Bordow: Despite setbacks, Cards players believe in team’s progress, future

NEW ORLEANS - The Cardinals will miss the playoffs again this season.

(OK, they’re not mathematically eliminated. But I have a better chance of giving birth to a child).

They’ll finish with a nonwinning record for the 19th time in 20 years.

They’ll lament plays that didn’t work, games that got away and a season that could have been.

That’s progress?

You bet.

That might be a hard sell after Arizona’s 31-24 loss to the New Orleans Saints Sunday.

The best the Cardinals can do is finish 8-8, and given they were once 5-5 with four of their final six games at home, that’s a bit of a letdown.

“It’s a big disappointment,” defensive end Antonio Smith said. “When you get in your mind you can make it, and it gets taken away … I’m probably as low as I’ve been this year and probably as low as I’m going to get.”

Losing twice to San Francisco will do that to guy.

Still, when you look at where the Cardinals were last year at this time under Dennis Green, and where they are now under Ken Whisenhunt, the likely three-game swing — from 5-11 to 8-8 — opens the door to a brighter future.

(A disclaimer: If the Cardinals lose their final two home games against Atlanta and St. Louis to finish 6-10, I reserve the right to change my mind and pull the rip cord).

“I think you’d have to be blind not to see the kind of team we are now,” guard Reggie Wells said.

You’d also have to be blind not to notice the Cardinals still have issues.

Most notably, their football IQ reads like a blood-alcohol level. Whisenhunt constantly has preached a sermon of smart, disciplined football, yet Arizona led the league in penalties heading into Sunday’s game and had 10 more for 78 yards against the Saints.

Included in those 10 penalties were back-to-back offside calls on a Saints’ extra-point attempt.

When’s the last time you saw that?

“If we can just eliminate the penalties, we will have a chance,” Whisenhunt said.

The Cardinals also need to figure out how to beat good teams on the road. They finished 2-6 away from University of Phoenix Stadium, the same record they’ve had the past two seasons.

“That’s what’s missing, winning games on the road,” quarterback Kurt Warner said. “Everything else has changed, but we haven’t done that.”

In some ways, an 8-8 record — assuming, again, the Cardinals take care of business the final two games — would be a remarkable accomplishment.

Think about the plagues that have struck Arizona.

It lost both its starting defensive ends, Chike Okeafor and Bertrand Berry. Quarterback Matt Leinart played in only five games. Cornerback Eric Green will miss the final five contests, free safety Adrian Wilson the last seven.

The defense has been held together by bailing wire and imagination, yet the Cardinals were still playing meaningful football games in December.

“I really believe that we are on the right track,” Whisenhunt said.

More importantly, his players believe it.

“Coach is doing some good things around here,” wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. “I’m on board.”

“I think we’ve done a lot of great things this year,” Warner added. “… Just from the fact guys believe we can win when we step on the field. I’m not sure it was so much that way the last couple of years.”

The offseason won’t be without its headaches. The Cardinals need to re-sign linebacker Karlos Dansby. Both Boldin and Wilson may want to renegotiate their deals. Able bodies will have to be found for the defensive line.

But if Arizona can keep its core group together, draft well and give the ball to a more mature and prepared Leinart, it may finally crack that glass ceiling.

(And yes, Leinart should be the starting quarterback come 2008. For all the good Warner has done this season, he’ll be 37 when training camp rolls around. It has to be Leinart’s time).

For now, though, there is disappointment and anger.

Another season has come and gone, its promise vanquished.

“We’re closer than I’ve ever been in my career here,” defensive end Darnell Dockett said. “That doesn’t make it easier.”