The Cardinals fell to 2-1 on Sunday after a 16-15 loss at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers. It was a performance that saw the Cardinals' offense shed its early-season inconsistency and instead turn in a complete 60-minute disaster against San Francisco.

The blame for these offensive shortcomings has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Kyler Murray and offensive coordinator Drew Petzing. Still, the root of the issues runs deeper than any one person. Kyler ranks among the top tier of quarterbacks in both PFF grade and estimated points added (EPA) per play, which might seem crazy, but Kyler is doing what he can to salvage drives that have routinely gotten off to slow starts due to an incredibly inefficient run game.

The Cardinals' run game was their offensive engine in 2024, and despite Petzing trying to downplay the loss of offensive line coach and run game coordinator Klayton Adams to the Dallas Cowboys

It doesn’t seem like a coincidence that outside of center Hjalte Froholdt, the entire starting offensive line has seen their run blocking grades decline substantially. (The worst of which being Isaiah Adams and Paris Johnson Jr., who’ve seen their grades fall by over 15 points each.)

James Conner did all he could with the blocking in front of him, but his season-ending ankle injury means this is Trey Benson’s backfield now, and while he’s shown the ability to hit home runs on the ground, he doesn’t have Conner’s down-to-down consistency. Benson is going to need a compliment, and for now, it appears to be Emari Demercado, but he isn’t a big enough threat on early downs.

Unless Arizona plans on going shopping for a new complement to Benson, their best shot to simply survive on the ground is more carries for Kyler. Only nine of his 20 carries this season are designed runs, and his largest carry load so far is seven. While the injury risk is real, adding between four and six designed runs a game for Murray would only help open things up for an offense desperately hunting some explosive plays.

The passing game might be more ineffective than the run game, but for entirely different reasons. For all the run blocking issues discussed earlier, the offensive line has held up incredibly well in pass protection, grading out as a top-five unit.

With such great pass protection, ranking 28th in passing yards per game, and generating explosive pass plays at a measly 5.4% rate (also 28th) is a grand indictment of both the offensive weaponry and the offense's overall design. The Cardinals' usage of two and sometimes three tight ends on the field at once naturally limits the amount of deep concepts they can effectively run, but those formations are almost better for the offense, given how badly the receivers have played. The Marvin Harrison Jr. conversation has been and will continue to be the focal point of talks regarding the offensive struggles, and he has to play much better, but what’s up with Michael Wilson? By no means is he some secret weapon, but he was a reliable second receiver before this season, so a 9% target share through three games feels jarring.

NFL defenses have shifted to heavy zone coverage with two high safeties in recent years, limiting the ability to generate explosive plays, and that seems to be Kyler’s answer as to why the Cardinals can’t get downfield in a hurry, and while that would provide a reasonable explanation, it’s interesting to note that the Cardinals' first three opponents this season heavily base their defenses out of cover 3, which deploys a single high safety.

The lack of early down success running the ball, coupled with a passing game that feels incapable of throwing downfield makes this offense something worth panicking about, especially with their next test being the Seattle Seahawks second ranked scoring defense on a short week. Seattle mixes up their defensive structure and runs two high safety looks at a high rate, while still limiting opposing rushing attacks to 3.2 yards per carry, so things will likely get worse for the offense before they get any better.