TEMPE — Road games in Green Bay come with questions: Do I take home a chunk of grass? Do I dare Lambeau leap into the crowd if I score a touchdown? How will I commemorate my first trip to the most hallowed football stadium in the NFL? Will I make history or just feel history?
For Kyler Murray, it’s even bigger than that.
If Murray beats the Packers Sunday in Green Bay, he will deliver a powerful response to the two-game losing streak that followed his epic performance against the Rams. It will atone for that demoralizing home shellacking from the Commanders and Kliff Kingsbury’s latest rookie quarterback, a defeat that triggered fears of impending doom and serious regression in the second year under Jonathan Gannon.
Now, hope floats again. The Cardinals responded admirably and forcefully to the new regime’s first real taste of adversity. And after his role in the Week 5 triumph, Murray is again performing like a top 10 quarterback.
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It’s time to narrow that list even more.
“We’ve got to go back to work and do the same thing this week,” Murray said.
The Cardinals quarterback was judicious with his words during his weekly press conference on Wednesday. He admitted great excitement over his first trip to Green Bay. He stressed the need for “competitive stamina,” the ability to sustain focus and excellence through an 18-week grind. But as a fishbowl quarterback in Year 6 of his NFL career, Murray surely understands the stakes and the power of narrative.
Murray has flirted with real MVP candidacy before. His last authentic bid ended with that home loss to Green Bay, when A.J. Green didn’t turn around in the end zone. The Cardinals were 7-0 at that point and the rage of the NFL. They’ve mostly been a disaster ever since.
Murray has also compiled a scrapbook full of jaw-dropping football feats. The Hail Mary against Buffalo. That insane two-point conversation against the Raiders in Las Vegas. His wrecking-ball domination of the Dolphins in 2020. But in 2024, we’ve had two very different moments connected by a singular theme:
In Week 2, Murray turned and put a finger in the air immediately after heaving a pass toward the end zone, celebrating before the football landed in the arms of Elijah Higgins. And he put the same finger in the air at the 44-yard line at Levi’s Stadium on Sunday, when he had broken containment and knew he would never be touched on his way to the end zone.
Both plays speak to the joy of owning and winning a big moment before the moment arrives. It speaks to winning the battle that is raging between the ears. It is proof that Kyler Murray now understands just how hard the NFL can be for all quarterbacks, regardless of physical stature.
Which means he knows exactly what’s on the line Sunday in Titletown, USA.
Reach Bickley at dbickley@arizonasports.com. Listen to Bickley & Marotta weekdays from 6–10 a.m. on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM.