The Arizona Cardinals entered Week 13 tied with the Seattle Seahawks at 6-5 atop the NFC West, although Seattle held a head-to-head tiebreaker to be the leader.
After games in Week 13, the Cardinals lost ground.
They blew a 13-point second-half lead on Sunday, falling 23-22 to the Minnesota Vikings, falling to 6-6.
What made things worse was seeing the Seattle Seahawks rally back from 14-0 and 21-7 deficits to beat the New York Jets 26-21, improving them to 7-5.
The Cardinals are now a full game behind Seattle in the division and have a critical game home against them next week. Win and they eliminate the tiebreaker. Lose and they will be essentially three games behind because of the two-game lead and head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Cardinals can’t afford to lose three in a row after winning four straight.
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