Coach Bruce Arians and his staff won’t need to conduct a full autopsy of the 2016 season to pinpoint what caused the Cardinals' first losing season in four years.
They will concentrate on just a portion of it: a 2-5-1 record in games decided by one score.
In the previous two years, the Cardinals were 10-2 in those games. Counting his 12-game stint as the Colts’ interim coach in 2012, Arians was 23-5 in one-score games.
Until this season.
The Cardinals lost close games early, in the season opener at home against the Patriots, and late, in mid-December against the Saints.