TEMPE, Ariz. — The Arizona Cardinals fired head coach Kliff Kingsbury 10 months after signing him to a contract extension through the 2027 season.
The team also announced that general manager Steve Keim has decided to “step away from his position to focus on his health”.
Like Kingsbury, Keim signed an extension in 2022 which extended his contract until the 2027 season. Keim, however, has been on sick leave since mid-December.
Keim joined the Cardinals in 1999 as a college scout and, after years on staff, was promoted to general manager in 2013.
Kingsbury was hired in January 2019, just two months after being fired from Texas Tech, to resuscitate a fledgling offense and struggling organization.
His dismissal comes a day after the Cardinals lost their season finale 38-13 to the San Francisco 49ers, completing a 4-13 season. Kingsbury finished his career with the Cardinals with a 28-37-1 record.
He enjoyed moderate success, leading Arizona to a best win total in its first three seasons — from 5-10-1 in 2019 to 8-8 in 2020, then a 2021 season in which the Cards went 11-6 and reached the playoffs. However, Kingsbury’s tenure with the Cardinals was marred by late-season dropouts, underperformance and four years of unruly football.
This culminated with last season’s results.
Although Kingsbury had to coach a team without DeAndre Hopkins for the first six games, without Kyler Murray for the last five games, without tight end Zach Ertz for the last seven games and without four of the Cardinals’ five starting offensive linemen. for stretching this season. , he was still relieved of his duties as the Cardinals sought their third head coach in the last six years. Despite having been around for over 100 years, the Cardinals have never had a head coach more than six years in the job.
Back-to-back late-season slumps in 2020 and 2021 overshadowed the success the Cardinals had built under Kingsbury, but it was also a trend. Dating back to his time at Texas Tech, Kingsbury’s teams had been successful early in the seasons only to then dip in the second half.
Through 2021, Kingsbury’s sides have gone 42-20-1 in the first seven games and 17-44 after. This season didn’t have such an impressive start, but things still fell apart down the straight. Arizona went 3-4 in its first seven games and then went 1-9.
Kingsbury thought this season would be the reverse of last. He repeatedly said at the start of the season that 2022 could be the opposite of 2021 – the Cardinals would hopefully finish strong after a slow start due, in part, to not having Hopkins for the first six. games because he was suspended for violating the NFL. doping drug policy.
Arizona has also struggled to win at home, losing six straight in late 2021 and early 2022.
A consistent problem with the Kingsbury system was its inability to adapt.
After a Week 6 loss to the Seahawks, Murray said the teams were playing the Cardinals’ offense softly, forcing them to “move the ball methodically.”
#cardinals #Kingsbury #Keim #retires
