Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt admitted the obvious Monday: His quarterbacks have played poorly this season, and the team isn't good enough elsewhere to compensate.
Asked what he had learned this season about handing that position, Whisenhunt smiled wryly and offered gallows humor: "I've learned that . . . if they play well it looks like a good plan. If they don't play well, it doesn't look like such a good plan. It really comes down to production at this position."
The minute Kurt Warner announced his retirement in the off-season, the Cardinals' "plan" for the position became to break glass and pull the alarm. Whisenhunt had never felt comfortable with the prospect of Matt Leinart as the starter, so another veteran was needed.
An effort to trade for Chargers backup Charlie Whitehurst failed, so the club signed Derek Anderson to a two-year contract worth $7.25 million, including a $2.5 million signing bonus.
There was interest in Marc Bulger, but the Rams didn't release him until April, and the Cardinals couldn't afford to wait that long if they wanted to sign a veteran. Even then, the team had interest in Bulger, but ownership balked at paying for three veterans: Leinart, Anderson and Bulger.
By demoting and then releasing Leinart, Whisenhunt gambled that he could turn Anderson into something he had never been: an accurate passer. Whisenhunt lost that wager.
Whisenhunt also knew he was taking a chance by having two rookies, Max Hall and John Skelton, as backups in the event Anderson was hurt or played poorly.
Now the Cardinals are lost in dark waters with no competent quarterback to guide them to safety.
On Monday, Whisenhunt noted that the Cardinals have company in their misery.
"There are a number of teams out there that are struggling at that position," he said. "(Miami) has been looking to try to find that quarterback since Dan Marino retired. Let's go to another one . . . Denver and John Elway and the different quarterbacks they've gone through.
"So it's not something that's easy to do. But you do the best, as far as planning, with what's available to you and try to move forward from that point. You also try to develop young guys."
With Hall done for the season because of a shoulder injury, Skelton is the only young quarterback available to the Cardinals. But entering Sunday's game, Skelton had taken only eight practice snaps with the starting unit, and that came Friday when Hall was out sick.
If Anderson is cleared after suffering concussion symptoms last week, Whisenhunt faces a dilemma: Does he go with Skelton, who he doesn't think is ready to start, or stick with Anderson, knowing the result likely will be another disappointment? It's doubtful he would use Richard Bartel, signed Tuesday. Bartel has never taken a snap in a regular-season NFL game.
"The bottom line is that position has not performed for us at anywhere near the level we needed it to perform," Whisenhunt said. "We haven't been able to compensate well enough in other areas to allow that.
"So what have I learned? I've learned it's tough when you lose a quarterback like Kurt and to have somebody come in and play at the level you are used to."
So does Whisenhunt regret choosing Anderson over Leinart?
"That, I guess, is the thing to talk about now," Whisenhunt said. "Obviously, it's easy to second-guess now because it hasn't worked out the way any of us had hoped or had thought it was going to. But I can't go back and say now that you would do anything differently because the dynamic's different now."
Coach's corner
"I don't think our line has been great, but I think it has been good. It's hard to sit here and say any part of our team is good when we're at the record we're at, but if you're asking me to evaluate our line play, it's been good enough. I can't even say that, because we haven't won. But it hasn't been the reason that we have struggled."
- Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt, asked to evaluate the play of the offensive line this season.
Stat pack
3 for 22 - That's how many third-downs the Cardinals have converted in their past two games, a rate of 13.6 percent.
7 - The Cardinals' longest losing streak under Ken Whisenhunt. They lost eight consecutive games in 2006, the year before he arrived.
11 - The longest single-game streak in team history. That was set in 1943.
8 - Number of quarters since the Cardinals scored a touchdown.
0 - Number of victories the Cardinals have over the Broncos, Sunday's opponent. They are 0-7-1 against Denver. The Broncos are the only team the Cardinals have never defeated.
