NFL Power Rankings Week 16: Seahawks Bury Rams on TNF

23. Arizona Cardinals (5-8-1)

It’s all over for the Arizona Cardinals’ 2016 season following a horrific defensive showing that led to a loss to the New Orleans Saints. Drew Brees and company scored 48 points on the Cards and while Arizona did its best to keep up, it simply wasn’t enough. Arizona actually tied the Saints with under nine minutes left to play following a David Johnson touchdown run, but the Saints would go on to score two straight touchdowns to give them a two-score lead that the Cardinals were unable to overcome.

By the way, Johnson totaled over 100 yards from scrimmage and became the first player in NFL history to break the century mark for total yards in each of his first 14 games to start a season.

Now that the Cardinals have been officially eliminated, this team has a ton of questions to answer during the offseason. Will Carson Palmer and Larry Fitzgerald return, or is this team looking at a full rebuild on offense with no quarterback and no No. 1 receiver? Head coach Bruce Arians will surely be returning next season and improvements need to be made on both sides of the ball. How many improvements will be dependent upon what the aforementioned veterans do. Two NFC West opponents remain on the Cardinals schedule, as Arizona will hit the road to take on the Seattle Seahawks in Week 16 and the Los Angeles Rams in Week 17.