Roy Dabner / AP

Cardinals coach Dennis Green looks up at the scoreboard after Bears punt returner Devin Hester returned a punt for an 83-yard, game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter Monday.

Here’s another thought for Green. If you want to get your running game going, try blocking a middle linebacker by the name of Brian Urlacher. If it seemed that Urlacher was involved in every play in the fourth quarter, that’s because he was. He finished the game with 19 tackles and a forced fumble. A giddy Urlacher told the media after the game that he was unblocked throughout the second half.

There’s a strategy for winning games: Take the most devastating defense in the league and don’t even attempt to block its best player.

Green is not without some ability. His decision to insert Leinart in the starting lineup in Week Five against Kansas City was a move that showed insight and guts. He had been to the postseason eight times in Minnesota and done it with seven quarterbacks. Few coaches would have been able to pull off that kind of achievement. But even with superior personnel in Minnesota, Green’s teams went 4-8 in the postseason. His postseason finale in Minnesota was a 41-0 loss to the Giants in the 2000 NFC championship game that was not as close as the score would indicate.

The Cardinals have dropped five of their first six games and the season has all but flown out the window as the team has turned victory into defeat three times already. After going 6-10 and 5-11 in his first two seasons, Green planned on turning things around by taking his team to the playoffs as the Cardinals opened their state of the art University of Phoenix stadium. Those plans have been put to rest.

The legacy of despair continues for a franchise that has few peers when it comes to futility. The Cardinal franchise has won one playoff game since winning its last NFL championship in 1947. It’s clear that they won’t win another this year — because they won’t get to the postseason.

Owner Bill Bidwill and his sons have their own problems, but the first step toward climbing the ladder involves getting new leadership on the sidelines. Green’s vapid self-promotion has propelled this team into the quicksand and there is clearly no escape.

Good-bye, Denny. It's time to head back to the TV studio.

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