TEMPE, Ariz.-A shaky win over Minnesota clinched a playoff berth for the Arizona Cardinals. Now, they're looking to fly much higher.
"Somebody texted me, 'Hey, you punched your ticket,'" coach Bruce Arians said Friday. "I said, 'Yeah, we're trying to upgrade to first class.'"
At 11-2 and winner of seven straight, Arizona has its eye on the No. 2 seed in the NFC and the first-round playoff bye that goes with it.
The Cardinals are 3 games up on second-place Seattle in the NFC West and 2 ahead of their closest competitor for that No. 2 seed, the Green Bay Packers. The Carolina Panthers (12-0) are undefeated and hold the top spot.
A Seattle loss and an Arizona victory in its next game, at Philadelphia on Dec. 20, would clinch the NFC West for the Cardinals.
The players have four days off after the 23-20 win over the visiting Vikings and won't regroup for practice until Tuesday. The extra time off is a benefit of playing Thursday.
Arians said the Cardinals were "very fortunate in winning the ballgame with the way we played, especially in the fourth quarter."
Minnesota, led by Teddy Bridgewater's career-best passing performance, rallied from a 20-10 fourth-quarter deficit to tie it. After John Catanzaro 's 47-yard field goal gave Arizona the lead, Bridgewater directed a drive to the Arizona 31-yard line.
Trying to get closer to make the game-tying field goal, Bridgewater went back to pass and was stripped of the ball by Dwight Freeney. Calais Campbell recovered for Arizona and the Cardinals ran out the final five seconds.
Arians said his team focused too much on stopping Adrian Peterson, leaving Bridgewater to throw for big gains.
There has been much discussion of how Arizona Michael Floyd and Larry Fitzgerald came to be side by side on the pass play that wound up going 42 yards for a touchdown. Floyd caught the pass and Fitzgerald threw a crunching block that freed his teammate to race down the sideline.
Arians said Floyd switched positions because John Brown was out with a minor injury and ran the wrong route.
Short-yardage failures continued to bedevil the Cardinals. They failed on a crucial third-and-1 and had first and goal at the 2 and couldn't get in the end zone.
"The goal line situation, we didn't block it correctly," Arians said.
In addition to his fumble recovery, Campbell had a sack, three tackles for loss and four quarterback hurries. The big lineman had been the target of criticism by Arians in recent weeks.
Playoff Scenarios
CAROLINA (vs. Atlanta, Sunday)
Has clinched NFC South. Clinches a first-round bye with:
Win or tie or
Minnesota loss or tie and Green Bay loss or tie
ARIZONA
Has clinched a playoff spot. Clinches NFC West with:
Seattle loss or tie
AFC
CINCINNATI (vs. Cleveland, Sunday)
Clinches AFC North with:
Win or tie
Clinches a playoff spot with:
New York Jets loss or Kansas City loss
NEW ENGLAND (at Houston, Sunday)
Clinches AFC East with:
Win or New York Jets loss or tie
Win and clinches at least a tie in strength of victory tiebreaker
(Note: New England clinches at least a tie in strength of victory tiebreaker if two of the following occur: Buffalo win, Pittsburgh win, Miami loss, Cleveland loss)
Clinches a playoff spot with:
Win or
Pittsburgh loss or
New York Jets loss or
Tie and Kansas City loss or
Tie and Pittsburgh tie or
Tie and New York Jets tie
DENVER (vs. Oakland, Sunday)
Clinches AFC West with:
Win and Kansas City loss or tie or
Tie and Kansas City loss
Clinches a playoff spot with:
Win and New York Jets loss or tie or
Win and Pittsburgh loss or tie or
Tie and New York Jets loss or
Tie and Pittsburgh loss