The 2025 NFL season sure has its share of surprises, and today handed us yet another one as the Arizona Cardinals fell to the Tennessee Titans 21-22 in a tight game. Missed chances, bad play calls, and a visibly frustrated Kyler Murray at the center of it all. And the Cardinals quarterback made his feelings clear about head coach Jonathan Gannon post-game.

When asked about the choice to run the ball three straight times in crunch time, Murray tried to play diplomat for about half a second: “Trust the play call,” he said. But his body language told us a different story.

Well, when your team blows a 21–6 lead in that fashion, it’s hard to put on a happy face. But Murray genuinely seemed like a broken man in the presser. Murray finished 23-for-31 for 220 yards in the game and ended with a 93.5 rating despite not throwing a single touchdown. But, well, play calling and a bunch of miscues had Murray reach for an Advil after the game ended.

But amidst the mistakes and the miscues, it was the mentality that frustrated Murray the most. In the fourth quarter, after Tennessee’s out-of-the-blue late touchdown trimmed the lead, Arizona’s answer was a series of runs and short attempts that chewed no clock and produced no first downs. The possession that began with their own 35 (around the 3:00 mark) ended three plays later in a punt.

When you’ve got a QB capable of throwing the ball like that, why wouldn’t you capitalise on it? Making the decision to run three straight times when you could’ve very much aired it out on your own is a rather questionable call. And while Murray says “trust the play calls,” he was probably fuming when he didn’t get to use his arm to finish the game off.

And while Gannon got it completely wrong in the second half, this was just as much on the players. And Murray made his frustration known.

Kyler Murray calls out the locker room

Yes, after emphasizing his trust in the playcalls, the nonchalant persona started to wear off a bit. “Really don’t know what to think about that,” he said. “I don’t even know. I really don’t even know. That’s how to lose a game 101. I don’t know. That was crazy,” he added.

His postgame presser dragged on for over 30 minutes, and he could barely string thoughts together. But when asked to rank his worst losses of the career? He was quick to call this one out. And it’s understandable. Today was basically a flurry of self-inflicted wounds.

First, there was that Demercado play. A 72-yard run that would have made it 28-6 turned into a touchback because the ball was lost before the goal line. Then came the Dadrion Taylor-Demerson‘s failed interception that somehow morphed into a Titans touchdown because Arizona couldn’t secure the ball on the ground. That’s how quickly the momentum shifted.

Then came the snap-to-face fumble. And Kyler Murray’s temporary exit pretty much killed any rhythm (if there was any) and forced the offense to rebuild. And we all know how that ended. With a punt instead of a play to win. This would be anyone’s worst loss of their career.

Oh, and with this loss, Arizona drops to 2–3, and they now hold one of the most bizarre stats in football: three straight losses via walk-off field goal. This is more than bad luck. This is a team that can’t close. And until Gannon and Murray find some common ground between aggression and control, the Cardinals are going to keep learning this same lesson the hard way.