It is hard to criticize a team after a win that helped enable them to bring home their second consecutive division championship, but playing down to a 2-11 opponent and barely eeking out a victory will never earn high marks. The Arizona Cardinals did just enough to oust the lowly Lions, and the Eagles did their part by bettering the 49ers, to give the Cardinals the NFC West crown and another playoff berth.

Here are my grades for their performance.

Rushing offense- B

With Tim Hightower still battling a thumb injury, it was Beanie Wells who secured the ball and a heavy workload. He responded with his first career 100-yard game as a pro including a 34-yarder and an 18-yard touchdown run.

While Wells was generally a bright spot, the Cardinals squandered several opportunities to take firm control of the game by failing to convert on many third and short rushing plays. Ken Whisenhunt was trying to give the team an opportunity to gain some confidence with some old school ram it down their throats football, but it turned out to be wishful thinking. The Cardinals have yet to demonstrate that this is one of their strengths, and this game was another illustration of that.

Passing offense- C

I don’t know if this grade is too low because I am so spoiled on the usually highly productive, well-oiled passing attack that Kurt Warner engineers, but it sure looked to me like it was one of Warner’s most out of sync games of the year. Blame it on his hip pointer if you want, but it was surprising to see Warner off target quite a bit. He threw an interception in the red zone which was returned for the Lions first score of the game to make it 17-7, which also proved to be the spark they needed to get back into the game. To be fair, he also made the game-winning TD pass, and led the team to 31 points.

Anquan Boldin led the team with 11 targets, 6 catches for 72 yards and a TD. Larry Fitzgerald had a sweet double-clutch catch in the end zone, and Steve Breaston and several others made solid contributions.

Rushing Defense- D

This team can be such a tease, they can play so dominatingly good, and then so disinterestedly bad. I don’t know that I will ever wrap my head around how the Cardinals can allow Adrian Paterson 19 yards and then let journeyman Maurice Morris run for 126. This makes two games in a row Arizona has been gashed. At times, it seemed like the Cardinals were resting their starters. At others, it was as if they just didn’t care.

Passing Defense- A

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie had two picks, the Cardinals generated two sacks, and Calvin Johnson was held to 35 yards on only 3 catches. Rashad Johnson was not a liability in his first game spelling Matt Ware who is now on IR, and the Cardinals held the Lions to 121 passing yards split between Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton.

Special Teams- B+

This would be an A if it weren’t for Steve Breaston’s rare flub on a punt return. He motioned for the fair catch then misjudged it, which handed the ball back to the Lions only 17 yards from the end zone, up by only a touchdown with 11 minutes to go in the game.

Ben Graham continued his Pro Bowl-caliber punting, averaging over 50 yards per and landing another 3 inside the 20.

The unsung hero of the contest would be kicker Mike Nugent. The former second round pick has never lived up to his lofty draft status, has an uninspiring 78.6% career accuracy rate, and was cut earlier this season for missing field goals with the Buccaneers. He filled in admirably for ailing starter Neil Rackers, hitting his only field goal attempt from 48 yards out, was perfect on PAT’s and performed well on kickoffs.

Coaching- C

Usually I am yelling “Run the ball!”. This game I was yelling “Throw the ball!”. I am all for establishing a strong running game, and it is good to see Wells get more action and surpass the 100-yard plateaux for the first time, but when you are facing the worst-ranked pass defense and have the Cardinals’ weapons, I don’t follow the logic in running the ball straight up the gut into 8-in-the-box on 3rd and short repeatedly. It would be one thing if it was working, but it wasn’t. They kept trying it and kept failing, resulting in punts and loss of many opportunities to dictate firm control of the game.

Also, it is tough to overlook the team’s inability to bring sustained focus for a big game such as this—a chance to wrap up the division and of course fighting for a guaranteed roster spot. Part of the job of the coaching staff is to make sure the team is mentally prepared, and the Cardinals seemed to lack concentration.