For the second time in three years, the Arizona Cardinals have been willing to admit after the start of preseason and before the start of the regular season that they screwed up in making Matt Leinart the team’s starting quarterback. The fact that the Cardinals have once again come to the conclusion that the southpaw from SC can’t get it done, however, makes the team’s failure to develop an acceptable backup Plan B for 2010 even more unacceptable.
Donovan McNabb, who lives in Arizona during the offseason, was available. Marc Bulger ultimately was available. The Cardinals declined to make a play for either guy, or to otherwise do anything other than settle for Derek Anderson, whom the Browns finally put out of his -- and their -- misery in March.
So once the perpetually parsimonious Cardinals had plunked down guaranteed money for Anderson, they apparently didn’t want to eat that cash when better options came along. In that regard, kudos to the St. Louis Rams, who have done few things right recently, for holding on to Bulger until after the Cards had committed to Anderson. The Rams get extra consideration for cramming the toothpaste back into the tube once reports emerged in the middle of February that Bulger wouldn’t be back.
In hindsight, the Cardinals should have waited for McNabb or Bulger. Or maybe coach Ken Whisenhunt, who clearly doesn’t like the guy drafted by Whisenhunt’s predecessor, should have drafted Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy.
Regardless, the Cardinals will now proceed with a substandard solution at the most important position on the field. And the rest of the league can now exhale as to the question of whether the perennially hapless redbirds had finally figured out how to be competitive on an annual basis.
