It was late in Sunday's game, right after Phil Dawson kicked his field goal to put the Cardinals ahead by two with a little more than two minutes left, when offensive coordinator/O-line coach Harold Goodwin found someone on the sideline and exclaimed, "We've got no linemen left."

Goodwin smiled, because the reality was that he was right and that the Cardinals had also somehow made it work well enough to win — again — in the one place they want to win more than any other. It was also fitting given how the year unfolded. The Cardinals very well could have had issues even if everyone had played this year. But they wouldn't be convinced they wouldn't have overcome it and found a way into the postseason, not after getting eight wins despite their starting offensive line getting all of eight snaps together and their MVP-type running back playing less than a game and their quarterback less than half a season.

"It's really hard to walk away from this," Bruce Arians said. "It wasn't hard to walk away four weeks ago, when you looked at what we were playing with. But to win three out of four, it's very hard to walk away from that."

Arians insisted he hasn't made a decision. We'll know soon enough. But for all the ups and downs of the season, it is remarkable they went 8-8.

"We're just happy we finished the way we did," defensive lineman Frostee Rucker said. "We didn't want to finish 7-9. We wanted to finish 8-8."

-- The Cardinals, after all that, were the only 8-8 team in the league. They will draft 15th in the first round — unless, of course, they make a trade.

-- Kerwynn Williams set a career-best with 23 carries (for 75 yards) and Elijhaa Penny added 39 yards and a touchdown. The Cards, even with all the offensive line issues, ran the ball decently. They struggled late, but it was enough. Penny was huge on the winning field-goal drive.

-- There probably wasn't a better place for Chandler Jones to try and get two sacks to break the franchise record, but there it was — and Jones missed out on a couple more, losing one on a facemask and having another near-miss. To get 17 sacks in a season is impressive. To have Jones do it in the first year of his new contract bodes very well. That trade couldn't have worked out better.

-- After the first half, it looked like Larry Fitzgerald was going to have a good shot at the NFL receptions title for a second straight season. Eight catches in the first half, but none in the second — although he was targeted. He and Drew Stanton just couldn't connect. Fitz needed just one catch to set a career-high in a season, and instead he had 109, tying his big 2015 season.

Whether he gives it another try in 2018, well, that too is up in the air. But you knew that.

-- You can argue about Drew Stanton's ceiling but he did go 3-1 as a starter and Fitz tweeted he was playing on a torn ACL. I'm not sure how much medical background Fitz has, but that says a lot about Stanton. UPDATE: Stanton said it was not an ACL, but a bone bruise.

-- Dawson bounced back so well this season. When Arians mentions winning three of the last four, he was a big reason why. He made 22 of his final 24 field goals, and one of those was blocked. It's interesting that the Cardinals have won two games in a row in Seattle thanks to field goals.

-- The Seahawks' big second half cost the Cards' defense a chance to be top five in the rankings. They finished sixth.

-- It's New Year's Day tomorrow, but certainly no holiday, not for the Cardinals. Exit interviews await, as well as, well, a lot of stuff. One way or another.

"There are a ton of decisions this offseason," cornerback Patrick Peterson said. "Steve Keim has his work cut out for him."

-- Time to fly home. The offseason is here.