TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals have lost consecutive games for only the second time in Bruce Arians’ two-year tenure as head coach. A three-game lead in the NFC West is down to one.

While Arizona fans might be panicking, the team isn’t. That might change if the Cardinals lose at home Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Since coming to Arizona, Arians has emphasized the importance of winning home games. His philosophy is to dominate at home, nab a few victories on the road and make the playoffs.

“We have to defend our turf, that’s the biggest thing,” quarterback Drew Stanton said. “We have to take care of the stuff we can control, and offensively, there is a lot of room for improvement.”

In losses to the Seattle Seahawks and Atlanta Falcons, the Cardinals looked little like the team that won nine of the first 10. The Cardinals were minus-3 in turnovers in the two defeats and converted just four of 19 first downs. On defense, they yielded 500 yards against the Falcons last week.

“There are two pictures,” Arians said. “A two-game losing streak and you’re 9-3. Why did you get to 9-3? And how did you get the two-game losing streak?

“The biggest thing is we’re now minus-3 in turnovers in those two games. Defensively, we’re giving up 41 percent (conversions on third down). So not getting off the field defensively, not staying on the field offensively and then turning the ball over. Those were the keys to winning nine games, and those are the same two keys that cost us the last two ballgames.”

If the Cardinals are going to win the NFC West, they need Stanton to play much better than he did the past two weeks.

Against the Seahawks and Falcons, he completed 38 of 65 passes for 443 yards. He threw just one touchdown pass, in garbage time against Atlanta, and was intercepted three times.

“The most glaring weakness we have right now is me turning the ball over and us not converting on third downs,’ Stanton said. “Those are all correctable things.”

With a difficult schedule over the last month of the season, the Cardinals must make those corrections soon.