A ballyhooed prime-time showing between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers came down to the very end.
And for Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray, it concluded in about as disastrous a fashion as possible.
Murray zipped a pass intended for A.J. Green, who never saw it coming, into the end zone and it was intercepted by Green Bay Packers defensive back Rasul Douglas to seal a 24-21 Pack win and the Cardinals' first loss.
Just two plays earlier, Murray came up limping off a 1-yard scramble and then limped away from the loss.
Following the defeat, Murray's pride seemed to be hurting more than anything else and he said what appeared to be a possible injury to his lower left leg was nothing to be concerned about.
"Yeah, I'm good. Guy rolled up on me," said Murray, who was tackled from behind on a scramble by Darnell Savage, whose weight came down on Murray's legs.
As for the final play, on second-and-goal from the Green Bay 5-yard line with 15 seconds to go and the Cardinals trailing by the final score, Murray took a snap from shotgun and fired almost immediately to the far side of the end zone. Green never saw the ball and never turned right, but Douglas read it perfectly and was able to cradle the game-clinching interception.
Murray, who didn't speak until roughly an hour after the game ended, offered little explanation of what went awry, other than communication failed.
"I honestly don't know. Miscommunication… um, I couldn't tell you. But, we just have got to be better," he said.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury offered a bit more clarity that would seem to point to Green running the wrong route, which appeared to be the case considering he'd barely turned to look for the ball (and turned away from it to boot) by the time Douglas had picked it off.
"It wasn't the route we thought we checked, so we have to communicate better in those situations," Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury went on to defend the play call and where it was designed to go.
"We feel like it's a safe throw, if he knew the route to run," the head coach said. "No question. They brought zero. It was the right place to go with the ball. Just didn't communicate, on same level, and the guy made a good play."
Though blaming Murray for the result of the play doesn't seem warranted, he still struggled throughout much of the game, going 22 of 33 for 274 yards, no scores and two interceptions. With wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins missing much of the game with a hamstring injury, Green became Murray's top option, hauling in a team-high five catches on a team-high eight targets for 50 yards.
As aforementioned, Murray didn't talk to the media until plenty of time had passed. Nonetheless, he indicated he still hadn't yet talked to Green, either, which, if nothing more, doesn't bode well for bettering their communication.
"No," Murray said when asked if they'd talked. "I know he's hot -- emotions running high. Obviously, after the fact it's … you know, we both know, we weren't on the same page and it cost us. We will be better because of it."
That's the question now.
The Cardinals had the franchise's first 8-0 start in their sights, but Green failed to see a potential game-winning pass coming and the suddenly 7-1 Cardinals must now move on from a bitter defeat.
Murray is confident he's leading a club that can do just that.
"Yeah, I think with this group of guys, for sure. It's a very mature group. We got a lot of old veterans, a lot of leaders on this team that I don't think will let that happen," Murray said. "I'm confident in us bouncing back and forgetting about this one."
