Arizona Cardinals suffer crippling blow to their defense

Dec 10, 2015; Glendale, AZ, USA; Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson (28) is tackled by Arizona Cardinals safety Tyrann Mathieu (32) in the first quarter at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

At 12-2 and winners of eight in row, the Arizona Cardinals will have a say in who wins the NFC. The undefeated Carolina Panthers with MVP candidate Cam Newton are looked at as the favorites. Many have sized up the Cardinals vs Panthers matchup for the better part of the year for the NFC Championship Game.

But now, after a rough start to the season, the Seattle Seahawks have re-asserted themselves as a factor. They are piping hot, winning each of their last five games with Russell Wilson leading the Charge. The rest of the NFC contenders look pretty weak at this to so it looks like a 3-team race now.

The Cardinals, Seahawks and Panthers each have great defenses, quarterbacks and running games. The secondaries of those defenses stand out the most as there isn’t a weakness there among the three teams. That was until Tyrann Mathieu, who may be the best individual player of those secondaries, went out Sunday with a torn ACL.

And Cardinals head coach Bruce Arians announced Monday that he will miss the rest of the season with it. This is crippling for one of the Cardinals to lose an NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate. The “Honey Badger” was doing it all from corner to safety and from coverage to against the run.

Mathieu was a candidate for the Defensive Rookie of the Year before tearing an ACL in December of 2013. He’s not available to the Cardinals in the playoffs where they’ll likely see the Seahawks. We’re going to get a chance to see what that looks like on January 3 in Week 17 of the regular season.