There have been quite a few bottle jobs this season in the NFL. But no one has yet thrown the game away like the Arizona Cardinals did in what resulted in a 21-22 loss to the Tennessee Titans. What made the loss even uglier was Arizona head coach Jonathan Gannon losing his cool and punching his own running back Emari Demercado on the sideline. Naturally, the Cardinals were not going to let that slide.

According to reporter Adam Schefter of ESPN, Gannon is going to get hit with a 6-figure fine. “Cardinals are fining HC Jonathan Gannon $100,000 for his sideline altercation with RB Emari Demercado, who dropped the football before crossing the goal line Sunday on what would’ve been a 72-yard touchdown run. There will be no further discipline for Gannon,” he wrote on X.

The incident went down early in the fourth quarter.

Demercado broke loose and sprinted 72 yards downfield, untouched, seemingly about to give his team a 27-6 lead. Then came the disaster.

Just before stepping into the end zone, he let go of the football before what would’ve been a touchdown that would’ve given the Cardinals a 27-6 lead. You could argue that would’ve ended the game right there. Instead, everything unraveled from there. The Titans possessed all the momentum, scored 16 points to the Cardinals’ zero, and won it on a last-second field goal. It was just the latest meltdown for the Cardinals, who’ve now managed to lose three straight games in the same fashion.

Following the play, Demercado was on the sideline exchanging words with left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. and guard Will Hernandez. Johnson later said he was trying to cheer him up, telling him to “wipe it off” and get on with it. That’s when Gannon came in. After yelling at Demercado’s face, Gannon punched near his right shoulder pad as he stormed away.

Now, we’ve seen fiery coach-player moments before. Even Andy Reid and Travis Kelce were practically nose-to-nose earlier this season. But a head coach punching his player out of frustration? That’s a different level. To his credit, Gannon owned up to it the next morning.

“I woke up this morning and didn’t feel great about it, honestly, so in the team meeting I addressed it,” Gannon said. “I apologized to Emari, I apologized to the team, and I just told them I kind of let the moment of what happened get the better of me there.” Now, punching your own guy is never going to look good, but you could tell why frustration was boiling over. And it won’t get any easier.

Jonathan Gannon faces a difficult road ahead

Sunday’s game was basically a highlight reel of self-destruction: a fumble off Kyler Murray’s facemask in the red zone, an interception that turned into a Tennessee touchdown after the ball got kicked loose in the end zone… it was chaos. The Titans pulled their first win of the season. As for Jonathan Gannon and the Cardinals, the road ahead is only going to become harder.

The season started off looking like a redemption arc for Arizona after an 8-9 finish last year: two straight wins against the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers, and it felt like maybe, just maybe, the Cardinals had figured something out. But that optimism didn’t last long. Three straight losses later (all by field goals), it all fell apart.

And it won’t get any easier next week. Because next up? The Indianapolis Colts. Quarterback Daniel Jones, whose 1,290 passing yards have him at 3rd in the league, has led them to 163 total points (2nd behind the Detroit Lions). They are, as things stand, legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

Defensively, the Cardinals are still holding up their end of the bargain. They’re allowing just 19.2 points per game, which ranks fourth in the league. But there’s a clear split personality issue with this team. The offense? Not so much. They’re averaging 20.6 points per game, which puts them all the way down at 23rd.

Gannon and Murray have to figure things out fast.