The 2014 season was the Arizona Cardinals' 95th in the National Football League (NFL), their 27th in Arizona and their second under head coach Bruce Arians. Following an explosive 9âÂÂ1 start to the regular season, they finished at 11âÂÂ5, achieving their highest win total since 1975 when they were still in St. Louis (also their highest total in a 16-game season). The Cardinals clinched their first playoff berth since 2009, and had a chance to become the first team to play the Super Bowl on their own home field, University of Phoenix Stadium. However, after season-ending injuries to Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton, they were forced to start third-string quarterback Ryan Lindley in the wild-card round, losing to the Carolina Panthers, 27âÂÂ16, which was the first time since 1982 when they were in St. Louis that the Cardinals went one-and-done.
The win ended the Cardinals' eight-game losing streak against the Redskins, beating them for the first time since the 2000 season, when both teams were members of the NFC East.
Carson Palmer would suffer a season-ending injury on his left-knee. Drew Stanton would take over as quarterback for the rest of the game. Thanks to the efforts of the defense during the fourth quarter, the Cardinals rallied to beat the Rams 31-14.
This would snap the 49ers' 4-game losing streak in Levi's Stadium. With the loss, the Cardinals finished their season to 11-5.
The Cardinals' offensive performance was historically bad as the team lost to the 7-8-1 Panthers, by a final score of 27-16, and were eliminated from the postseason. They committed three turnovers (two of them being red zone interceptions), gained only 8 first downs (and only 2 first downs in the second half) and recorded 78 net yards of offense, the fewest yards gained in a playoff game by any team in NFL postseason history. After a 9-1 start, the Cardinals went 2-5 in their final seven games. Because both QB Carson Palmer and QB Drew Stanton went down with injuries during regular Season Games. Cardinals were forced to use 3rd string QB Ryan Lindley for the last 2 regular season Games and Lindley had to start for the Cardinals in the Wild Card game at Carolina.