Facts don’t always align with perception. You can’t see the Great Wall of China from space. Coffee is made from seeds, not beans. And must-win football games don’t exist in September.

So let’s all settle on this:

The Cardinals have never played a more important game in the second week of the NFL season.

If they lose to the Buccaneers on Sunday, they will fall into an ominous statistical category, where only 12 percent of NFL teams make the playoffs after starting with an 0-2 record. They will also drop to 0-2 at home, which could have devastating psychological effects on the team, as well as a region full of bandwagon fans.

Signs of hysteria began moments after the Cardinals suffered a 23-21 loss to the Patriots in Week 1. Some fans instantly blamed the media for overhyping the team, for carelessly raising the excitement level. Others blasted the coaching staff for a number of foolish strategic mistakes, resulting in a conservative approach and a team that was not nearly as sharp as the opponent.

Few were willing to recognize that it’s really hard to win a game in the NFL, especially when conceding five months of preparation time to the best coach in the history of the sport. Or that the collective mood of the Valley shifted preposterously on one inch, the distance head coach Bruce Arians called the difference between a good snap and a bad snap on a game-winning field goal attempt gone awry.

Imagine the narrative if Chandler Catanzaro made that kick. The Cardinals would’ve been hailed for their resolve, resiliency and uncanny ability to conjure up late-game magic at University of Phoenix Stadium.

This phenomenon is not unique to Arizona. NFL teams play only 16 games, and every city overreacts to an unexpected loss, particularly in the first week of the season. But the condition is acute in the Valley, an immature professional sports market full of transplants, negative energy and notorious bandwagon jumpers.

Everything that you feel about this team is tied to context and expectations. The Cardinals entered the season as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. They are full of likable stars, including two of the most popular personalities in the sport (Larry Fitzgerald, Arians). They have never played for higher stakes.

Those that blame the media are proof of our rough edges. If you can’t get hyped about this team, you should quit sports and find a good calculus book.

There is certainly reason for concern. The Cardinals are still searching for a playoff-caliber cornerback opposite Patrick Peterson; Tyrann Mathieu wasn’t enamored with his role against New England; a scout told ESPN’s Mike Sando that Carson Palmer might be on the downhill slide; former Patriots star and current analyst Tedy Bruschi said the Cardinals need to “de-embarrass themselves” in Week 2; and while we all discounted the loose tongue of former player LaMarr Woodley, who ripped into James Bettcher during the offseason, there is growing pressure on the second-year Cardinals defensive coordinator to produce with the talent he’s been gifted.

Finally, we’ve all learned the importance of home-field advantage in the postseason, where the top-seeded team in each conference get fast-lane access to the Super Bowl. The Cardinals ended the last two seasons with road losses in Carolina, and in 2015, a franchise-record 13 victories weren’t enough to gain the top billing. The higher you go, the harder it gets. And it's steepest at the top, where there is very little margin for error.

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This much is also true: As a growing major professional sports market, Valley fans don’t deal well with failure, disappointment and unmet expectations. Many transplants scream the loudest, using the failure of local teams to validate their love for cities and franchises they left behind. Too frequently, our most enjoyable experiences come from the pleasant surprises, from the teams that overachieve.

The 2015 Diamondbacks are a prime example of how dangerous it can be to underperform badly after promising to deliver a playoff-caliber team. A more profound example can be found across the street, where Steve Nash’s Suns were once an elite basketball team, close enough to see their reflection in the NBA championship trophy.

RELATED: Cardinals season starts with red flag

Their failures tore us apart. Internally, they ripped the team apart. The heavy expectations made Mike D’Antoni an emotional wreck. Instead of basking in the glow of a championship contender, we all fixated on their shortcomings. Many of the players involved look back wistfully, realizing they never had a better experience in their careers. They are a cautionary tale for everyone.

“We just needed a better opportunity, a little more luck, perseverance, or whatever it is,” D’Antoni told me in January. “Looking back, I know we were on the right path. But we got scared off because we didn’t reach our goals.”

In the end, those Suns weren’t good enough to get past the Spurs, a team with a winning culture and a great head coach. And that’s really all that happened to the Cardinals on Sunday night.

Yet some in the organization have cringed at the thought of how the Valley will react if the Cardinals lose to the Buccaneers on Sunday, if they join the 12 percent club. Maybe panic will be appropriate.


But a smart sports region learns a few things on the road to adulthood: Losing can actually bond a fan base in shared struggle, and not just empty the bandwagon; staying with a team through hard times makes winning even more enjoyable; a team like the 2016 Cardinals deserves more blind faith than vitriol after a yucky Week 1 loss; and you better savor the good stuff while it lasts.


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