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AP: 068a2703-f348-45ad-a442-0533d1a28db9
Green Bay Packers' Randall Cobb spins next to Arizona Cardinals' Adrian Wilson on his way into the end zone for a touchdown in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Nov. 4, 2012, in Green Bay, Wis. The Packers won 31-17. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)
My cousin calls Lambeau Field "Valhalla", and it was great to finally see the place in person.

Home of the Green Bay Packers and the Arizona Cardinals' latest loss, is a hell of a place. The stadium is located in a residential neighborhood, and there is no upper deck -- only a giant lower bowl. The entire city basically shuts down on game day, and even the local McDonald's is painted with a green and gold color scheme.

It leads to a college-like atmosphere, with fans as knowledgeable as they are passionate. They really love their Packers in a way many of us would not be able to understand.

It's a great environment to watch a football game, though I imagine my experience would have been different if I was wearing Vikings or Bears colors. If anything, it seemed like the crowd felt bad for me more than anything.

Seriously, the worst heckling I got was "Arizona? What are you doing here?

I responded by saying "Freezing my ass off."

If posed with a similar question, the Cardinals could have easily responded with the same answer as the last few weeks.

"Ruining our season, one play at a time."

It truly was a team effort Sunday.

Whether it was due to poor play calling, dropped passes, lousy special teams play or defensive lapses, the Cardinals once again ended up on the wrong side of the scoreboard.

Bad teams find ways to lose games, and right now the Cardinals are a really bad team.

It was fifth straight loss, and the only saving grace is that number six is at least two weeks away when they pay a visit to the undefeated Atlanta Falcons.

It will be loss number six, which will likely be followed by numbers seven, eight, nine and 10. It is simply tough to see this team turning things around.

Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt, ever the optimist (outwardly), refuses to give in and say his team is more the squad that's lost the last five games than the one that won its first four games.

"We still believe we can win football games on the back end of this season and be a good football team and that's what your focus is," the coach said. "We're not just making change to make change. If we make a change we're looking to make our team better."

Maybe he's right. Just five weeks ago the discussion was about just how far the Cardinals could go, as their elite defense was enough to carry a pedestrian offense to wins on a weekly basis. The team's arrow was clearly pointing upward, and there was little question that these were not the "Same Old Cardinals".

It's getting increasingly more difficult to buy into that line of thinking these days.

Sure, a change at left tackle may help, and it's possible the emergence of the Michael Floyd will impact the offense in a greater way than we can speculate.

And with Beanie Wells set to return soon, perhaps the offense will finally have the balance it so desperately seeks.

Possible? Yes. Likely? Nope.

Call it pessimism born from a five-game skid or just an admission of reality, but things are not looking good for the team this season. No changes of any real significance will be made over the next two months.

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a place where heroes slain in battle are received so they can wait before being deployed into battle once again. It's a place of honor, glory, happiness.

The Packers have their stadium. The Cardinals, if they're lucky, will have next season.

11 Comments   |   Join the conversation »
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    CardsFan_ wrote...
    Just no changes to make
    Very few teams can survive the injuries the Cards have had. Both starting OTs, top 2 starting RBs (and even LSH for a time), one starting CB, and the QB that helped win them their first four games? Just difficult to overcome that to win without a star QB, and Skelton is obviously far from that. Our only hope is that Potter can play a little better than Batiste, that Massie starts to develop with experience, and that Kolb and Wells coming back can provide a spark - otherwise, we're done for this season.
  • Abuse
    winitall24 wrote...
    Balance
    Yes, Beanie Wells and a stable line will bring balance, but you must also remember that it will give the defense a chance to catch its breath. The defense has been on the field for far too long. We can't expect them to not break after bending for so long. When the offense is able to sustain drives our defense is better (with the exception of the Crabtree TD). When a team is struggling they have to find positives and when one win is achieved it creates momentum, which can cultivate confidence. This is what we need.
  • Abuse
    mesa mad man wrote...
    Optimism
    When the Cardinals were 4-0, people were ready to write their ticket to the superbowl. Now that they have gone 0-5, people are declaring them the among the worst. In reality, they fall somewhere in the middle. For every ball that bounced their way to 4-0, the same happened to drop the record back below 500. If Potter holds, Wells returns to form, we could continue to play 500 ball. Dare I say, if Kolb returns in the next few weeks, we could find a wildcard bid somewhere. Anything can still happen
  • Abuse
    Tennisgrandpa wrote...
    @Adam
    Duct tape your butt to the bandwagon, this season ain't over. Don't be a typical AZ fan
    Dale
  • Abuse
    theAdamGreen wrote...
    @Tennisgrandpa
    Can't afford to jump on a bandwagon, need to call it like I see it. And a five-game losing streak does not exactly say "about to turn things around".
  • Abuse
    AZ Hope wrote...
    bla, bla, bla
    "We have done some good things but we need to get better." Thats sounds like a broken record. "We need to improve." No kidding. Do something about it. Show some emotion like it matters to you. I know its your personality but you look like a stone faced statue on the side lines. Your team sucks right now and I think its all on YOU. Major let down.
  • Abuse
    FitzIsMyHero wrote...
    trade fitz for alot of draft picks
    Can't sign a big name free agent Tackle(s) with the room Fitz's salary is taking. If their gna build the line thru the draft they should get as much draft picks as possible from a Fitz trade to increase their chances of hitting gold. Floyd and Roberts are our future. What good is it to have a pro bowl WR with no OLine and no QB and RB production bcuz of the O Line? Hurry up and do it before he loses value because of age. It's nice to have him but he's no good here unless we have a Hall of Fame QB and 2 other Pro Bowl Recievers.
  • Abuse
    FitzIsMyHero wrote...
    trade fitz 2
    He's worth a 1st and 2nd rd draft pick at the minimum. The Cards could use their own 1st rd pick and other 1st rd pick to draft 2 O Linemen and their 2 rd picks to draft a WR and another O Linemen or a RB. Fitz is up there in age and could start declining any year now. Mightest get what they can for him while they can. I'm sure Fitz would agree to restructure his contract for AZ to get what they want and for him to get what team he wants from a trade. It's time to think about what's best for the team. It's gna take more than one 1st & 2nd rd draft picks to fix this line.
  • Abuse
    chardman wrote...
    Go Cards
    It isnt over, still half a season,could do just enough winning to sneak in as a wildcard, still hope...
  • Abuse
    mesa mad man wrote...
    @theAdamGreen
    and a 4 game winning streak said playoff contender - until it didnt
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