals have nothing to play for.
“Yes, you do,” Campbell said. “You're playing for your job. You're playing for a chance to do this again. Because, in this business, people want winners.”
Right now, the Cardinals have precious few winners, from the players on up to the coaching staff.
In another locker room full of hushed tones and quiet frustration, Campbell reiterated his earlier comments, pointing back to the importance of “building culture.” He maintained that the Cardinals are playing hard and that they haven’t quit on the coaching staff. Like Collins, he pointed to issues with technique, not effort.
But ultimately, he landed on this: “It just seems like everything that could go wrong went wrong.”
It was not clear whether he meant in this game or in this season. He may well have meant both.
