Roll the first head on Black Monday in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals, despite having given a contract extension through 2027 before the season, decided to fire head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
There are already five teams that will have a new coach by 2023. The Panthers, Colts and Broncos fired Matt Rhule, Frank Reich and Nathaniel Hackett during the regular season, in addition to the Texans thanking Lovie Smith on Sunday night.
Arizona was one of the big disappointments of last season. What’s more, since the middle of the 2021 season, in which they were the last undefeated (7-0), but closed with a 4-6 record, losing the Western Division title of the National Conference by losing at home to the eliminated Seahawks in week 18, which led to their first playoff appearance since 2015 against the Rams in the wild card round, but they were eliminated 34-11.
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) January 9, 2023
The bets had them with options to return to the playoffs in 2022, but instead, they finished at 4-13, with Kyler Murray missing the last four games after tearing the cruciate. They will choose rooms in the next Draft.
Kingsbury leaves the desert after four seasons. He accumulated a mark of 28-37-1 after being chosen in a controversial way, since he had never managed in the NFL and in the NCAA, at Texas Tech, he had a mark of 35-40 despite spending three years with Patrick Mahomes.
General manager Steve Keim also leaves the Cardinals
The Cardinals gave extensions to their entire staff before the 2022 season. QB Kyler Murray, coach Kingsbury and manager Steve Keim were re-signed. In the case of the coach, it was until 2027, but he barely leaves after seeing a year and only the quarterback remains.
Steve Keim, who had stepped aside in mid-December to attend to personal matters, would also be stepping down as general manager to continue to focus on his health.
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) January 9, 2023