Who could have possibly foreseen this going wrong?
The Arizona Cardinals, a team which crumbled in the second half of last season — starting 7-0, and losing five of their last six — and was blown out 34-11 in the Wild Card Round by the Los Angeles Rams, gave head coach Kliff Kingsbury and general manager Steve Keim six-year extensions last offseason.
On Monday, Kingsbury was fired, and Keim, who stepped away from his duties to reportedly focus on his health, relinquished his position.
The team is known as dysfunctional.
Even their re-signing of Kyler Murray was laughed at. When the team re-signed Murray to a five-year, $230.5 million extension this offseason, it included hilarious language requiring study time. When that language was reported publicly, it was removed.
Hard Knocks captured much of the team’s dysfunction, as they finished 4-13 this season, with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft.
What is stunning is not that Kingsbury was fired and Keim departed with him, but that both just received six-year extensions (with 2027 a team option).
Kingsbury was a losing college coach — a career 35-40 record at Texas Tech with two winning seasons in six — running an NFL team that was completely erratic.
Star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins was suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the league’s rules on performance-enhancing substances.
Two coaches on his staff had off the field incidents involving reported violence towards women.
Offensive line coach/run game coordinator Shaun Kugler was fired after allegedly groping a woman in Mexico City.
Running backs coach James Saxon was placed on administrative leave and later resigned his post following an ESPN report that he was charged with assaulting a woman in Indianapolis.
Saxon pled guilty to one count of domestic battery on October 6 before resigning.
It’s an organization decidedly in flux.
There is an expectation that defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who oversaw the second-worst scoring defense in the league (26.4 points per game), has a very good chance of becoming head coach.
Ian Rapoport also described the firing as more of a “mutual” decision between Kingsbury and Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell.
One comical wrinkle that could potentially be in the cards (pun not intended), is for Kingsbury to join the Los Angeles Rams if Sean McVay sticks around.