The Arizona Cardinals bowed out in a blowout loss in the NFC Championship Game to the Carolina Panthers.
Coach Bruce Arians noted that merely being the second-best team in the NFL in the regular season means bupkis if you aren't playing in the Super Bowl. He told the Arizona Republic's Bob McManaman, over a drink at the Phoenix Open this week that he's glad Cardinals fans aren't satisfied with merely a good season.
"It's nice that our fans are pissed," he said. "When I first got here, if I would have said 'Super Bowl or bust,' everyone would have been like, 'Yeah, all right.' Now they're pissed. But I like them that way."
The coach is also pissed.
"Yeah, it doesn't go away," Arians said. "You go back, though, and you really appreciate the journey. The way our young guys played, the way our veterans played, it was a good football team and it broke a lot of records. But the final prize was right there, so that's what makes it frustrating."
Interestingly, despite being categorically dismantled by the Panthers, 49-15, Arians believes if a couple of plays that were "that close" had gone differently early -- Patrick Peterson's fumble, J.J. Nelson's miss on a deep post -- the outcome would have swung in their favor.
Alas, ifs and buts are for those not hoisting trophies.
