Cardinals fans won't like Jonathan Gannon's reaction to playoff elimination

12/23/2024 06:20 PM

Following their 36-30 overtime loss to the Carolina Panthers in Week 16— and the Los Angeles Rams’ win on Sunday— the Arizona Cardinals were officially eliminated from playoff contention. However, while this should’ve seemingly lit a fire under the Cardinals’ second-year head coach Jonathan Gannon, he didn’t appear too upset, per Darren Urban on X.

“Gannon: I understand why people would be disappointed in being out of playoffs, but ‘when you're in our seat, the joy is competition.’ Noted that they were eliminated much earlier last year and still made progress over the last few games of the season.”

While Gannon expressed disappointment in being eliminated from the playoffs, he didn’t appear hurt by it. Maybe that’s just how he worded it, but the fire behind wanting to win seems like a second thought to Gannon in his quote.

One thing to note is that the Cardinals did improve significantly from 2023, nearly doubling their win total on the season with two games remaining.

A team’s ultimate goal going into each season is to win the Super Bowl, even if it’s seen as an unlikely goal. Teams might not believe it fully, but if the league polled all 32 teams before the season, asking if they’d like to win the Super Bowl, each franchise would respond yes.

But with some teams just flat-out more talented than others, Super Bowl aspirations aren’t always the healthiest for each team, especially those trying to rebuild.

So, while Gannon’s comments appeared to lack a deep-rooted will to win games, his comments could be a tactic to keep players invested in improvement rather than disappointment.

Cardinals HC Jonathan Gannon proud of progress in second season missing playoffs 

Gannon’s comments could rub some fans the wrong way, and they have, but progress after a four-win season is clear progress.

Sure, fans want their teams to be in the playoffs each year, but realistically speaking, not every team makes the playoffs each year— aside from the Kansas City Chiefs.

But even before Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs had their cases of playoff-less seasons, too. In the six seasons before hiring Reid, the Chiefs made the playoffs just once, ranking fourth in the AFC West four of those six years.

So, while the Cardinals aren’t impersonating the modern-day Chiefs yet, their head coach was proud to see the improvement from 2023 to 2024, with hopes that year-by-year progress continues into 2025.

The post Cardinals fans won’t like Jonathan Gannon’s reaction to playoff elimination appeared first on ClutchPoints.