The Arizona Cardinals suffered another loss on Sunday, falling 27-24 in overtime at home to the Jacksonville Jaguars. While there are performance issues that can be pointed to — no running game, six sacks taken, a missed field goal — there were certainly some questionable coaching decisions made by both the Cardinals and the Jags toward the end of the game.
Let's go over them.
Questionable coaching decision No. 1: Not punting on 4th-and-12
The Cardinals were trailing 24-21 and facing a fourth-and-12 just outside the two-minute warning at their own 28. With all three of their timeouts, they could have punted and used their timeouts, hopefully not letting the Jaguars pick up a first down, giving them one more shot at a game-tying or game-winning drive.
They didn't. Instead, going for it on fourth down, Jacoby Brissett was pressured and threw an incomplete pass giving the Jaguars the ball already in field goal range.
Questionable coaching decision No. 2: Not kicking the field goal (Jags)
The Cardinals were not hurt by the previous questionable coaching decision because the Jaguars were stopped on fourth-and-one at the Arizona 19 when Trevor Lawrence's deep pass fell incomplete with 1:38 to go. The decision to go for it made sense in some ways, as picking up a first down would have all but sealed the Cardinals' fate.
However, the play call was weird, and they could have simply kicked a field goal, making it 27-21, forcing the Cardinals to have to go the length of the field and score a touchdown, without the possibility of a game-tying field goal.
Questionable coaching decision No. 3: Not calling timeout after Michael Wilson's catch
The Cardinals had a huge 31-yard pass play to Michael Wilson got them to the 11-yard line. They didn't have any timeouts remaining. Instead of running to the line of scrimmage and spiking the ball to regroup and get a new play in, they took the snap with 10 seconds left and had an incomplete pass before kicking the game-tying field goal.
Questionable coaching decision No. 4: Going for it all on 4th down in OT
The final play of the game raised questions. On fourth-and-four, Brissett went for it all, throwing the ball deep to Xavier Weaver. At the Jags' 42, perhaps the better plan would have been to pick up the first down first. Everyone stood by the call, but it resulted in another loss.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire's Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: 4 questionable coaching decisions at end of Cardinals-Jaguars