Rams are the ‘Super Bowl’ for hot seat Gannon’s Cardinals

The last time the Los Angeles Rams faced a team in desperate need of a signature win, they lost. It happened three days ago. Not only were the Carolina Panthers flirting with their first playoff appearance since 2017 going into last week’s 31-28 win over the Rams, but also Bryce Young had never beaten a team as good as L.A. in his life. Young is teetering on the brink of a career on the bench, so I don’t care if he’s played in a national championship game because now he’s in the NFL and Week 13 was the biggest game of his life.

Needing it that badly, Young had two of the best throws ever, fourth down touchdown passes in the second half to Jalen Coker and Tetairoa McMillan, that propelled the Panthers to a win over the Rams and a shot to unseat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as NFC South champions.

So even if the Arizona Cardinals are 3-9 heading into their Week 14 matchup against the 9-3 Rams, just remember that this game is just as big for Jonathan Gannon and Jacoby Brissett as the last one was for Young and Dave Canales. Can the L.A. Rams avoid giving up two career-saving wins for their opponents in a row?

Gannon’s on the hot seat

In his third season as Arizona’s head coach, Gannon had momentum after going 8-9 last season and improving the Cardinals record by 5 wins from 2023. He had at least done better than Steve Wilks.

But in what ways are the Cardinals better this season than last season?

• They’re giving up more points

• They’re scoring fewer points

• They’ve regressed from a great running team to a bad running team

After starting the season 2-0, the Cardinals have now lost 9 of the last 10! Gannon’s specialty, defense, is proving to be average-at-best. There are better defensive coordinators who have been hired as head coaches and accomplished far more with similar levels of talent.

If the Cardinals beat the Rams this week, Gannon’s going to be able to tell ownership “Look, we’re not that bad!” This IS his Super Bowl.

If the Cardinals lose this week, ownership’s going to tell Gannon, “That team just lost to Bryce Young. Why couldn’t YOU do it?” And Arizona is at home.

So far in Gannon’s career, he is 1-3 against the Rams with two blowout losses (26-9 and 37-14) and one blowout win (41-10). In Week 2 last season, the Cards sacked Stafford five times, held the Rams to 53 rushing yards, and put up a season-best 489 total yards and 231 yards on the ground.

But this time they don’t have James Conner and they don’t have Kyler Murray. Gannon needs this win and he needs it with players he called “backups” at the start of the season.

It’s an audition.

Brissett is only 33 years old so in his mind he should be able to start in the league for the next five years if he can play at a high level and compete against the likes of Stafford and the Rams.

In 7 starts, Brissett has thrown for 2 TD six times and thrown for 300 yards four times.

Since Week 6, Brissett leads the NFL in passing yards and is 5th in passing touchdowns and he doesn’t turn it over very often. With the help of the NFL’s top tight end, Trey McBride, and two good receivers in Michael Wilson and Marvin Harrison Jr., Brissett has the weapons to keep Arizona in a game like this one.

With 5 games to go, Jacoby Brissett can lock in a spot as the Cardinals starting QB in Week 1 of 2026 if he continues to play like this. This is Brissett’s Super Bowl too.

Can Rams be ‘trapped’ after loss?

In a way, losing to the Panthers might be a blessing in terms of how the Rams will play against the Cardinals. If that loss was a slap in the face for Sean McVay and Chris Shula, it’s Gannon who gets the residual leftover slap in Week 14.

The Rams go from potentially being trapped to the feeling of the slap. The stakes are monumental for the Arizona Cardinals, but now they’ve also been raised for the Rams.