Steve Wilks called it “inexcusable.” Corey Peters termed it “embarrassing.” Haason Reddick and Patrick Peterson each said it was time for every member of the Cardinals’ defense to “look in the mirror.”

And that was last week after the Cardinals allowed a season-high 215 rushing yards to the Falcons during a 40-14 rout by Atlanta.

What in the heck were the Cardinals going to say after Sunday’s 31-9 blowout loss to the Rams, who ran for a staggering 269 yards, including 167 from a running back that’s only been on their roster for five days? A week after Tevin Coleman ran for a career-high 145 yards against them, C.J. Anderson finished just a yard shy of his career high while subbing for an injured Todd Gurley.

The loss dropped the Cardinals to 3-12 with one game left to play next Sunday at Seattle, and it left them with a 1-7 home record at State Farm Stadium – the team’s worst home record in its Arizona history. There were several reasons for this latest blowout, the fifth of the season by 20 or more points, but the Cardinals’ awful rush defense once again was the biggest culprit.

Sunday’s game marked the 12th time the Cardinals have allowed 100 or more rushing yards to an opponent, and it was the eighth time they’ve been gashed for at least 147, something that continues to get under the skin of embattled first-year coach Steve Wilks.

“Under the skin?” Wilks asked afterward. “It’s like a virus right now.”

It’s been a disease for which the Cardinals and their defensive-minded head coach haven’t been able to find a cure and it could end up costing him his job next week, especially if reports predicting as such prior to Sunday’s game become true.

Remember, Wilks and his coaching staff inherited a defense that, save for a handful of familiar faces, had been a top-five unit the previous three seasons and had made it regular practice to hold teams under 100 yards rushing. But the Cardinals switched defensive schemes this year, vowing it would make everyone better, and instead, it’s only made things worse.

“It sucks. It’s embarrassing. It’s all those things,” said Peters, the Cardinals’ veteran defensive tackle and one of the team’s most outspoken leaders. “It’s just a complete failure from a defensive standpoint. I mean, they rushed for way too many yards to think we were going to win the game. We’ve just got to get this s--t fixed.”

It’s too late for that now. Again, if reports are true, it’s also too late to save Wilks’ job. His fate has likely already been determined, although he said he hasn’t had any conversations about the future whatsoever with team President Michael Bidwill or General Manager Steve Keim.

“No,” Wilks said. “Asking those guys about the future means I’m not focused on the job at hand. So no, that conversation hasn’t come up at all.”

Cardinals players continue to throw their support behind Wilks, who replaced the retiring Bruce Arians in January after spending the 2017 season as a first-year defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.

“I wish we could have played better for him,” said wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who caught six passes for 53 yards and threw his first career NFL touchdown – a 32-yard pass to David Johnson in the second quarter when the Cardinals were still making a game out of it. “I love Coach Wilks. We all hope to have him back.”

So does Peters, who said, “I don’t make those decisions, but I’m comfortable going on record saying that we like Coach Wilks and I hope to have him back. I think he’s done a good job despite the circumstances. Our failures are not necessarily directly on him. The players bear the majority of the blame.”

As has been the case seemingly every week, the players didn’t get it done on Sunday against the Rams. Wilks was happy to put the responsibility for the poor tackling and lack of a rush defense squarely on his own shoulders, but Peters was right. The players once again didn’t perform, and they let their coach and each other down.

“I think it’s a combination of everyone, starting with myself,” Wilks said. “Coaches doing a better job of really coaching the situations. Guys using their hands, standing in gaps, trying to fight and get off blocks and we can’t miss tackles.”

Anderson, 27, spent time with both the Panthers and Raiders until he was released by both and brought in by the Rams last Wednesday while Gurley was questionable with knee inflammation. Anderson was pivotal on all four of the Rams’ touchdown drives, each of which went for 75 yards or longer, and his 4-yard touchdown run with 2:10 left in the first half gave Los Angeles a more-than-comfortable, 21-9 lead.

“I played with him for four years so I already knew what he could do,” said Rams cornerback Aqib Talib, a teammate of Anderson’s with the Broncos. “I know how hard he can work and the skills that he has. As soon as we picked him up, I already knew what he was going to come out and do. He did the same thing that he did for four years in Denver.”

Anderson rushed for 1,000 yards last season for the Broncos, but he said he never gave up on himself after being cut twice this season by Carolina and Oakland.

“I never gave up on my ability and what I can do,” he said. “I’ve been in this situation before.”

So have the Cardinals, who are in danger of tying the 2000 team for the worst record (3-13) since the franchise moved here in 1988. This whole season has been as topsy-turvy as the stat line was at one point in the first half when Fitzgerald was the team’s leading passes, rookie quarterback Josh Rosen was its leading rusher and Johnson was its leading receiver.

It was as bizarre as the Cardinals’ 1-7 home record, which eats away at the venerable Fitzgerald, who might have been playing in his last home game ever.

“It’s been really difficult and really frustrating,” he said. “This is a place that we’ve always played well in historically and to not play well here all season, it’s been disturbing.”

The Cardinals could use that term to describe a lot of things on Sunday, from their awful rush defense, two missed kicks by Zane Gonzalez, two bone-headed personal fouls by Tre Boston and the four sacks of Rosen – three of which came courtesy of Aaron Donald, who improved his league-leading total to 19½.

“He’s an amazing player, an amazing teammate,” Rams quarterback Jared Goff said of Donald. “It’s truly amazing what he does at the middle lineman position and being able to get to the quarterback as often as he does. It’s crazy.”

Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday afternoon between 3-6 on 1580-AM The Fanatic with Roc and Manuch and every Wednesday afternoon between 1-3 on Fox Sports 910-AM on The Freaks with Kenny and Crash.